The efficacy of acupressure in managing opioid-induced constipation in patients with cancer: A single-blind randomized controlled trial

Purpose Opioid-induced constipation is one of the heath problems with a negative impact on the quality of life. This randomized-controlled trial aimed to investigate the effects of acupressure therapy on the management of opioid-induced constipation in patients with cancer. Methods The trial was conducted on 140 cancer patients, who were assigned to the acupressure (n = 70) and the control groups (n = 70). In addition to routine care, patients in the acupressure group received 8-min acupressure from the Zhongwan (CV12), Guanyuan (CV4), and Tianshu (ST25) acupoints once a day for 4 weeks. The outcomes included Defecation Diary (DD), Visual Analog Scale Questionnaire (VASQ), and Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAC-QOL). Results We found a statistically significant difference between the acupressure and control groups in terms of stool consistency (2.22 +/- 0.49 vs 1.80 +/- 0.55) (p = 0.001), straining (1.98 +/- 0.71 vs 2.91 +/- 0.37) (p = 0.001), incomplete evacuation (0.37 +/- 0.29 vs 0.61 +/- 0.43) (p = 0.001), stool amount (0.93 +/- 0.14 vs 0.95 +/- 0.20) (p = 0.001), and the number of defecations (0.70 +/- 0.22 vs 0.46 +/- 0.29), (p = 0.001) measured at the fifth week. Besides, with the exception of stool amount, the DD scores obtained by the acupressure group significantly increased in the fifth week. Inter-group comparison of the pre-test and post-test scores showed that acupressure group obtained statistically significantly lower scores from the PAC-QOL (p = 0.0001). Conclusions Findings of this trial suggested that a 4-week acupressure was an effective way to improve the quality of life and to reduce both the subjective and the objective constipation symptoms in patients with opioid-induced constipations.