Acupuncture in Treating Hot Flashes in Women With Breast Cancer

N/ACompletedNCT00081965

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center80 enrolled

Overview

RATIONALE: Acupuncture may help relieve hot flashes in women with breast cancer. It is not yet known whether acupuncture is more effective than a placebo in treating hot flashes in women with breast cancer PURPOSE: This randomized clinical trial is studying acupuncture to see how well it works compared to a placebo in treating hot flashes in women with breast cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Determine whether acupuncture, compared to placebo, reduces the incidence of hot flashes in women with breast cancer. Secondary * Determine the long-term effects of acupuncture on hot flashes. OUTLINE: This a randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to concurrent treatment with selective estrogen receptor modulators, gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, or aromatase inhibitors (yes vs no), concurrent use of hot flash medication or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (yes vs no), baseline hot flash frequency (\> 7 per day), and menopausal status at diagnosis (premenopausal vs postmenopausal). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. * Arm I (treatment): Patients receive 8 acupuncture treatments over 4 weeks. * Arm II (control): Patients receive 8 placebo acupuncture treatments over 4 weeks. Beginning at week 7, patients are offered 8 true acupuncture treatments over 4 weeks. Patients in both arms complete a "hot flash" diary for 1 week before treatment and then periodically during and after treatment. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 80 patients will be accrued for this study.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Enrollment

Conditions

Breast Cancer Hot Flashes

Interventions

acupuncture therapyPROCEDURE

hot flashes attenuationPROCEDURE

management of therapy complicationsPROCEDURE

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALE

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Diagnosis of breast cancer (including in situ disease) * Must be receiving treatment for breast cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) or its regional site (Commack) * Has an average of 3 or more hot flashes a day during 1 week of baseline diary recording * Hormone receptor status not specified PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: * Female * Pre- or postmenopausal * Karnofsky performance status 70-100% * Ambulatory * No skin infection PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: * More than 3 weeks since prior and no concurrent treatment with any of the following during the 6 week evaluation period of the trial: * Surgery * Initiation of a new chemotherapy regimen * Initiation of immunotherapy * Initiation of radiotherapy * Initiation or cessation of hormonal therapy * More than 6 weeks since prior acupuncture treatment (6 months for acupuncture specifically for the treatment of hot flashes) * No concurrent pharmacological treatment for hot flashes unless dose has been stable for 4 weeks * No concurrent selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) unless dose has been stable for 4 weeks

Locations (1)

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

New York, New York, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Frequency and severity of hot flashes, as measured by a hot flash diary

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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