Pediatric Laser Acupuncture and Renal Biopsy

January 13, 2020 updated by: Cynthia Kim, University of California, San Francisco

Efficacy of Laser Therapy as an Adjuvant Treatment During Kidney Biopsies to Decrease Anxiety and Pain.

The purpose of this study is to test if treatment with laser therapy in pediatric patients undergoing renal biopsies will improve patient satisfaction of the overall procedure. In this study, the participant will receive a laser acupuncture treatment targeting either kidney acupoints or targeting "sham" points not associated with the kidney; the participant will not get both. Both treatment sessions are given by a certified medical acupuncturist. The patient will still receive standard pain control protocols with anesthetic medications like lidocaine plus ketamine or fentanyl and versed during the biopsy, along with pain management after the procedure. All medication will be administered without regard for which group the participant has been randomized, as the treatment team will also be blinded.

Hypothesis:

We will test the hypothesis that treatment with laser acupuncture in patients undergoing renal biopsies will improve patient satisfaction of the overall procedure.

Specific Aims:

Specific Aim 1: Determine whether the use of laser acupuncture improves patient's overall satisfaction of renal biopsy.

Specific Aim 2: Determine whether the use of laser acupuncture decreases the amount of sedative medication given during renal biopsy.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

At University of California San Francisco, there are approximately 100 pediatric renal biopsies per year. All of these patients receive sedation, which is prescribed and supervised by the pediatric pain and palliative care team, with either ketamine or fentanyl and versed. Child life is involved; however, many children still experience anxiety and/or pain with the procedure. Use of a modality such as aculaser which may decrease these symptoms could enhance their experience.

The term "laser" stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. In laser acupuncture, a low power, cold light produced by a low-level laser diode is used to stimulate an acupuncture point. As it is non-invasive, laser acupuncture is thought to be safer than needle acupuncture, especially in the setting of patients with blood-borne infectious diseases. In a systematic review analyzing the evidence to support the effectiveness of laser acupuncture, randomized control trials in which adults with soft tissue injury, acute or chronic pain condition, or any systemic illness were included. This review reports moderate level of evidence for treatment of myofascial pain and post-operative nausea/vomiting and limited evidence of the clinical effectiveness of treating chronic tension headaches. Of note, no complications of the use of aculaser were reported in this review (1).

1. Baxter GD, Bleakley C, McDonough S. Clinical effectiveness of laser acupuncture: a systematic review. J Acupunct Meridian Stud. 2008 Dec;1(2):65-82.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

81

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

  • United States
    • California
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94143
        • University of California, San Francisco
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94143
        • University of California San Francisco Hospital

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

7 years to 25 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • older than 6 years old
  • admitted for a transplant or native kidney biopsy performed by pediatric nephrology

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Prisoners
  • Pregnant females
  • Those who are unable to participate with the visual analog scale

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Sham Comparator: Aculaser applied to sham points
The patient will receive aculaser, performed by licensed acupuncturist, to "sham" acupuncture sites. In addition, the patient will still receive standard pain control protocols with anesthetic medications like lidocaine plus ketamine or fentanyl and versed during the biopsy, along with pain management after the procedure.
Device: Aculaser applied to sham points
The patient will receive aculaser, performed by licensed acupuncturist, to "sham" acupuncture sites. In addition, the patient will still receive standard pain control protocols with anesthetic medications like lidocaine plus ketamine or fentanyl and versed during the biopsy, along with pain management after the procedure.
Other Names:
  • Aculaser: Microlight ML830
Experimental: Aculaser applied to kidney points
The patient will receive aculaser, performed by licensed acupuncturist, to known kidney acupuncture sites. In addition, the patient will still receive standard pain control protocols with anesthetic medications like lidocaine plus ketamine or fentanyl and versed during the biopsy, along with pain management after the procedure.
Device: Aculaser applied to kidney points
The patient will receive aculaser, performed by licensed acupuncturist, to known kidney acupuncture sites. In addition, the patient will still receive standard pain control protocols with anesthetic medications like lidocaine plus ketamine or fentanyl and versed during the biopsy, along with pain management after the procedure.
Other Names:
  • Aculaser: Microlight ML830

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient Pain/Anxiety
Time Frame: 1 day
The patient will complete a visual analog scale (rate 0-10) to assess pain after the procedure. Zero is no pain and 10 is worse pain. Change was calculated by baseline minus day one.
1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Parent Perception of Patient Pain Report
Time Frame: 1 day
Parent Perception of Patient Pain, scale is from 0 to 10, minimum value is 0, maximum value is 10, higher scores mean better outcome.
1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Cynthia Kim, MD, University of California, San Francisco

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, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 13, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 13, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

June 18, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 22, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2020

Last Verified

January 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • LASER

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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