The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), representing an estimated 40,000 oncology physicians from all subspecialties, has endorsed the Society for Integrative Oncology's 2017 evidence-based guideline on the use of acupuncture and related integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment.
An ASCO expert panel reviewed the guideline contents and recommendations, determining "that the recommendations in the SIO guideline ... are clear, thorough, and based on the most relevant scientific evidence."
Key recommendations in the guideline as endorsed by the ASCO include the following, published in the society's online guideline section and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, an ASCO publication:
Click here to review the ASCO endorsement as published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Click here to access the SIO 2017 guideline. (Note that the ASCO did not endorse the SIO guideline in totality and added several discussion points.)
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) affects more than 15% of the U.S. population but evades most practitioners’ radar. Just five years ago, it wasn’t even on my radar, despite already having 20 years of experience as a clinician at that time. The more I dug (similar to leaky gut and post-COVID syndrome), the more I found my patients were suffering from this disorder.
Research supports the effectiveness of selecting the distal acupuncture points for the treatment of microtrauma and for relieving pain, particularly in cases of chronic shoulder pain. But to make the treatment results long-lasting, clinical experience and research suggest that instead of treating the most painful structure first, we identify the inhibited driver, restore reliable recruitment, confirm it with immediate re-testing, and only then address the painful area as a branch of a deeper pattern.
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The motivation behind our practice of medicine is important, impacting not just our experience but also the experiences of those we treat. It is perhaps for this reason that the aspiration to help not just some, but all beings heal, has historically been an important part of the medical tradition. To explain this, we need to consider how medicine is interwoven with other social domains.