OBJECTIVETo observe the effect difference between fire needle combined with chemotherapy and fire needle on quality of life in patients with chemotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODSWith randomized controlled method, a total of 60 patients with chemotherapy of NSCLC were divided into an observation group (fire-needle plus chemotherapy group) and a control group (chemotherapy group), 30 cases in each one. The observation group was treated with fire needle atpoints which consisted of Geshu (BL 17) and Danshu (BL 19), combined with chemotherapy selected from TP (paclitaxel+cisplatin)/GP (gemcitabine+cisplatin)/DP (docetaxel+cisplatin)/NP (vinorelbine+cisplatin) by the oncologist according to patients' condition. The fire needle was given once a day for 7 days, and chemotherapy was given for 21 days. The control group was treated with chemotherapy alone for 21 days. Before and after treatment, response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) was applied for evaluation, and Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and functional assessment of cancer therapy-lung (FACT-L) were applied for evaluation of quality of life in patients with chemotherapy of NSCLC.

RESULTSThe effective rate was 20.0% (6/30) and the stability rate was 73.3% (22/30) in the observation group, which were insignificantly higher than 16.7% (5/30) and 63.3% (19/30) in the control group, respectively (both>0.05). The KPS after treatment was lower than that before treatment in the control group (<0.05); the KPS after treatment was similar to that before treatment in the observation group (>0.05); the KPS in the observation group after treatment was higher than that in the control group (<0.05). The total score and each item score of FACT-L after treatment were higher than those before treatment in the observation group (all<0.05); the physical score and emotional score of FACT-L after treatment were higher than those before treatment in the control group (both<0.05); the total score, physical score, functional score and subscale score in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group after treatment (all<0.05), while the social/family score and emotional score in the observation group were insignificantly higher than those in the control group (both>0.05). The differences of KPS total score before and after treatment in the two groups had moderate positive correlation with differences of FACT-L total score (<0.01).

CONCLUSIONFire needle can improve quality of life in patients of NSCLC chemotherapy.