Acupuncture in Cardiovascular Disease

August 17, 2006 updated by: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
The purpose of this study is to determine if acupuncture decreases adrenaline levels in heart failure, thereby potentially improving survival and quality of life.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Acupuncture is used to lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension, and to relieve angina in patients with coronary artery disease. While the biological mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia have been studied intensely in animals and humans, the biological mechanisms for modulation of the cardiovascular system in humans remain largely unexplored. Acupuncture at traditional acupoints, and at nonacupoints, decreases the blood pressure response during mental stress in normal humans. This depressor effect cannot be fully explained by a decline in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA). Further, in humans with heart failure (HF) in whom MSNA is elevated, we have preliminary data that acupuncture significantly decreases the MSNA response during mental stress. The following hypotheses will be tested: 1) acupuncture, performed at traditional acupoints and non-acupoints in normal humans, stimulates skeletal muscle afferent neurons causing a release of endogenous opioids, which oppose sympathetic excitation and vasoconstriction in visceral vascular beds, such as the kidney; 2) in humans with HF in whom MSNA is elevated and renal vasoconstriction is the rule, acupuncture utilizes similar mechanisms as in normal humans to produce exaggerated inhibition of MSNA and reflex renal vasoconstriction. Positron emission tomography and microneurography will be utilized to answer the following questions in normal humans and patients with heart failure: 1. Is acupuncture attenuation of BP during mental stress mediated by a decrease in renal vasoconstriction? 2. Is acupuncture sympathoinhibitory? 3. Is acupuncture modulation of the autonomic nervous system mediated by muscle afferents? 4. Is acupuncture modulation of the autonomic nervous system mediated by activation of endogenous opioids? Understanding the mechanisms of acupuncture modulation of the autonomic nervous system in humans may help clarify its role as a therapeutic modality in cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

200

Phase

  • Phase 2

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
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095-1679
        • UCLA School of Medicine

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

19 years to 63 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

  • Chronic congestive heart failure class II-III
  • No unstable angina
  • No myocardial infarction within 3 months
  • No peripheral neuropathy

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: Single

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Holly R Middlekauff, MD, University of California, Los Angeles
  • KaKit Hui, MD, UCLA East/West Medical Center

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.

General Publications

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

July 1, 2001

Study Completion

June 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 20, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 21, 2002

First Posted (Estimate)

March 22, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 18, 2006

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 17, 2006

Last Verified

July 1, 2006

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R21AT000671-01 (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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