Use of NADA ear acupuncture in an adolescent patient with phantom limb pain after surgery for osteosarcoma.

Your readers may be interested to hear of our experiences with ear acupuncture, as they may recall the recent letter by Tseng et al describing scalp acupuncture in a 74-year-old patient suffering from phantom limb pain. We used National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) acupuncture in an adolescent girl suffering from phantom limb pain after hemipelvectomy for osteosarcoma. Positive effects were found on pain and personal well-being evaluated using the Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW) questionnaire. Acupuncture is increasingly used as an adjunct therapy in oncology to treat pain and other symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. However, the evidence in paediatric oncology is scarce, and limited to studies describing a reduction in pain or vomiting. Contributing factors for the lack of evidence might be fear of needles or vulnerability of the patients. Ear acupuncture is used to treat a variety of disorders including both psychological and somatic diseases. 6 Currently, more than 100 ear acupuncture points are known. The NADA protocol combines five ear acupuncture points (Shenmen (point 55), Liver (point 97), Kidney (point 95), Lung (point 101) and Sympathetic point (point 51) on both ears) with a non-verbal patient approach and group therapy as a simple treatment concept to treat drug withdrawal. The NADA protocol has been reported to be effective independent of the type of addictive substance.