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Acupuncture for the Management of Postoperative Pain in Patients With Pancreatic or Colorectal Cancer Undergoing Surgery

Integrating Acupuncture Into Postoperative Pain Management in Patients Undergoing Open Abdominal Operations

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04560712
Enrollment
70
Registered
2020-09-23
Start date
2020-08-12
Completion date
2027-12-31
Last updated
2026-06-12

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

Conditions

Resectable Colorectal Carcinoma, Resectable Digestive System Carcinoma, Resectable Pancreatic Carcinoma

Brief summary

This trial investigates how well acupuncture works for the management of pain after surgery in patients having open colorectal or pancreatic surgery. Acupuncture may help to reduce postoperative symptoms including pain. This study may help researchers learn if acupuncture reduces after-surgery side effects and improves recovery.

Detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: I. Determine the feasibility of providing postoperative acupuncture for patients undergoing open colorectal or pancreatic surgery. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: I. Compare postoperative opioid use for pain management, pain levels, and satisfaction of pain control between acupuncture and standard care groups. EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVE: I. Compare dietary recovery and postoperative length of stay between acupuncture and standard care groups. OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms. ARM I (ACUPUNCTURE): Beginning the day after surgery, patients undergo acupuncture sessions over 25 minutes once daily (QD) for up to 7 days. Patients also undergo usual care including preoperative visits to the primary surgical team, anesthesia preoperative evaluation, referrals to other specialties for perioperative evaluation and optimization of comorbid conditions if necessary, surgical operations, postoperative hospitalization, and post-discharge clinic visits. ARM II (USUAL CARE): Patients undergo usual care including preoperative visits to the primary surgical team, anesthesia preoperative evaluation, referrals to other specialties for perioperative evaluation and optimization of comorbid conditions if necessary, surgical operations, postoperative hospitalization, and post-discharge clinic visits.

Interventions

PROCEDUREAcupuncture Therapy

Undergo acupuncture

OTHERBest Practice

Undergo usual care

OTHERQuestionnaire Administration

Ancillary studies

Sponsors

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Lead SponsorOTHER
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
CollaboratorNIH

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Undergoing open gastrointestinal cancer resection (pancreatic or colorectal) * Must understand and read English * Sign a written informed consent and willing to follow protocol requirements * Able to consent to treatment

Exclusion criteria

* Chronic opioid use \> 90 mg MME (morphine milligram equivalents) for more than 7 days * Mechanical bowel obstruction * Active seizure activity after admission * Compromised cognitive function per referring physician and/or inability to cooperate with acupuncture procedure * Direct admission to intensive care unit after operation will result in removal from protocol * Prior intra-abdominal operation in the past 6 months * Any contraindications to acupuncture including infections or inability to access acupoint sites

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Adherence rate to daily acupunctureUp to 7 daysAcupuncturist will document in the medical record all the treatments participants are completing and also document if missing any treatments.
ComplianceUp to 7 daysAcupuncturist and research coordinator will document in EPIC if participant is compliant with acupuncture sessions (study intervention) and with study questionnaires.
RetentionUp to 7 daysWill be measured as percentage of patients who complete the study out of the number of patients after study randomization.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Postoperative opioid use for pain management24 hoursWill be compared between acupuncture and standard care groups. Will estimate the mean difference and 95% confidence interval (CI). Secondary analyses will be performed using analysis of covariance by adjusting for the postoperative opioid requirement for the first 24 hours (and/or other relevant patient characteristics).
Pain levelsUp to 7 daysPain will be measured by the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI) core symptoms to obatain data on satisfaction of pain control and other symptom mamgement starting on PDO1 and then every other day until discharge
Satisfaction of pain controlUp to 7 daysThe satisfaction of pain control will be assessed using the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI). The MDASI consists of a core list of symptoms that are common across all cancer diagnoses and treatments \[15\]. Participants will rate the intensity of physical, affective, and cognitive symptoms on a 0 to 10 numeric scale from "not present" to "as bad as you can imagine." Participants will also rate the amount of interference with daily activities caused by symptoms on a 0 to 10 numeric scale from "did not interfere" to "interfere completely"

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORLorenzo Cohen

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jun 13, 2026