Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trial

To systematically evaluate the effect and safety of acupuncture in managing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV).

Literature Search: Comprehensively searched seven electronic databases and two clinical trial registries for randomized controlled trials comparing acupuncture with sham acupuncture or conventional treatment for CINV.
Outcome Measures: Primary outcomes included complete response rate, frequency of vomiting episodes, and validated scale scores.
Quality Assessment: Studies quality were assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tools.

49 RCTs involving 4,133 participants were included.
Acupuncture significantly reduced the incidence of vomiting (RR = 0.583, 95% CI: 0.523–0.650), vomiting severity (MD = −0.839, 95% CI: −1.256 to −0.422), and vomiting episodes (MD = −3.704, 95% CI: −6.256 to −1.152).
Acupuncture lowered the incidence of nausea (RR = 0.532, 95% CI: 0.432–0.655).
The most utilized acupoints were Zusanli (ST36), Neiguan (PC6), and Zhongwan (CV12).

Acupuncture is effective as an adjunctive therapy for CINV.

Future large-scale, rigorously designed RCTs are warranted to further validate these findings.

Current evidence provides a robust rationale for the integration of acupuncture into clinical practice for CINV management.