Acupuncture May Reduce Dry Mouth In Patients

In a study done in November 2011 at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers randomly assigned 40 patients to the acupuncture treatment group and 46 patients to the usual care group , each group of patients were being treated for nasopharyngeal cancer. Those in the treatment arm recieved acupuncture therapy three time per week during the seven-week course of radiotherapy . All patients underwent evaluation before radiotherapy , weelky evaluation during radiotherapy and evaluation at one and six months after radiotherapy.The researchers found that salivary flow rates were greater for those patients in the acupuncture group , starting at week three of radiotherapy and continuing to the one-and six-month follow-up evaluations . The medical implications of these findings are quite profound in terms of quality of life , because while dry mouth may sound benign it has a significant impact on sleeping , eating and speaking . Without saliva there can be an increase in microbial growth , possible bone infection , and irreversible nutritional deficits .