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CompletedNCT04511832Updated Jul 20, 2022

Comparative Effectiveness of Acupuncture and Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs for the Management of Aromatase Inhibitor Induced Arthralgia Among Breast Cancer Survivors

An interventional study of Diclofenac in Breast Cancer, sponsored by China Medical University Hospital. Completed at 1 site in Taiwan. Open to participants aged 20 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-07-20.

Sponsored by China Medical University Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 3 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Mar 2018, registered Jul 2020).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
54
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
20 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Hormone therapy is used to treat women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and aromatase inhibitor (AI) is administered after menopause. AI therapy has been proven to be effective in improving the disease-free survival rate, decreasing the recurrence rates and a lower incidence of contralateral breast cancer. However, arthralgia frequently reported as an important adverse event of AI therapy and sometimes resulted in noncompliance with AI therapy. The prevalence of AI induced arthralgia rates ranged from 20 to 74%. Inadequately managed AI induced arthralgia remains a major unmet need in oncology practice in breast cancer survivors.

The goal of this project is to conduct a crossover designed pragmatic clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture versus NSAID (Diclofenac) for the management of aromatase inhibitor induced arthralgia.

The third group was set to use non-steroidal analgesics plus acupuncture to evaluate the effectiveness of joint pain.

02

Conditions studied

  • Breast Cancer

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Keywords

  • Acupuncture
03

In context

Breast Neoplasms

12,815 studies on the registry are indexed under Breast Neoplasms; 2,920 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 54 is below the median of 72 across 9,494 interventional studies indexed under Breast Neoplasms.

Browse Breast Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

China Medical University Hospital is the lead sponsor of 479 studies on the registry; 115 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Women who were postmenopausal aged more than 20 years old.
  • history of stage 0 to III hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, and currently taking a third-generation AI (anastrozole, letrozole, or exemestane) for at least 3 month.
  • Those who reported pain and/or stiffness in one or more joints, which started or worsened after initiation of AI therapy had worst joint pain rated at least three or greater on a 0-10 numerical rating scale in the preceding week.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • any prior acupuncture use for AI-induced joint symptoms or acupuncture within 1 months before entry
  • inflammatory, metabolic, or neuropathic arthropathies
  • bone fracture/surgery of an afflicted extremity during the preceding 6 months
  • allergy to NSAID
  • current use of narcotics
  • bleeding or coagulation disorders
  • localized skin infections
  • needle phobia
  • intra-articular corticosteroid within 4 weeks preceding the study
  • any severe chronic or uncontrolled comorbid disease
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
54 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Acupuncture to NSAIDs

    Drug: Diclofenac

  • Experimental
    NSAIDs to Acupuncture

    Drug: Diclofenac

  • Experimental
    Combined both acupuncture and NSAIDs

    Drug: Diclofenac

Interventions

  • Patients who were diagnosed as breast cancer and met the inclusion criteria will be recruited and randomly assigned to acupuncture group or drug (NSAIDs) group. After each subgroup completing the 4 weeks intervention, all the participants were enter washout period lasting 2 weeks to eliminate the effect of the previous treatment. Crossover was held after washout period and made the patients to have the other treatment in the following 4 weeks. After receiving the case, the third group recorded the pain indicators for the first month, followed by a one-month trial- combination of acupuncture and NSAID treatment, and then followed up for another month after stopping.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Acupuncture can improve joint symptoms resulting from aromatase inhibitor and quality of life

    Patients will be asked to complete a baseline questionnaire covering demographic information and reproductive history. At baseline and at 4, 6 and 10 weeks, self-administered questionnaires including the 10mm visual analogue scales. Follow-up assessments will be conducted at the 4 weeks after the end of intervention. According to statistically estimation, we compare the changes between three subgroups and hypothesize 20% difference as significant effect after intervention. We use ANOVA to calculate the sample size with an alpha of 0.05 as significance level, approximately 80% power and 20% drop-out rate. The trial will enroll 145 participants.

    Time frame: one year

07

Study locations

1 site
  • China Medical University Hospital
    Taichung, Taiwan
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Mar 2018 to primary completion in Dec 2021, 45 months.

Of 2,272 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Breast Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 34 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 16 and three quarters within 69. This study's 45 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 2,345 studies reached it within 34 months; a quarter within 16 and three quarters within 69.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 24, 2020
First posted
Aug 13, 2020
StartActual
Mar 28, 2018
Primary completionActual
Dec 31, 2021
CompletionActual
Dec 31, 2021
Last update
Jul 20, 2022
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 20, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04511832
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 13, 2020
Start date
Mar 28, 2018
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2021
Completion
Dec 31, 2021
Last update
Jul 20, 2022

Study contacts

China Medicine University China Medicine University
study chair · China Medicine University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Diclofenac

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