Acupressure for Fatigue in Ovarian Cancer Survivors

January 19, 2026 updated by: University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
The purpose of this study is to see if accupressure can help reduce the severity of fatigue experienced by ovarian cancer patients. Acupressure involves applying mild to moderate physical pressure by fingers, hand or a device to specific points on the skin to try to bring about a change in the body's functioning, in this case relief from chronic fatigue.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

171

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
    • Michigan
      • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 48109
        • University of Michigan Rogel Cancer 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

21 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Women aged 21 and older
  • Diagnosis of ovarian cancer, stages I to IV
  • Have average persistent fatigue defined a >=4 on the Brief Fatigue Inventory.
  • Fatigue must have started at or after the diagnosis of ovarian cancer
  • Completed all primary cancer treatments (surgery, chemotherapy at least 6 months prior), except maintenance therapies
  • No other planned interventions for fatigue other than current stable medication

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Medically unstable
  • Acupuncture or acupressure receipt in past year
  • Have a diagnosis of untreated mood disorder, e.g., bipolar or major depressive disorder
  • Have a current diagnosis of anemia
  • Have a current untreated diagnosis of hypothyroidism
  • Have an initiation, a cessation or change of treatment of any chronic medications, dietary supplements, behavioral therapy, physical therapy, etc., or any planned change of medications, supplements or therapies during the study
  • Have the possibility of becoming pregnant

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: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Acupressure plus standard of care
Using AcuWand, participants will apply acupressure to points that are known to affect physiology. Participants will also receive standard of care.
Other: Acupressure
Six weeks of daily self-administered relaxing acupressure. Instructions will be provided for how to perform acupressure on self. A tool (AcuWand) will be provided to help participants apply the right amount of pressure on the appropriate points on their bodies. These are points that are recognized as effective in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
Other: Standard of Care
Fatigue management provided by participants' health care providers.
Sham Comparator: Sham acupressure plus standard of care
Using AcuWand, participants will apply acupressure to points that are not known to affect physiology. Participants will also receive standard of care.
Other: Standard of Care
Fatigue management provided by participants' health care providers.
Other: Sham acupressure
Six weeks of daily self-administered sham acupressure. Instructions will be provided for how to perform acupressure on self. A tool (AcuWand) will be provided to help participants apply the right amount of pressure; however, the points that participants are instructed to use are not known to have any effect on the body.
Other: Standard of care
Participants will receive standard of care only.
Other: Standard of Care
Fatigue management provided by participants' health care providers.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Level of Fatigue at Week 6
Time Frame: Baseline to week 6
Self-reported on the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI). The Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) uses a scale of 0 to 10 for each item, with 0 representing "no fatigue" and 10 representing "fatigue as bad as you can imagine". Scores are then categorized as mild (1-3), moderate (4-6), and severe (7-10). The global BFI score is calculated as the average of all items, and a score of 7 or greater is considered clinically significant.
Baseline to week 6
Change in Level of Fatigue up to Week 24
Time Frame: Baseline up to week 24
Self-reported on the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI). The Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) uses a scale of 0 to 10 for each item, with 0 representing "no fatigue" and 10 representing "fatigue as bad as you can imagine". Scores are then categorized as mild (1-3), moderate (4-6), and severe (7-10). The global BFI score is calculated as the average of all items, and a score of 7 or greater is considered clinically significant.
Baseline up to week 24

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Quality of Life at Week 6
Time Frame: Baseline to week 6
Self-reported on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Ovarian (FACT-O). The FACT-O is a questionnaire used to assess the quality of life in women with ovarian cancer. It includes 7 items, each scored from 0 to 4, with higher scores representing a more positive quality of life. Mean scores are reported by arm and timepoint. score range of 0-28.
Baseline to week 6
Change in Quality of Life up to Week 24
Time Frame: Baseline up to week 24
Self-reported on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Ovarian (FACT-O). The FACT-O is a questionnaire used to assess the quality of life in women with ovarian cancer. It includes 7 items, each scored from 0 to 4, with higher scores representing a more positive quality of life. Mean scores are reported by arm and timepoint. score range of 0-28.
Baseline up to week 24
Change in Sleep Quality at Week 6
Time Frame: Baseline to week 6
Self-reported on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) yields a global score ranging from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating poorer sleep quality.
Baseline to week 6
Change in Sleep Quality up to Week 24
Time Frame: Baseline up to week 24
Self-reported on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) yields a global score ranging from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating poorer sleep quality.
Baseline up to week 24

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center

Collaborators

United States Department of Defense

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Suzanna M Zick, ND, MPH, University of Michigan

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 (Actual)

October 7, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 18, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

June 18, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 3, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 3, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

December 4, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 19, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UMCC 2018.130
  • HUM00143509 (Other Identifier: University of Michigan)
  • W81XWH1810180 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Defense, Department of-Army, Department of the)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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