Effect of acupuncture on patients with cancer-related fatigue during chemotherapy

INTERVENTION: The 112 eligible participants are randomly allocated to two different groups: 1. Participants in the intervention group will receive acupuncture therapy three times a week for 3 weeks. 2. Participants in the control group will receive minimal acupuncture therapy (shallow acupuncture at sham points) three times a week for 3 weeks. All the participants will complete some questionnaires at the start of the study and at the 3rd day, 7th day, 14th day and 21st day during the chemotherapy to find out about any changes in fatigue level, sleep, appetite and emotion. They will be followed up for a chemotherapy cycle (21 days) to assess long‐term effectiveness. CONDITION: Cancer‐related fatigue ; Signs and Symptoms ; Malaise and fatigue PRIMARY OUTCOME: Piper Fatigue Scale‐Chinese Version (PFS‐CV), a multidimensional assessment tool for measuring the level of fatigue subjectively for patients with cancer. It will be assessed before chemotherapy, at the 3rd day, 7th day, 14th day and 21st day during the chemotherapy SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. TCM symptoms scale to evaluate TCM syndrome (deficiency of spleen qi and stomach qi); 2. TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) syndrome will be assessed before chemotherapy and at the 3rd day, 7th day, 14th day and 21st day during the chemotherapy INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Patients with a definite pathologic diagnosis of breast cancer or lung cancer who had completed chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy at least 3 months, or never received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy ever before 2. Aged 18‐75 3. There are at least two cycles of chemotherapy planned during the study program 4. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0‐2 5. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndrome is differentiated as deficiency of spleen qi and stomach qi 6. Anticipated survival time is more than 6 months 7. All patients provided written informed consent before enrollment