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Acupuncture for Joint Symptoms in Patients With Breast Cancer

NCT03836872 · Status: TERMINATED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 64

Last updated 2022-08-25

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Joint symptoms including stiffness, local pain and aches are common adverse reactions among breast cancer (BC) patients undergoing hormone treatments, while effective interventions for managing such symptoms have not been well explored so far. Acupuncture can be a promising approach to controlling joint symptoms in BC patients but current research evidence generated from several small-scale clinical studies have not been robust enough to support the use of acupuncture for cancer symptom management in routine practice.

The overall aim of the research project is to examine the effectiveness of a 6-week acupuncture protocol for the management of joint symptoms in Chinese female BC patients who are currently undergoing hormone treatments following the completion of taxane-based chemotherapy. Given the lack of available data regarding the prevalence of joint symptoms in BC patients in mainland China, a large cross-sectional survey will also be performed to examine the incidence of joint symptoms among Chinese BC patients in mainland China and the impact of joint symptoms on patients' quality of life.

Conditions

  • Female Breast Cancer

Interventions

DEVICE

Acupuncture

Patients in the experimental group will receive, in addition to standard care, a standardised 30-minute acupuncture session needling specific acupoints although there will be flexibility in case some points cannot be punctured (e. g. in case of lymphoedema), and alternative points (as in routine practice) may be selected by the acupuncture practitioner using their discretion to maintain an equal dose of treatment to all patients. Bilateral acupoints will be stimulated. These points will include Waiguan (SJ5), Jianjing (GB21), Yanglingquan (GB34), Hegu (LI4), Jiexi (ST41) and Taixi (K3). In addition, joint specific acupoints will also be used, depending on where the joint symptoms are present.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The Affiliated Hospital Of Southwest Medical University

    collaborator OTHER

  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Alex Molassiotis, PhD · The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-03-01
Primary Completion
2022-01-10
Completion
2022-01-31

Countries

  • China

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03836872 on ClinicalTrials.gov