Nocturia, a condition characterized by waking up multiple times during the night to use the bathroom, occurs in about one-third of men over the age of 30. As they age, men become even more likely to develop nocturia.
More than half of prostate cancer survivors develop this condition following treatment. Nocturia has correlative links to several treatments commonly used for prostate cancer treatment. Surgical resection of the prostate, including radical prostatectomies, with open, laparoscopic, and robotic-assisted procedures, can lead to nocturia, as can radiation therapy often used for prostate cancer. Unfortunately, interventions to control nocturia remain limited.
A study published in 2021 revealed a promising potential of acupuncture, an alternative medicine approach involving injecting small needles into different areas of the body to induce systemic reactions, such as reducing pain, can reduce nocturia in men with prostate inflammation. This connection led a team of researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering to question if acupuncture could help alleviate this symptom in prostate cancer survivors. They conducted a randomized clinical trial to compare acupuncture to usual care for nocturia and recently published their findings in JAMA Oncology.
The study enrolled 60 men with a history of prostate cancer who, at the time of consent, had no evidence of disease. The participants in the study self-reported at least two nocturia episodes per night for the last month. The researchers randomized the participants in a two-to-one fashion, resulting in 40 men receiving acupuncture and 20 who did not.
Patients randomized to the acupuncture group received ten treatments to over ten different acupoints, including some bilateral electrical stimulation. Those not receiving acupuncture received standard care for nocturia.
The researchers reported a significant positive impact of acupuncture on the participants. Men in the acupuncture group experienced fewer nocturia episodes than the control group by the end of the ten-week treatment period. Importantly, the reduction in episodes lasted a month post-treatment.
In addition to the impact observed on nocturia, the researchers used the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) to grade the effects of acupuncture treatment on the prostate cancer survivors in the study. They found that IPSS decreased more in men receiving acupuncture than those receiving standard care for nocturia.
The study found that acupuncture was a safe treatment option. Minimal adverse events were reported, including mild dizziness and mild insomnia, each in only 5% of the acupuncture group.
The findings of the study, namely that a ten-week acupuncture regimen can reduce nocturia episodes, provide the first evidence of a treatment-based approach to controlling this condition in prostate cancer patients. While these findings remain promising, the authors caution that their work has several limitations, including a small sample size, variations in cancer stage and treatment, and the absence of placebo controls. However, the data provides a strong rationale for follow-up studies to investigate the efficacy of using acupuncture to control nocturia in prostate cancer survivors.
Source: CA Cancer J Clin, Ann Intern Med, JAMA Oncol