Auriculotherapy During Medication Abortion

June 14, 2021 updated by: Carolyn Westhoff, Columbia University

Auriculotherapy as an Adjunct for Pain Management During Medication Abortion: a Randomized, Double-blinded, Three-arm Trial

This randomized trial will evaluate the effect of adding auriculotherapy (i.e. acupuncture applied to the ear) using either gold beads or Pyonex needles in addition to usual care for the relief of pain and anxiety during medication abortion. The control group will receive placebo auriculotherapy plus usual care. Participants will receive the assigned treatment immediately after they receive their initial abortion medication. The investigators will assess pain and anxiety via text message once daily for four days, and in person at a one-week follow-up visit.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Most women undergoing medication abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol report moderate to severe pain, despite treatment with ibuprofen or opioids. In 2018 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) recommended research to improve pain relief. Limited data indicate that acupuncture is valuable for dysmenorrhea and for labor pain, conditions in which pain may be similar to that experienced during medication abortion. This randomized trial will recruit women seeking medication abortion after they have completed their routine clinical assessment and after they have received mifepristone. This study will evaluate two types of auriculotherapy applied to selected acupoints on the external ear. The study treatments are acupuncture using Pyonex needles and acupressure using gold pellets; both are applied to the ear using adhesive disks. A control group will receive the adhesive disks alone. All participants will receive usual medication abortion care, including taking misoprostol 1-3 days after mifepristone and ibuprofen for pain management. The investigators will query the participants regarding pain and anxiety. Follow-up will end at the time of the usual clinical follow-up about one week after mifepristone administration.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

138

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
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10032
        • Columbia University 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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant up to 10 weeks (70 days) gestation
  • Seeking medication abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol
  • Initial clinical care completed and mifepristone administered
  • English- or Spanish-speaking
  • Able to use a mobile phone for follow-up on days 1-4

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not a candidate for medication abortion for any reason
  • Allergy to adhesives

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
Active Comparator: Auriculotherapy with needles (acupuncture) + usual care
A designated trained therapist will perform auriculotherapy with 1mm (Pyonex) needles at five acupoints on each ear (10 points total). The needles are affixed with a small round adhesive disk. The needles will stay in place until removal at the 1-week follow-up visit
Device: Auriculotherapy with needles
Single-use 1.2mm acupuncture press needles attach to pre-specified acupoints on the participant's ears with adhesive disk/tape.
Other Names:
  • Pyonex needles
Active Comparator: Auriculotherapy with gold beads (acupressure) + usual care
A designated trained therapist will perform auriculotherapy with beads at five acupoints on each ear (10 points total). The beads are affixed with a small round adhesive disk. The beads will stay in place until removal at the 1-week follow-up visit.
Device: Auriculotherapy with beads
A trained co-investigator will place the beads onto prespecified acupoints of the participant's ears. An adhesive disk will adhere the beads to the ears.
Other Names:
  • Single-use gold-plated 1.2mm beads/balls attach to pre-specified acupoints on the participant's ears with adhesive disk/tape.
Sham Comparator: Placebo group + usual care
A designated trained therapist will place adhesive disks at five acupoints on each ear (10 points total). The disks resemble those used with the active treatments. The disks will stay in place until removal at the 1-week follow-up visit.
Device: Placebo Adhesive disks
Single-use adhesive disks without needles or beads.
Other Names:
  • Placebo disks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain VAS Score
Time Frame: Auriculotherapy is applied on the day of mifepristone. Participants take misoprostol 1-3 days later. Pain scores are recorded following misoprostol at 8pm x 4 days (selecting the highest of the 4 for analysis).
Self-assessed maximum pain reported using a 0-100 mm visual analog scale (VAS), where 100 signifies maximum pain.
Auriculotherapy is applied on the day of mifepristone. Participants take misoprostol 1-3 days later. Pain scores are recorded following misoprostol at 8pm x 4 days (selecting the highest of the 4 for analysis).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety VAS Score
Time Frame: Auriculotherapy is applied on the day of mifepristone. Participants take misoprostol 1-3 days later. Anxiety scores are recorded following misoprostol at 8pm x 4 days (selecting the highest of 4 for analysis).
Self-assessed maximum anxiety reported using a 0-100 mm visual analog scale, where 100 signifies maximum anxiety.
Auriculotherapy is applied on the day of mifepristone. Participants take misoprostol 1-3 days later. Anxiety scores are recorded following misoprostol at 8pm x 4 days (selecting the highest of 4 for analysis).

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Columbia University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Carolyn Westhoff, MD, Coumbia University

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)

April 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 26, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 1, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

April 3, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 6, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 14, 2021

Last Verified

June 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AAAS2520

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Absent personal identifiers, we will share pain and anxiety outcome data with researchers carrying out similar trials in order to conduct individual participant data meta-analysis.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data will be available after acceptance of main study outcome paper for publication.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

By personal contact with PI

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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.

Clinical Trials on Abortion Early

Clinical Trials on Auriculotherapy with needles

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Singapore

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe