Acupuncture for treating hot flushes in men with prostate cancer: a systematic review

The goal of the study was to assess the effects of acupuncture as a treatment for hot flushes in prostate cancer (PC) patients. The literature was searched using 14 databases with dates ranging from their inceptions to December 2008 and without language restrictions. All clinical studies of any type of acupuncture in PC patients were included. Their main outcome measures had to be vasomotor symptoms. Their methodological quality was assessed using the modified Jadad score. Six studies met all the inclusion criteria. One randomised clinical trial compared the effects of manual acupuncture with acupuncture plus electro-acupuncture. The other five studies were uncontrolled observational studies and therefore had limitations. The evidence is not convincing to suggest acupuncture is an effective treatment for hot flush in patients with PC. Further research is required to investigate whether acupuncture has hot-flush-specific effects.