Clinical trial · Interventional
Assessment of Cancer Pain in Emergency Department in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Assessment of Cancer Pain in Emergency Department in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): A Study Protocol for a Clinical Trial
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Why stopped (as posted): The study was terminated and the PI has left the institution.
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Pain control is a common and serious problem in cancer patients. Although WHO has developed a three-stage model of cancer pain management, 80% cancer patients still suffer moderate to severe pain in their daily life. When patients are with acute exacerbation or aggravate of pain, they usually visit the emergency department for more help. Acupuncture is a safe, low-invasive and economic treatment. And it has been world-wide used as a complementary therapy among patients with cancer. It can not only relieve pain in cancer patients, but also can reduce some of the side effects caused by some treatment. This study is aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in cancer patient with acute pain onset through emergency department with objective Traditional Chinese Medicine assessment.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neoplasms | Neoplasm | ONTOLOGY_EXACT | 0.90 |
| Pain | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| acupuncture | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Vaccaria seed | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- acupuncture
- description
- Experimental group would receive acupuncture at specific acupoints for 15 minutes.
- interventionNames
- Procedure: acupuncture
- type
- SHAM_COMPARATOR
- label
- seed
- description
- Control group would receive another intervention that we would put Vaccaria seeds near the acupoints but without acupressure for the same period.
- interventionNames
- Procedure: Vaccaria seed
Primary outcomes (2)
- measure
- Visual Analog Scale
- timeFrame
- 15 minutes after intervention
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 20 Years
- Maximum age
- 75 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Age 20 to 75 years, either gender. * Visit emergency department * Chief complaint is pain. * Diagnosed by oncologist with International Classification of Diseases 9th revision (ICD-9) code between 140.0 to 239.9. Exclusion Criteria: * Serious comorbid conditions (for example, life-threatening condition). * Patients who cannot communicate reliably with the investigator or who are not likely to obey the instructions of the trial. * Pregnancy status.
References
Publications (4)
- BACKGROUNDGarcia MK, McQuade J, Haddad R, Patel S, Lee R, Yang P, Palmer JL, Cohen L. Systematic review of acupuncture in cancer care: a synthesis of the evidence. J Clin Oncol. 2013 Mar 1;31(7):952-60. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2012.43.5818. Epub 2013 Jan 22. PMID 23341529
- BACKGROUNDChiu J, Yau T, Epstein RJ. Complications of traditional Chinese/herbal medicines (TCM)--a guide for perplexed oncologists and other cancer caregivers. Support Care Cancer. 2009 Mar;17(3):231-40. doi: 10.1007/s00520-008-0526-x. Epub 2008 Nov 14. PMID 19009311
- BACKGROUNDvan den Beuken-van Everdingen MH, de Rijke JM, Kessels AG, Schouten HC, van Kleef M, Patijn J. Prevalence of pain in patients with cancer: a systematic review of the past 40 years. Ann Oncol. 2007 Sep;18(9):1437-49. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdm056. Epub 2007 Mar 12. PMID 17355955
- BACKGROUNDAzevedo Sao Leao Ferreira K, Kimura M, Jacobsen Teixeira M. The WHO analgesic ladder for cancer pain control, twenty years of use. How much pain relief does one get from using it? Support Care Cancer. 2006 Nov;14(11):1086-93. doi: 10.1007/s00520-006-0086-x. Epub 2006 Jun 8. PMID 16761128