Endometriosis : Traditional Medicine vs Hormone Therapy

January 23, 2008 updated by: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
This 36-week study will determine whether traditional Chinese medicine (acupuncture and Chinese herbs) is as effective as hormone therapy for alleviating endometriosis-related pelvic pain.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Endometriosis is a significant public health problem affecting 10-15% of women of childbearing age, many of whom suffer persistent pelvic pain and infertility. Therapeutic options include surgery and hormone therapy that are often temporarily effective but produce unwanted side-effects. The present proposal, based on case series reports of the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM: acupuncture and Chinese herbs) for this condition, aims to evaluate whether TCM is as effective as hormone therapy for alleviating endometriosis-related chronic pain.

Women with laparoscopy-diagnosed endometriosis will be randomly assigned to either TCM or hormone therapy. Women assigned to TCM will be divided into four sub-groups on the basis of the diagnostic categories of endometriosis recognized by TCM. A pre-established acupuncture protocol and herbal formula specific for each sub-group will be followed. This aspect of the research design permits an important feature of the clinical practice of TCM (matching treatment to sub-group diagnosis) to be adopted in a clinical trial. Women assigned to hormone therapy will be treated with the gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa), nafarelin, chosen for this study on the basis of its clinical trial-established efficacy, ease of patient usage via intranasal spray and milder side-effect profile relative to other GnRHa's. Pelvic pain symptoms (patient-scored) and signs (physician-scored) will be assessed at baseline, after 12 weeks of treatment, and at 12- and 24-week post-treatment follow-up. Pelvic examination scores will be determined by a physician blinded to the treatment group assignments. Side effects, including those of pseudomenopause known to result from GnRHa therapy, will be recorded in both groups at 4-week intervals during the 12-week treatment, and at each follow-up time. A further objective is to make a preliminary assessment of whether diagnostic sub-groups of endometriosis recognized by TCM serve as predictors of differential response to hormone therapy. Data obtained from this study, on treatment effectiveness, side effect profiles, recurrence of symptoms, compliance with therapy and drop-out rates, will be used to design a large-scale clinical trial.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
50

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97201
        • Oregon Health Sciences University, Women's Health Research Unit
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97216
        • Oregon College of Oriental Medicine Clinic

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 45 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Women with laparoscopy-confirmed endometriosis within the past 6 years
  • Experiencing chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea (painful periods) and dyspareunia (painful intercourse), at least one of which is moderate to severe

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Use of traditional Chinese medicine for endometriosis. If previous treatment with hormone therapy, must have responded positively but not have been on hormone therapy within the past 6 months
  • Use of any form of hormone-based contraception during the 12-week treatment and 24-week follow-up periods
  • Diagnosed with any chronic condition other than endometriosis, or any other acute condition that causes pain
  • Pregnancy or breast feeding

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Pain assessments

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Richard Hammerschlag, PhD, Oregon College of Oriental Medicine
  • Principal Investigator: Kenneth Burry, MD, Oregon Health and Science University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 1, 2002

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
April 19, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 19, 2002

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
April 22, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
January 25, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 23, 2008

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • R21AT000453-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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