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Methods: A cross-sectional and correlational design was used. This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boards (KMUH-IRB-20120114). The participants were a total of 70 lung cancer patients who had received at least one dose of Cisplatin (50-75mg/m2) and had experienced nausea/vomiting during chemotherapy from the chest medicine ward of a medical center located in Southern Taiwan. The research instruments, including a demographic data sheet, the Morrow Assessment of Nausea and Emesis, and the Meridian Energy Analysis Device, were used to collect and monitor participants’ level of nausea/vomiting and changes in meridian energy.
Results: The Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin, Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin, and Mean Meridian Energy values in lung cancer patients receiving chemotherapy ranged from 21.1 to 27.5 microamperes, which were relatively low as compared with the normal meridian energy values (20-60 microamperes). As for demographic characteristics, past history was negatively correlated with the energy of Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin on the left and right sides (r = -.28, p = .020; r = -.27, p = .023, respectively), the energy of Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin on the left and right sides (r = -.38, p = .001; r = -.29, p = .013, respectively), and the Mean Meridian Energy (r = -.29, p = .012). Chemotherapy course was negatively correlated with the energy of Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin on the right side (r = -.25, p = .038) but positively correlated with the level of vomiting (r = .25, p = .036). Experience of car-sickness or sea-sickness was negatively correlated with the level of nausea (r = -.25, p = .036). However, no correlations were found between the level of nausea/vomiting and all meridian energy variables.
Conclusion: The results of this study found that, despite being within the normal range, the Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin, Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin, and Mean Meridian Energy values in patients receiving chemotherapy were only slightly higher than the lower limit of normal range and were far lower than the median value of meridian energy. The low energy indicated that the Qi and blood status of lung cancer patients who received chemotherapy was weaker than that of healthy people. However, this study did not find direct correlations between the level of nausea/vomiting and the Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin, Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin, and Mean Meridian Energy. The reason might be that these lung cancer patients have not yet experienced nausea/vomiting while having a low Mean Meridian Energy, so the correlations between nausea/vomiting and meridian energy could not be established. Therefore, this study could not directly infer whether chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting would affect the changes in the Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin, Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin, and Mean Meridian Energy. Research on this aspect is scarce, so future research might be needed to address these issues.