The Effect of Electroacupuncture Therapy on Paclitaxel Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy and Quality of Life in Gynecological Cancer Patients

Background & Objective: Gynecological cancer and its treatment can lead to various physical, emotional, cognitive, and social problems. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy is a common complication that occurs after the administration of Paclitaxel chemotherapy. Materials & Methods: A prospective experimental study with a pre-post control group design on patients diagnosed with gynecological cancer with neuropathic complaints after receiving paclitaxel chemotherapy at the gynecology oncology clinic of Dr. Soetomo Hospital Surabaya in October – November 2024. The research subjects will be divided into 2 groups. Assessment of neuropathic pain scale and QoL evaluation will be carried out to all subjects. The treatment group receiving additional electroacupuncture therapy and the control group, which given oral anticonvulsants and neurotropic vitamins, with 10 subjects per group, total 20 subject. Results: From the statistical analysis of the neuropathic pain scores between groups after therapy, P=0.000 was obtained, concluding that there was significant difference in post-test scores. Meanwhile, for the comparison of QoL scores between groups, P=0.070 was obtained, concluding that there was no significant difference in post-test scores. The analysis continued with the Deviation Score Test between groups on QoL questionnaire, obtained P=0.002, indicating a significant difference, with a greater score increase in the treatment group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Electroacupuncture significantly reduced the neuropathy pain score in CIPN patients and increased the quality of life in electroacupuncture group compared to control group.