Health Problems
Cancer Research

TENS band offers cancer patients relief from nausea

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is considered to offer a range of benefits in treating and controlling nausea and vomiting in patients’ undergoing chemotherapy.

Using a miniaturized transcutaneaous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) unit (ReliefBand) used to help prevent nausea and vomiting, researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in New York USA studied the effect on forty-two patients wearing the band in a gynaecology oncology ward.

All the patients received the standard nausea and vomiting medicines, but half of them also wore the ReliefBand continuously for 7 days.

Overall, 59 per cent of patients experienced no nausea or minimal nausea, indicating that the relief band did not reduce the number of patients who suffered from nausea. However, a closer look at the results revealed that relief band did help alleviate the severity of nausea in those patients who suffered from it, especially during days 2 to 4 when patients using the band averaged less than one episode of vomiting daily.

The research concluded that the ReliefBand, although not a substitute for conventional treatment, was an effective addition to the regular nausea and vomiting treatments given to gynecologic oncology patient’s having chemotherapy.

Source : Cancer Nurs 1999 Aug;22(4):307-11
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation as an adjunct for controlling chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in gynecologic oncology patients.
Pearl ML, Fischer M, McCauley DL et al.

© The Internet Health Library 2000