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CompletedNCT05868850Updated Jan 31, 2024

Application of Auricular Point Sticking in Patients With Taste Alteration

An interventional study of auricular point sticking in Dysgeusia, Acupressure and Chemotherapy Effect, sponsored by Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University. Completed at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-01-31.

Sponsored by Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
120
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 85 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

To explore the intervention effect of auricular point sticking on chemotherapy-induced taste alterations in cancer patients, and analyze its relationship with quality of life, nutritional status and psychology of patients.

Read the detailed description

Taste alteration is a common adverse reaction in patients with chemotherapy. The incidence of taste alteration varies with chemotherapy drugs, ranging from 36% to 84%, among which platinum chemotherapeutic drugs are most likely to cause severe taste alteration. The taste alteration does not pose a serious threat to the life of patients, so it is often ignored by patients and medical staff. Dysgeusia is positively correlated with the loss of appetite, which can directly lead to the loss of appetite and insufficient intake of nutrients in patients, and even stimulate patients' anxiety, psychological pain and other negative emotions. In severe cases, it can cause malnutrition, reduce the chemotherapy compliance of cancer patients, and ultimately reduce the quality of life of patients. Therefore, for patients with platinum chemotherapy, it is necessary to pay close attention to the change of taste during chemotherapy, and apply effective nursing interventions to pay attention as soon as possible, so as to improve the quality of life of patients.

02

Conditions studied

  • Dysgeusia
  • Acupressure
  • Chemotherapy Effect

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03

In context

Dysgeusia

52 studies on the registry are indexed under Dysgeusia; 12 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 120 is above the median of 49 across 28 interventional studies indexed under Dysgeusia.

Browse Dysgeusia studies →

Lead sponsor

Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University is the lead sponsor of 28 studies on the registry; 11 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 85 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

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

  1. Patients with malignant tumors diagnosed by histopathology or pathology;
  2. Age ≥18 years old;
  3. Patients who received platinum-based chemotherapy and completed at least one cycle of chemotherapy;
  4. According to the chemotherapy-induced taste Changes Scale (CiTAS), the score of patients was ≥6;
  5. Patients voluntarily participated in the treatment with good compliance and adherence.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with treatment plan adjustment or concurrent radiotherapy;
  2. Patients with abnormal taste and malnutrition caused by various reasons before chemotherapy;
  3. Patients with inflammation of the external ear or eczema, ulcers, chilblain in the pressing area;
  4. Allergic or intolerant to adhesive stickers;
  5. Those who were lost to follow-up or withdrew voluntarily;
  6. Patients enrolled in other studies at the same time.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
120 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Routine care group

    The control group receives routine nursing, including admission education, routine nursing of adverse reactions to chemotherapy, diet guidance for chemotherapy patients, precautions for various examinations, discharge guidance and follow-up.

  • Experimental
    Auricular point sticking group

    Auricular point sticking therapy is performed on the basis of control group. The acupoint intervention group is established, and the research team consists of 2 graduate students, 1 graduate supervisor, 1 head nurse, 1 chief physician of traditional Chinese medicine, and 1 nursing expert. The nursing expert is responsible for the overall design of the project, and the director of traditional Chinese medicine is responsible for the selection of acupoints and the training of nurses for massage. The supervisor of graduate students and the head nurse are responsible for the overall quality control of the intervention process, while the graduate students are responsible for the preliminary and final screening of research objects, the implementation of intervention programs, the organization, coordination and recording of the entire intervention process and the collection of data.

    Behavioral: auricular point sticking

Interventions

  • Behavioralauricular point sticking

    1. Acupoint selection: Select Shenmen, spleen, stomach, liver, sympathetic, tongue, digestive system under the cortex, three focal, ear-back spleen. 2. Operation: Use 75% ethanol to disinfect auricular broad skin; To be dry, use tweezers to pick up the middle of the small square tape stuck with Wang do not line seeds, align the indentation and stick well, press gently with the finger abdomen, the strength to the patient feel acid swelling, pain and heat sense and can tolerate it. 3. Press frequency and course of treatment: it is asked to press 4 times a day, once in the morning, middle and evening before going to bed, 3-5 minutes each time, the duration of hospitalization for patients with chemotherapy is generally 3-5 days, intervention begins on the first day of chemotherapy medication, the day of discharge for patients to replace the other side of the ear acupoint, removed after 4 days of discharge. A total of 2 chemotherapy courses were treated.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Taste alterations

    The Chinese version of the Chemotherapy-induced Taste Alteration Scale (CiTAS), was used to assess the patients' taste alterations. The scale has 18 items in three dimensions, namely taste alteration, unpleasant taste alteration, unpleasant symptoms and problems. The scale is a Like-5 scale with a minimum score of 18 and a maximum score of 90, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms of taste alterations. The scale has been verified by research and has good reliability and validity.

    Time frame: T1: Baseline. T2:2 weeks. T3: 4 weeks. T4:5 weeks.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Quality of life for cancer patients

    With the use of the European Organization for Research on Treatment of Cancer, the most widely used guideline in clinical practice, The EORTC Quality of Life Core Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) was used to evaluate the quality of life of patients.A total of 30 items and 15 domains were included, including 5 functional domains, 9 symptom domains and 1 general health/quality of life domain. Among them, the general health status/quality of life domain was divided into 7 grades, which were calculated from 1 to 7 points according to the answer options. Other items were on a 4-point scale, and "never", "a little", "a lot" and "a lot" were scored from 1 to 4 respectively. The domain score was obtained by summing the item scores included in each domain and dividing by the number of items included, ranging from 0 to 100. A lower score indicates a better quality of life.

    Time frame: T1: Baseline. T2:2 weeks. T3: 4 weeks. T4:5 weeks. T5:8 weeks.

  2. Anxiety and depression

    The Chinese version of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess the anxiety and depression level of patients. There were 14 items in total, including 7 items for anxiety and 7 items for depression. Each item was scored from 0 to 3, with a minimum score of 0 and a maximum score of 42, and the higher the score, the more serious the level of anxiety and depression.

    Time frame: T1: Baseline. T2:2 weeks. T3:4 weeks. T4:5 weeks. T5:8 weeks.

  3. Nutritional status 1

    The nutritional status of patients was evaluated according to their weight.

    Time frame: T1: baseline(Data were collected before the intervention). T2: 4 weeks. T3:8 weeks.

  4. Nutritional status 2

    The nutritional status of patients was evaluated according to their BMI.BMI= weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of height (in meters). The standard of BMI for Chinese adult residents is about 18.4, less than or equal to 18.4 is thin, 18.5 to 23.9 is normal, 24 to 27.9 is overweight, and more than or equal to 28 is obese.

    Time frame: T1: baseline(Data were collected before the intervention). T2: 4 weeks. T3:8 weeks.

  5. Nutritional status 3

    The nutritional status of patients was evaluated according weight loss rate.

    Time frame: T1: baseline(Data were collected before the intervention). T2: 4 weeks. T3:8 weeks.

  6. Nutritional status 4

    The nutritional status of patients was evaluated according to their serum total protein and albumin index.

    Time frame: T1: baseline(Data were collected before the intervention). T2: 4 weeks.

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University
    Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
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 Jun 2023 to primary completion in Sep 2023, 3 months.

Of 18 interventional studies with no phase under Dysgeusia, half reached primary completion within 11 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 16. This study's 3 months is below that.

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

Registered
Apr 24, 2023
First posted
May 22, 2023
StartActual
Jun 3, 2023
Primary completionActual
Sep 30, 2023
CompletionActual
Dec 30, 2023
Last update
Jan 31, 2024
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 Jan 31, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05868850
Lead sponsor
Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 22, 2023
Start date
Jun 3, 2023
Primary completion
Sep 30, 2023
Completion
Dec 30, 2023
Last update
Jan 31, 2024

Study contacts

Quan Liu, Doctor
study chair · Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University

Oversight

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

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