Effects of Hands-on-Healing vs. Touch for Fatigued Breast Cancer Survivors

May 24, 2010 updated by: University of California, San Diego

Effects of Hands-on-Healing vs. Touch for Fatigue and Inflammation in Breast Cancer Survivors

This randomized controlled trial examines the efficacy of hands-on-healing for fatigue and immune function in breast cancer survivors. Participants may be randomized to one of three groups: hands-on-healing, touch alone, or a control group.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Please see our website at http://healing.ucsd.edu for detailed information on the study.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

76

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 3

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

    • California
      • La Jolla, California, United States, 92037
        • Clinical Research Center, UCSD Campus
      • San Diego/Hillcrest, California, United States, 92103
        • General Clinical Research Center, UCSD Medical Center

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 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Premenopausal and postmenopausal women between the ages of 18 to 70 years.
  • Ability to give informed consent.
  • Breast cancer survivors who have undergone surgery, including lumpectomy and simple or total mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy or a combination of chemo- and radio-therapy. We have elected to study survivors instead of patients actively undergoing treatment to alleviate subject burden and risk during this protocol.
  • Stage I to III breast cancer survivors.
  • Breast cancer survivors who have finished their chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy at least one month prior to 60 months prior.
  • Breast cancer survivors with above-normative levels of fatigue.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Breast cancer patients who are currently receiving or who are scheduled to receive radiation or chemotherapy during the course of this intervention study.
  • Patients with current major depression, current or history of prior bipolar illness, currently on psychotropic medications.
  • Patients with other diseases that are known to induce fatigue (e.g., thyroid disorder; sleep disorders).
  • Patients with other inflammatory diseases that affect cytokine levels.
  • Patients with a history of other cancers, and stage IV breast cancer.
  • Patients undergoing current chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.
  • Men with breast cancer.
  • Substance abuse/dependence.
  • Continued use of another biofield-based intervention (e.g., Reiki, Qi-Gong, Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch, Johrei).

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: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Single

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Multiple Fatigue Symptom Inventory

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Inflammatory Immune Markers
Diurnal Cortisol Variability

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Shamini Jain, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
  • Principal Investigator: Paul J Mills, Ph.D., UCSD School of Medicine

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

October 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 23, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 23, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

February 26, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 25, 2010

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 24, 2010

Last Verified

November 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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