Comparison of the Therapeutic Effect of Acupressure Therapy and Iberogast ® (STW-5) in Children With Functional Nausea

October 5, 2020 updated by: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Comparison of the Therapeutic Effect of Acupressure Therapy and Iberogast ® (STW-5) in Children With Functional Nausea - a Randomized Clinical Trial With Sham-conditions

Functional gastrointestinal disorders are common disorders that are characterized by persistent and recurring GI symptoms. These occur as a result of abnormal functioning of the GI tract and are not caused by structural or biochemical abnormalities. As a result, medical tests- such as blood tests and endoscopic exams- have essentially normal/negative (non-disease) results. More than 20 functional GI disorders have been identified. They can affect any part of the GI tract. One of the most common functional disorders is nausea and dyspepsia (pain or discomfort in the upper abdominal area, feeling of fullness, bloating). Any chronic illness, including functional nausea, will affect a person's health-related quality of life (general well-being, ability to carry out everyday activities), additional psychosocial disturbances and amplify the experienced illness.

The majority of children suffering from functional nausea in Europe are treated with Iberogast®. a herbal mixture, whose effect was demonstrated in several studies. Since Iberogast® is not available in the United States of America, children there receive an acupressure therapy. The American gastroenterologists refer hereby to several studies, which have shown, that the positive effect of such therapies in patients with chemotherapy-induced nausea is even greater than a therapy with ondansetron. Since acupressure is able to reduce somatic nausea, it is also believed to decrease functional nausea, but it has never been investigated. Therefore, there are no data. That's why Investigators want to compare the efficacy of these two therapies, that is, Iberogast® and acupressure

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Functional gastrointestinal disorders are common disorders that are characterized by persistent and recurring GI symptoms. These occur as a result of abnormal functioning of the GI tract and are not caused by structural or biochemical abnormalities. As a result, medical tests- such as blood tests and endoscopic exams- have essentially normal/negative (non-disease) results. More than 20 functional GI disorders have been identified. They can affect any part of the GI tract. One of the most common functional disorders is nausea and dyspepsia (pain or discomfort in the upper abdominal area, feeling of fullness, bloating). Any chronic illness, including functional nausea, will affect a person's health-related quality of life (general well-being, ability to carry out everyday activities), additional psychosocial disturbances and amplify the experienced illness.

However, the majority of children suffering from functional Nausea in Europe get treated with Iberogast®: A herbal mixture, whose effect was demonstrated in several studies [10, 11]. Since Iberogast® is not available in the United States of America, children receive there an acupressure therapy. The American gastroenterologists refer hereby to several studies, which have shown, that the effect of such therapies in patient with chemotherapy-induced nausea is even greater than the taking of ondansetron [12,13 ]. Since acupressure is capable to reduce somatic nausea, it is also believed to decrease functional nausea, but it has never been investigated, therefore no data are available. That's why Investigators plan to compare the efficiency of these two therapies.

Furthermore Investigators want to measure the cognitive performance before and after the intervention to proof a possible effect on the 'gut-brain-axis'. For this purpose the participants have to do the 'Flanker Task', a standardised test on the computer.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

56

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

  • Switzerland
    • Basel Stadt
      • Basel, Basel Stadt, Switzerland, 4031
        • Department of Pedriatric Gastroenterology, University Children's Hospital Basel

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

6 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Functional nausea (normal endoscopy findings)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Gastrointestinal infection less than 2 weeks ago
  • Known chronic gastrointestinal disease
  • Use of drugs 2 weeks prior to starting the study

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: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Acupressure
Children will have to wear a 'seasickness-band', which has the effect of acupressure
Other: Acupressure
Children will have to wear a 'seasickness-band', which has the effect of acupressure
Other Names:
  • Seasickness-Band
Placebo Comparator: Placebo-band
Children will have to wear a 'placebo-wristband'
Other: Placebo-band
Children will have to wear a 'placebo-wristband'
Active Comparator: Iberogast
Children will have to take Iberogast drops
Drug: Iberogast
Children will have to take Iberogast drops
Placebo Comparator: Placebo-drops
Children will have to take placebo-drops
Other: Placebo-drops
Children will have to take placebo-drops

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
comparison in the levels of nausea as assessed by visual analog scales (VAS)
Time Frame: 4 weeks
4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Raoul Furlano, MD, Dr, University Children's Hospital

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)

January 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 16, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

September 16, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 18, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

January 21, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 6, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 5, 2020

Last Verified

October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • EKNZ 2015-322

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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