The Effect Of Scarring Moxibustion On Routine Blood And Quality Of Life In Patients With Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer After Chemotherapy

Objective To evaluate the effect of scarring moxibustion on neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)and quality of life in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods Seventy patients suffering from NSCLC were randomised into two groups: trial group (n= 45) received treatment of scarring moxibustion at the acupoints of Zusanli (ST36) and Feishu(BL13) and every acupoint got 9 times every day for six weeks and control group (n= 45) received no treatment and were just followed up. Finally,43 patients in trial group and 42 patients in control group completed the study and were analyzed. The study lasted 24 weeks. All the patients were recorded and tested at the first day and the 169th day. Outcome measures used in this study were neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). The differences between the baseline and endpoint were observed and the effects of the two groups were compared.Results In the trial group, erythrocyte counts, leucocyte counts, neutrophil counts, lymphocytes counts, platelet counts was significantly increased at the endpoint compared with baseline (P<0.05) and significantly decreased in terms of NLR (P<0.05), while no significantly changed interms of hemoglobin (P>0.05). For the EORTC QLQ scores, there was a significant improvement in terms of global health status, physical function, emotional function, cognitive function and significant decrease in terms of fatigue, nausea, vomiting, pain, dyspnea, sleep difficulty, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhea at the endpoint compared with baseline (P<0.05) and no significant change in terms of role function, social function and financial difficulty. In the control group, moderate or no improvement was noticed in the subscales of hemoglobin, erythrocyte counts, leucocyte counts, neutrophil counts, lymphocytes counts, NLR, platelet counts, global health status, physical function, emotional function, cognitive function, role function, social function, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, pain, dyspnea, sleep difficulty, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhea and financial difficulty (P>0.05). After the treatment, erythrocyte counts, leucocyte counts, neutrophil counts, lymphocytes counts, platelet counts about the patients in the trial group was significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05) and NLR in trial group was lower significantly compared with the control group (P<0.05), while the hemoglobin was moderate between the two groups. And the scores of global health status, physical function, emotional function, cognitive function in the trail group were higher significantly (P<0.05) and the scores of fatigue, nausea, vomiting, pain, dyspnea, sleep difficulty, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhea, in the trail group were lower significantly compared with the control group (P?0.05), while the role function, social function and financial difficulty were moderate between the two groups.Conclusion The present study suggests that scarring moxibustion treatment is effective to improve the immunity of the NSCLC patients and improve their quality of life.