Clinical trial · Interventional
Efficacy of Hypno-ear-acupuncture on Insomnia in Advanced Cancer Patients
Efficacy of Hypno-ear-acupuncture on Insomnia in Advanced Cancer Patients: a Randomized Clinical Trial
- 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)
This randomized controlled trial aims to test if a combination of medical hypnosis and ear acupuncture improves sleep quality in patients with advanced cancer during a hospital stay in a palliative care unit. Patients submitted to our palliative care unit will receive a medical hypnosis and ear acupuncture on the second day of their stay. Sleep quality will be measured using validated patient-reported outcome measures at baseline and after 7 days. Additionally, the use of sleep medication will be documented as a secondary outcome. The intervention will be compared to a sham medical hypnosis and ear acupuncture to see if the effect of the true intervention has a unique effect.
Conditions
Conditions (3)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insomnia | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Oncology | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Symptoms and Signs | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hypno-ear-acupuncture | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Sham Hypno-ear-acupuncture | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Verum
- description
- Ear acupuncture using permanent needles on predefined acupuncture points followed by a standardized medical hypnosis, needles remain in place for a total of 7 days
- interventionNames
- Procedure: Hypno-ear-acupuncture
- type
- SHAM_COMPARATOR
- label
- Sham
- description
- Ear acupuncture using permanent needles on predefined acupuncture sham points followed by a standardized story without induction of a hypnotic trance, needles remain in place for a total of 7 days
- interventionNames
- Procedure: Sham Hypno-ear-acupuncture
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ)
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * histologically confirmed cancer * RCSQ total score \<25mm * ability to read and understand the questionnaires * ability to give informed consent Exclusion Criteria: * pregnancy * language barrier (non German) * inability to give informed consent * hypacusis * radiographical verified brain metastases * diagnosed psychosis
References
Publications (2)
- BACKGROUNDAhlberg R, Skarberg K, Brus O, Kjellin L. Auricular acupuncture for substance use: a randomized controlled trial of effects on anxiety, sleep, drug use and use of addiction treatment services. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2016 Jul 25;11(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s13011-016-0068-z. PMID 27451854
- BACKGROUNDLam TH, Chung KF, Lee CT, Yeung WF, Yu BY. Hypnotherapy for insomnia: A randomized controlled trial comparing generic and disease-specific suggestions. Complement Ther Med. 2018 Dec;41:231-239. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2018.10.008. Epub 2018 Oct 9. PMID 30477846