Adjuvant Acupuncture Care for Breast Cancer Patients Experiencing Side Effects From Chemotherapy

Adjuvant Acupuncture Care for Breast Cancer Patients Experiencing Side Effects From Chemotherapy. A Randomised Controlled Pilot and Feasibility Study

Status

Terminated

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT00885183

Acronym

Acubreast

Enrollment

Registered

2009-04-21

Start date

2009-04-30

Completion date

2014-06-30

Last updated

2019-07-01

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Breast Cancer

Keywords

breast cancer, chemotherapy, adjuvant therapy, acupuncture, fatigue, Early stage breast cancer patients

Brief summary

Breast cancer patients report many symptoms while undergoing conventional care, including nausea/vomiting, fatigue, pain, depression and anxiety. Existing interventions to address these common side effects of treatment are limited. Patients diagnosed with cancer frequently seek complementary medicine (CAM), and there is a need to investigate potential effects of CAM therapies. This phased pilot and feasibility study has two aims: 1. Develop an acupuncture treatment protocol for adjuvant acupuncture care for breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy using structured interviews with established acupuncture teams in Norway. 2. Implement the treatment protocol in a pilot study to evaluate outcome measures, effect sizes and acceptability of acupuncture care delivered alongside conventional care. Study results will support the design of future research; including a Phase III randomised controlled trial.

Interventions

PROCEDUREAcupuncture therapy

12 acupuncture treatment sessions for a period of 16 weeks

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

FEMALE

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Females, 18 years or older with early stage breast cancer, no previous chemotherapy and no metastatic disease

Exclusion criteria

* Needle phobia, use of anticoagulant drugs, inability to comply with study regimen

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Fatigue scale	Weeks 16 and 29

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Health related quality of life: EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQ-BR23, MYCaw	Weeks 16, 19 and 29
Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS)	Weeks 16, 19 and 29

Countries

Norway

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026