Feasibility Trial Self-Acupuncture for Chemotherapy Cancer Patients

Launched by UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON HOSPITALS · Jun 28, 2023

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is exploring whether teaching cancer patients to perform self-acupuncture can help relieve symptoms related to cancer and the side effects of chemotherapy. Patients will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: one group will receive standard cancer care along with self-acupuncture training, while the other group will only receive standard care. The training consists of a 1.5-hour workshop led by experienced practitioners. The trial aims to understand how feasible and acceptable this self-acupuncture approach is, as well as to gather initial data on its effectiveness.

To participate in the trial, patients must be over 16 years old, diagnosed with cancer, and scheduled to receive chemotherapy that aims to cure their condition. However, patients who are receiving palliative care, have certain health issues, or are afraid of needles are not eligible. Throughout the trial, participants will fill out questionnaires to track their experiences and share their thoughts in interviews after treatment. This feedback will help researchers determine how well self-acupuncture might work for cancer patients in the future.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Patients due to receive radical (curative) intravenous chemotherapy (any chemotherapy regime).
• • Patients of either gender and older than 16 years old.
• • Patients with any cancer diagnosis.
• • Patients willing to participate in the study and be randomised to one of the two treatment arms.
• • Patients willing to attend the self-acupuncture workshop, and self-administer acupuncture, if assigned to the intervention.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Palliative patients.
• • Patients unwilling to participate (for instance due to needle phobia).
• • Patients currently receiving acupuncture.
• • Patients with a platelet count \<20 000mm.
• • Patients with a white blood cell count \<1000mm.
• • Patients with severe clotting dysfunction or who bruise spontaneously.
• • Patients unable to complete the questionnaires as judged by the investigators.