Clinical trial · Interventional
Effect of Acupuncture vs Chinese Medicine vs Combined Therapy on Aromatase Inhibitor-related Arthralgia Among Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Aromatase inhibitors have been used to treat hormone receptor positive breast cancer women in menopause, but side effects, such as joint pain, would affect their qualities of life. Chinese herbs or acupuncture provides promising clinical effects and plays an important role on alleviating the side effects of cancer treatment. This clinical trial will evaluate the effect of the acupuncture, Chinese medicine, and the combination of both on joint pain related to aromatase inhibitors among women with early-stage breast cancers.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arthralgia | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| acupuncture | Device | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Guizhi-Shaoyao-Zhimu decoction | Drug | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (3)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- acupuncture group
- description
- Stainless steel, disposable, sterile needles choosing based on the needs of different body parts (0.22 gauge x 25mm, 0.22 gauge x 40mm, or 0.25 gauge x 100mm) were inserted to acupoints at traditional depths and angles.
- interventionNames
- Device: acupuncture
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Chinese medicine group
- description
- The Chinese medicine group used Guizhi-Shaoyao-Zhimu decoction (GZSD) as their medical intervention. The GZSD samples were made and packed by Sun Ten Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a firm that meets the requirements of the good manufacturing practice (GMP) certification in Taiwan. Every 4g of concentrated GZSD was sealed in an isolated paper drug bag.
- interventionNames
- Drug: Guizhi-Shaoyao-Zhimu decoction
- type
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- Female
- Minimum age
- 20 Years
- Maximum age
- 90 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Women with diagnosis of early breast cancer (stages I-III), expressing hormone receptor-positive (ER+, PR+, or both) and took third generation aromatase inhibitors (AIs). 2. Post- or pre-menopausal with the use of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist. 3. Taking AIs for more than 30 days before registration and planned to continue treatment for over 1 year. 4. Have already been recovered from the surgery or chemotherapy. 5. Have a ECOG performance status score of 0 to 1. 6. Joint pain which has developed or worsened since starting AIs therapy. The worst pain item score of Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF) is at least 3 and above. 7. Have a Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) grading scale for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy score of 1 to 2. 8. The patient could cooperate the intervention and sign the informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Had received acupuncture treatment for joint pain would be excluded, but patients with acupuncture treatment for less than 2 times due to other reasons could be included. 2. Had a history of fractures or underwent surgery on the knee or hand joints in the past six months. 3. Had severe bleeding disorders. The platelet counts are below 50,000 per μl. 4. Cognitive disorders (included dementia). 5. Lymphedema after breast cancer surgery.
References
Publications (0)
Data not yet available