Acupuncture Prevents Chemobrain in Breast Cancer Patients
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2019-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Chemobrain is an expression used to describe a cluster of chemotherapy-induced cognitive
impairment symptoms, including problems with visual and verbal memory, forgetfulness,
difficulty in learning, attention, concentration and coordination of multitasking and
organization. Over 75% cancer patients experienced acute cognitive symptoms during
chemotherapy and 17%-34% of them have long-term post-treatment cognitive deficits which can
persist up to 10 years. Breast cancer survivors even display as high as 50%-75% prevalence of
post-treatment cognitive impairment. Chemobrain has become an apparent quality-of-life issue
for cancer survivors and will be encountered more frequently with the rise of the number of
cancer survivors. There are no effective interventions available for preventing and treating
chemobrain.
Acupuncture is beneficial in reducing various side effects of anti-cancer treatment. It also
shows the efficacy in improving mild cognitive impairment and other dementia disorders;
facilitates the recovery of pathological microstructural changes of the brain. These results
have led to the hypothesis that acupuncture is effective in preventing chemobrain and this
preventive effect may be associated with the protection against cytokine production,
epigenetic modification and microstructural changes of the brain.
To test this hypothesis, an assessor-blinded, randomised controlled trial will be conducted
to determine if a combination of DCEAS and body acupuncture could reduce the incidence and
symptoms of chemobrain in breast cancer patients under chemotherapy compared to least
acupuncture stimulation (LAS) as controls.
A total of 168 breast cancer patients who are ready for chemotherapy will be randomly
assigned to comprehensive acupuncture intervention (combined DCEAS and body acupuncture
regimen + chemotherapy) (CAI) (n = 84) for 2 sessions per week for 8 weeks or least
acupuncture stimulation (LAS) (minimal acupuncture + chemotherapy) (n = 84). All patients
receive the standard chemotherapy of breast cancer. Treatment outcomes on cognitive
performance, fatigue and the depression will be assessed.