The Effect Of The Direct Moxibustion On The Blood And Tumor Markers Of The Patients With Advanced Gastric Cancer During The Chemotherapy

PurposeThrough moxibustion on Zusanli(ST36), Weishu(BL21) in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer, observing the effect of moxibustion on blood and tumor markers in patients with gastric cancer during chemotherapy period, andobserving the improvement of quality of life in patients with chemotherapy, and guiding the clinical therapy.Materials and MethodsFifty-five patients with advanced gastric cancer, who came from acupuncture and moxibustion and oncology department, were included in the study during December in 2013-September in 2014. Two doctors of the acupuncture and moxibustion and oncology department, who have the physician qualification or above selected all patients respectively. The selection was in accordance with the diagnostic criteria, inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. Fifty-five patients were randomly divided into the chemotherapy group (28 cases) and the chemotherapy+moxibution group (27 cases). They were treated with chemotherapy with Platinum, fluorouracil or taxane as two or three drug combination chemotherapy. And at the same time, all patients used the drugs to preventing and treating side effects during chemotherapy. The treatment group was given the additional treatment of direct moxibustion on Zusanli (ST36) and Weishu (BL21). The operational approach:make a cone with 5mg moxa, put it on the acupoints and light it, put it out when patient feel heat 9 cones per acupoints once a day. The course of treatment was 6 months. We observed the following:(1)the changes of lymphocyte, white blood cell, platelet and hemoglobin during the treatment;(2) the changes of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA724 during the treatment;(3) the quality of life during the treatment. The data of the study were analyzed by SPSS 20.0, P<0.05 shows that the difference was statistically significant.Results(l)No significant difference were observed of the Lymphocyte, White blood cells, Platelet, Hemoglobin, Carcinoembryonic antigen, CA724 and the all domain of the quality of life before treatment, showing that they were comparable. (2) In the blood markers, lymphocyte, white blood cell, platelet and hemoglobin of the two group were decreased than that before chemotherapy. Through the self control, lymphocytes and white blood cells in the chemotherapy group decreased significantly (P<0.05), there was no statistic difference in the chemotherapy+moxibustion group; platelet in the chemotherapy group decreased insignificantly, the chemotherapy+moxibution group decreased significantly (P<0.05). While hemoglobin of two groups had no significant difference. The results indicating that the contents of lymphocytes, white blood cell, platelet and hemoglobin were decreased during chemotherapy; and moxibustion can prevent the blood cell toxicity of chemotherapy, and regulate the blood hypercoagulative state. In the case-control, the contents of lymphocytes and white blood cell in the chemotherapy+moxibustion group were stable; while the decreased trend was observed in the chemotherapy group. But there were no significant differences between the two groups after treatment, it would be the result of the small sample size. (3) In the rumor markers, the content of carcinoembryonic antigen in chemotherapy group was significantly higher than that before treatment (P<0.05), while the chemotharapy+moxibustion group remained stable; the CA724 of the chemotherapy group increased significantly (P<0.01), while the chemotharapy+ moxibustion group decreased (P<0.05). The results show that moxibustion have the effect of regulating the tumor markers. But after treatment, there was no statistical difference between the two groups, presumably with the research sample size was small. (4)In the quality of life, the after treatment score of the quality of life, physical function, social function, nausea and vomiting, insomnia, appetite loss, dyspnoea, constipation, diarrhea in the chemotherapy+moxibustion group was significant better than the chemotherapy group (P<0.05). The results illustrated that moxibustion can improve the quality of life in patients with chemotherapy. But in the emotional function, cognitive function, role function, fatigue, pain and financial difficulties domains, no significantdifference between the two groups after treatment, and it may be affected by the chemotherapy and the psychological status of the patients.Conclusion(1) Moxibustion can prevent the decrease of the Lymphocyte and White blood cells of the patients with advanced gastric cancer during chemotherapy, maintain the normal level of the Lymphocyte and White blood cells., and improve the immune function.(2) Moxibustion can regulate the immunity of the advanced gastric cancer, can reduce the level of CA724 in patients with advanced gastric cancer, and maintain the level of CEA stable.(3) Moxibustion can improve the quality of life of patients with advanced gastric cancer during chemotherapy. It can significantly improve the quality of life, social function, physical function; and relieve the symptom of nausea/vomiting, insomnia, constipation and diarrhea.