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

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

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

Interventional

Enrollment

50

Phase

  • 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

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

Outcome Measure
Pain assessments

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: 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

September 1, 2002

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 19, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 19, 2002

First Posted (Estimate)

April 22, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 25, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 23, 2008

Last Verified

January 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID 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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