Moxibustion is a
traditional Chinese medicine therapy using made from dried
mugwort (
Artemisia argyi). Available scientific evidence does not support claims that moxibustion is effective in preventing or treating cancer or any other disease, but it plays an important role in the traditional
medical systems of
China (including
Tibet),
Japan,
Korea,
Vietnam, and
Mongolia. Suppliers usually age the mugwort and grind it up to a fluff; practitioners burn the fluff or process it further into a
cigar-shaped stick. They can use it indirectly, with
acupuncture needles, or burn it on the patient's skin.