Patient Education Integrated with Acupuncture for Relief of Cancer-Related Fatigue: Randomized Controlled Feasibility Study

 

Michael F Johnston, Ron D Hays, Saskia K Subramanian, Robert M Elashoff, Eleanor K Axe, Jie-Jia Li, Irene Kim, Roberto B Vargas, Jihey Lee, LuGe Yang, and Ka-Kit Hui

 

Abstract

---

Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a prominent clinical problem. There are calls for multi-modal interventions.

 

Methods: We assessed the feasibility of delivering patient education integrated with acupuncture for relief of CRF in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with breast cancer survivors using usual care as control. Social cognitive and integrative medicine theories guided integration of patient education with acupuncture into a coherent treatment protocol. The intervention consisted of two parts. First, patients were taught to improve self-care by optimizing exercise routines, improving nutrition, implementing some additional evidence-based cognitive behavioral techniques such as stress management in four weekly 50-minute sessions. Second, patients received eight weekly 50-minute acupuncture sessions. The pre-specified primary outcome, CRF, was assessed with the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI). Secondary outcomes included three dimensions of cognitive impairment assessed with the FACT-COGv2.

 

Results: Due to difficulties in recruitment, we tried several methods that led to the development of a tailored recruitment strategy: we enlisted oncologists into the core research team and recruited patients completing treatment from oncology waiting rooms. Compared to usual care control, the intervention was associated with a 2.38-point decline in fatigue as measured by the BFI (90% Confidence Interval from 0.586 to 5.014; p<0.10). Outcomes associated with cognitive dysfunction were not statistically significant.

 

Conclusion: Patient education integrated with acupuncture had a very promising effect that warrants conducting a larger RCT to confirm findings. An effective recruitment strategy will be essential for the successful execution of a larger-scale trial.

 

Copyright © 2011 Johnston et al. This is an open access article distributed under the

Creative Commons Attribution License

1.              Background

2.              Methods

1.           Recruitment

2.           Intervention

3.           Usual Care

4.           Human Subjects

3.              Results

1.           Patient Recruitment

2.           Outcome Results

4.              Discussion

5.              Conclusion

6.              References

 

Join our member to get full-text article! Join Free!