Acupuncture for Pain of Endometriosis

Acupuncture for Pain of Endometriosis: A Multicenter, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

This proposed trial is a multicenter,randomized and controlled clinical trial. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for treating pain of Endometriosis.The trial period will consist of three menstrual cycles of treatment, and three menstrual cycles in the follow-up period.We put forward the following hypothesis: the effect of acupuncture group is better than the control group on relieving pain.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Endometriosis is a kind of chronic gynaecology disease that endometrial tissue appear outside the uterine cavity , the main symptoms include dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility, etc. .The secondary progressive and aggravating dysmenorrhea is thought to be the most typical symptom of endometriosis.The epidemiology data shows that about 87.7% endometriosis patients accompany with dysmenorrhea, affecting majority of women's physical and mental health and quality of life seriously .The treatment for dysmenorrhea is still the key and pressing problem of endometriosis.Endometriotic lesions can be excised or ablated surgically, but the risk of recurrence is high. Drug therapy mainly involves the use of oral contraceptives, progesterone and androgen derivatives, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists and aromatase inhibitors, etc.,However, in some women the side effects may not be well tolerated or the pain relief provided may be inadequate. Therefore, a large number of patients with endometriosis are turning to complementary and alternative medicine such as acupuncture.Acupuncture, as an important component of traditional Chinese medicine is widely used in Asian countries,and it can treat different diseases, including endometriosis dysmenorrhea.The analgesia principle of acupuncture is based on the theory of holistic view of zang-fu organs and meridians.In traditional Chinese medicine, dysmenorrhea is etiologically caused by the stagnated blood or Qi circulation in the uterus. The pathological factors are mostly dampness, blood stasis,and Qi obstructions. Acupuncture stimulation, which involves thrusting or twisting needles,results in various biochemical reactions that can have effects throughout the body.When the running of blood and Qi is unobstructed, pain can be relieved.However, only some small trials considered to be lacking in quality or size to guide practice.So it is urgently necessary to design multicenter ,randomized controlled trial to prove it .

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

106

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

    • Jiangxi
      • Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
        • The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of TCM

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

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 40 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion criteria

  1. Women age between 20 and 40.
  2. Endometriosis diagnosed according to the Endometriosis Consensus Guidelines (Chinese Medical Association, 2015): 1) symptomatic endometriosis detected by laparoscopy or laparotomy; or 2) ovarian endometrioma detected by ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging with pelvic pain.
  3. Patients willing to receive acupuncture for pain relief.
  4. Pelvic pain score equal or over 4 cm on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).
  5. Regular menstrual cycle.
  6. Signed informed consent

Exclusion criteria

  1. Pelvic ultrasound demonstrates the endometrial cyst measures more than 5 cm in diameter and surgery is indicated.
  2. Imaging examination suspects pelvic genital malignancies.
  3. Cancer antigen-125 > 200 IU/L.
  4. Pelvic infectious diseases.
  5. Other severe disorders in heart, lung, liver, kidney, or mental disorders not able to cooperate in the study.
  6. Patients who have received any other treatment for endometriosis that may affect the observation of the curative effects of acupuncture these three months.
  7. Pregnancy or breastfeeding.
  8. Refusal to be randomized.

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: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: treatment group
Treatment group will receive acupuncture at Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Zhaohai (KI 6) ,Taichong (LR 3) ,Qichong (ST 30) and Guanyuan.
They will be treated seven days before expected menstrual onset with once a day and three times a week for therapy. During the menstrual period,they will be treated everyday when they are having pain.Every treatment lasts 30 minutes. The trial period will consist of three menstrual cycles of treatment and three menstrual cycles in the follow-up period.
Placebo Comparator: control group
Control group will receive acupuncture at non-acupoints.
They will be treated seven days before expected menstrual onset with once a day and three times a week for therapy. During the menstrual period,they will be treated everyday when they are having pain.Every treatment lasts 30 minutes. The trial period will consist of three menstrual cycles of treatment and three menstrual cycles in the follow-up period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Visual analogue scale
Time Frame: up to 24 weeks
Pelvic pain
up to 24 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Endometriosis Health Profile -30
Time Frame: up to 24 weeks
Endometriosis-specific quality of life
up to 24 weeks
Multidimensional Pain Inventory
Time Frame: up to 24 weeks
Physical functioning
up to 24 weeks
Beck Depression Inventory and Profile of Mood States
Time Frame: up to 24 weeks
Emotional functioning
up to 24 weeks
Patient Global Impression of Change
Time Frame: up to 24 weeks
Patient satisfaction
up to 24 weeks
Pain diary
Time Frame: up to 24 weeks
the specific time and frequency of pain attacks, the duration of pain
up to 24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Study Director: Ruining Liang, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of TCM

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

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 (Actual)

May 21, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 26, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

June 23, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 17, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 20, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

April 24, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 19, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 17, 2021

Last Verified

October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • jdzy2015065

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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