Controlled Study Using Acupuncture as an Adjuvant to Treat Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting.

摘要

This is a randomized, double blind controlled study designed to assess the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy in cancer patients. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of EA as an adjuvant on N/V in chemotherapy patients who do not respond to conventional antiemetics. Seventy-five outpatients will be recruited from the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) Cancer Center who have shown refractory to 5-HT3 antiemetic and randomized into three treatment groups (n=25 per group): (1) EA: 10 hz, 10 min, (2) EA: 100 Hz, 10 min, and (3) a sham acupuncture control group. Research team personnel are in place and recruitment began in January 2000. As of August 31, 2001, 101 patients had been screened, 18 judged as eligible, and 10 have consented to go on the protocol and have now completed the study. The study has experienced difficulty with obtaining sufficient numbers of patients due to the low prevalence of nausea and vomiting among the chemotherapy patients at the UMB Cancer Center. For this reason an amendment is being submitted to the IBB (and permission will be requested from the DOD) to extend the study into the Cancer Center's Bone Transplant Unit, which (pending approval) will begin in November, 2001.