A Phase 2 interventional study of Acupuncture and Massage in Cancer Pain, sponsored by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Active, not recruiting at 8 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-10-10.
Sponsored by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
The purpose of this study is to compare the long-term effectiveness of acupuncture versus massage in people living with advanced cancer. The study will test how the two approaches compare in helping people with pain and its related symptoms and improving quality of life.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will receive up to 10 treatments in the first 10 weeks (+/- 4 days) and then receive monthly booster treatments (+/- 7 days) for up to 26 weeks.
Procedure: Acupuncture
Participants will receive up to 10 treatments in the first 10 weeks (+/- 4 days) and then receive monthly booster treatments (+/- 7 days) for up to 26 weeks.
Procedure: Massage
Acupuncture, a therapy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by hand or electrical stimulation. If the patient has an electronically charged device, they will not receive TENS stimulation.
Massage, which involves the manual manipulation of muscles and other soft tissue areas of the body, is one of the earliest known forms of pain relief.
Worst Pain
Worst Pain Item from the short-form Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). The short-form BPI will be used to quantify pain severity and pain interference. The BPI contains 4 pain severity items and 7 pain interference items, all rated on a scale from 0 to 10 (higher ratings indicate worse pain intensity/interference).
Time frame: 26 weeks from randomization
Plan to share: Yes — Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center supports the international committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) and the ethical obligation of responsible sharing of data from clinical trials. The protocol summary, a statistical summary, and informed consent form will be made available on clinicaltrials.gov when required as a condition of Federal awards, other agreements supporting the research and/or as otherwise required. Requests for deidentified individual participant data can be made beginning 12 months after publication and for up to 36 months post publication. Deidentified individual participant data reported in the manuscript will be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement and may only be used for approved proposals. Requests may be made to: crdatashare@mskcc.org.
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Oct 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center