. 2020 May 25;2020:1618767. doi: 10.1155/2020/1618767

Table 2.

Characteristics of the included studies.

Author (year)	Diagnosis	Cancer pain type	Sample sizes (M/F)	Age (year)	Randomized method	Interventions	Acupoint selection	Course of treatment	Outcome measures
Alimi et al. 2003 [23]	Head and neck cancer, breast cancer, Lung cancer, and others	Attained a pain level evaluated at 30 mm or more on a VAS graduated from 0 to 100 mm	E: 28	Not reported	Computer software	E : Auricular acupuncture (at points where an electrical response had been detected)	At points where an electrodermal signal had been detected	Two courses	Pain relief measured by VAS
Alimi et al. 2003 [23]			C: 23	Not reported	Computer software	C : Placebo auricular acupuncture (at placebo points)	At points where an electrodermal signal had been detected	Two courses	Pain relief measured by VAS
Ruela et al. 2018 [24]	Breast cancer and others	Pain ≥ four in the numerical pain scale	E: 11	E: 58.27 ± 10.09	Simple	E : Auricular acupuncture (5–7 needles, 40 min/time, 7 d/session)	E: Shenmen, kidney, sympathetic, muscle relaxation and the energy balance points	Eight sessions	Pain relief by NRS
Ruela et al. 2018 [24]	Breast cancer and others	Pain ≥ four in the numerical pain scale	C: 12	C: 52.08 ± 7.99	Randomization (biased coin method)	C : Auricular acupuncture at fixed placebo points (2 needles, 40 min/time, 7 d/session)	C: The eye and trachea points	Eight sessions	Pain relief by NRS
Chen et al. 2013 [25]	Stage IV tumor	Moderate to severe cancer pain	E: 88 (46/42)	E: 58.32 ± 10.54	Not reported	E : Ear acupoint injection (IS) (2–3 points, 1/day, 7 days), plus drug	Corresponding points of main organs invaded by cancer	One course	Pain relief measured by NRS/Onset and maintenance time of analgesia/quality of life/adverse effects rate
Chen et al. 2013 [25]	Stage IV tumor	Moderate to severe cancer pain	C: 91 (47/44)	C: 60.13 ± 9.76	Not reported	C : Drug (three-step analgesic ladder)	Corresponding points of main organs invaded by cancer	One course
He and Chen 2019 [26]	Lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer	Moderate to severe cancer pain	E: 60 (35/25)	E: 58.59 ± 3.16	Not reported	E : Auricular point sticking (7points, 2 min/point, 5/d, change/5 d), plus drug	Rectum, large intestine, subcortical, sanjiao, spleen, shenmen, sympathetic	Not reported	Pain relief measured by NRS/adverse effects rate
He and Chen 2019 [26]		Moderate to severe cancer pain	C: 60 (39/21)	C: 59.58 ± 3.55	Not reported	C : Drug (morphine, 10 mg/time, 2/d)		Not reported	Pain relief measured by NRS/adverse effects rate
Jiang et al. 2019 [27]	Malignant tumor or bone metastasis	Moderate to severe cancer pain	E: 60 (29/31)	E: 45.67 ± 22.24	Not reported	E : Auricular point sticking (5–6 points, 3-5 min/point, total 3 weeks)	Subcortical, shenmen, liver, sanjiao, sympathetic	Three weeks	Pain relief measured by NRS/quality of life/treatment compaliance
Jiang et al. 2019 [27]	Malignant tumor or bone metastasis	Moderate to severe cancer pain	C: 60 (31/29)	C: 44.92 ± 24.13	Not reported	C : Drug (Oxycontin, 10 mg/time, 2/d, total 3 weeks)	Subcortical, shenmen, liver, sanjiao, sympathetic	Three weeks
Shen 2009 [28]	Advance d malignant tumor	Moderate to severe cancer pain	E: 23 (12/11)	E: 59.43 ± 10.43	Not reported	E : Ear acupoint-injection (IS) (2–3 points, 1/day, 7 days.)	Corresponding points of main organs invaded by cancer	One course	Pain relief measured by NRS/onset and maintenance time of analgesia/quality of life
Shen 2009 [28]	Advance d malignant tumor	Moderate to severe cancer pain	C: 25 (11/14)	C: 60.24 ± 9.92	Not reported	C : Drug (Oxycontin, 5–10 mg/time, 2/d.)	Corresponding points of main organs invaded by cancer	One course
Sun and Zhang 2016 [29]	Lung cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer	Moderate cancer pain	E: 31 (17/14)	E: 68.40 ± 4.72	Not reported	E : Auricular press needle (3–5 points, change/5 d, 10 days), plus drug.	Subcortical, shenmen, sympathetic, upper ear root, lower ear root	One course	Pain relief measured by NRS
Sun and Zhang 2016 [29]		Moderate cancer pain	C: 31 (15/16)	C: 65.90 ± 5.06	Not reported	C : Drug (tramadol hydrochloride, 100 mg/time, Q12H, 10 days)		One course	Pain relief measured by NRS
Wang et al. 2015 [30]	Malignant tumor or bone metastasis	Moderate to severe cancer pain	E: 30 (23/27)	2.87 ± 10.96	Random number table	E : Ear point embedding (several points, 2–3 min/point, 3/d), plus drug.	Stomach, liver, spleen, cardia, sympathetic, shenmen, subcortical + corresponding points of main organs invaded by cancer	Not reported	Pain relief measured by NRS/adverse effects rate
Wang et al. 2015 [30]	Malignant tumor or bone metastasis	Moderate to severe cancer pain	C: 30 (23/27)	2.87 ± 10.96	Random number table	C : Drug		Not reported	Pain relief measured by NRS/adverse effects rate
Wang et al. 2016 [31]	Advanced malignant tumor	Moderate to severe cancer pain	E: 60 (39/21)	E: 61.7 ± 7.1	Random number table	E : Auricular point sticking (7 points, 2 min/point, 3–4/d, 7 days), plus drug.	Shenmen, sympathetic, subcortical, spleen, sanjiao, rectum, large intestine	One course	Pain relief measured by NRS/adverse effects rate
Wang et al. 2016 [31]	Advanced malignant tumor	Moderate to severe cancer pain	C: 60 (37/23)	C: 62.1 ± 6.7	Random number table	C : Drug (7 days)		One course	Pain relief measured by NRS/adverse effects rate

M, male; F, female; E, experimental group; C, control group; NRS, numerical rating scale; VAS, visual analogue scale.