Clinical trial · Interventional
Effect of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation or Acupressure on Pain in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer
Effect of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) or Acupressure on Pain in Patients With Head and Neck 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)
This clinical trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), acupressure intervention, or standard care (control group) for pain management in participants hospitalized with head and neck cancer. This study aims to answer the following questions: * Is TENS or acupressure intervention effective in reducing pain in participants hospitalized with head and neck cancer compared with the control group? * Does TENS or acupressure intervention improve psychological distress (measured by the Brief Health Inventory (BMI)) in these participants? * Does TENS or acupressure intervention improve the quality of life of participants hospitalized with head and neck cancer? Researchers will compare the effects of TENS, acupressure, and standard care to assess the effects of each group on pain, psychological distress (measured by the Brief Health Inventory (BMI)), and quality of life.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer Pain | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Head and Neck Cancer | Malignant Head and Neck Neoplasm | ALIAS | 0.90 |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acupressure | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (3)
- type
- NO_INTERVENTION
- label
- Control group
- description
- Maintain normal treatment without any intervention
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
- description
- The transcutaneous electrical stimulation group used a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator daily, with electrode patches attached to the unilateral Hegu and Lieque points respectively, providing 20 minutes of 80-100 HZ TENS, 3 times a day, and the electrical stimulation was adjusted to a level that the subjects felt was comfortable.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Acupressure
- description
- The acupressure group selected Hegu and Lieque points for the treatment, placed the acupoint stickers on the acupoints of both hands, and pressed each acupoint with the thumb and index finger for 1 minute, 3 times a day, each time for about 4 minutes.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 20 Years
- Maximum age
- 100 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Participant inclusion criteria: 1. Age ≥ 20 years old 2. Inpatients diagnosed with head and neck cancer 3. Conscious and able to communicate in Mandarin and Taiwanese 4. Suffering from pain problems and requiring pain medication 5. Participants agree to participate in this study. Participant exclusion criteria: 1. Those with nerve conduction disorders 2. Pregnant women 3. Those whose pain is not caused by tumors 4. Those with a history of epilepsy 5. Those with skin infections 6. Those who are allergic to the patch 7. Those with implanted devices such as pacemakers 8. Those who still disagree with the study content and are unable to cooperate with the researchers after the researchers' explanation.
References
Publications (21)
- BACKGROUNDBijur PE, Silver W, Gallagher EJ. Reliability of the visual analog scale for measurement of acute pain. Acad Emerg Med. 2001 Dec;8(12):1153-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2001.tb01132.x. PMID 11733293
- BACKGROUNDBrant JM, Eaton LH, Irwin MM. Cancer-Related Pain: Assessment and Management With Putting Evidence Into Practice Interventions . Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2017 Jun 1;21(3 Suppl):4-7. doi: 10.1188/17.CJON.S3.4-7. PMID 28524908
- BACKGROUNDChou YH, Yeh ML, Huang TS, Hsu H. Acupoint stimulation improves pain and quality of life in head and neck cancer patients with chemoradiotherapy: A randomized controlled trial. Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs. 2021 Dec 25;9(1):61-68. doi: 10.1016/j.apjon.2021.11.002. eCollection 2022 Jan. PMID 35528798
- BACKGROUNDGe L, Wang Q, He Y, Wu D, Zhou Q, Xu N, Yang K, Chen Y, Zhang AL, Hua H, Huang J, Hui KK, Liang F, Wang L, Xu B, Yang Y, Zhang W, Zhao B, Zhu B, Guo X, Xue CC, Zhang H; International Trustworthy traditional Chinese Medicine Recommendations (TCM Recs) Working Group. Acupuncture for cancer pain: an evidence-based clinical practice guideline. Chin Med. 2022 Jan 5;17(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s13020-021-00558-4. PMID 34983587
- BACKGROUNDGift AG. Visual analogue scales: measurement of subjective phenomena. Nurs Res. 1989 Sep-Oct;38(5):286-8. No abstract available. PMID 2678015
- BACKGROUNDHarrington CB, Hansen JA, Moskowitz M, Todd BL, Feuerstein M. It's not over when it's over: long-term symptoms in cancer survivors--a systematic review. Int J Psychiatry Med. 2010;40(2):163-81. doi: 10.2190/PM.40.2.c. PMID 20848873
- BACKGROUNDHermann GM, Iovoli AJ, Platek AJ, Wang C, Miller A, Attwood K, Bourgeois DJ, Singh AK. A single-institution, randomized, pilot study evaluating the efficacy of gabapentin and methadone for patients undergoing chemoradiation for head and neck squamous cell cancer. Cancer. 2020 Apr 1;126(7):1480-1491. doi: 10.1002/cncr.32676. Epub 2019 Dec 23.