Can acupuncture with electricity help cancer patients recover from aggressive treatment?
NCT ID NCT06340906
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study looks at whether electroacupuncture (a type of acupuncture with mild electrical pulses) can help manage pain, nausea, diarrhea, and insomnia in people who have had cytoreductive surgery and heated chemotherapy for cancer. The trial will enroll 20 patients to see if the treatment is practical and acceptable. Researchers will also check if it reduces symptoms and affects certain blood markers.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- electroacupuncture
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could point toward a drug-free way to ease common side effects after major cancer surgery and chemotherapy.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small, early feasibility study with only 20 participants. It is designed to see if the approach is practical, not to prove it works. Results may not apply to everyone.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 20 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Sep 2024
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with known peritoneal disease who are scheduled to undergo Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy * Age ≥18 years * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≤2 * Patients must have adequate organ and marrow function as defined through laboratory tests * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients on effective anti-retroviral therapy with undetectable viral load within 6 months are eligible for this trial * For patients with evidence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, the HBV viral load must be undetectable on suppressive therapy, if indicated * Patients with a history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection must have been treated and cured. For patients with HCV infection who are currently on treatment, they are eligible if they have an undetectable HCV viral load * Patients with a prior or concurrent malignancy whose natural history or treatment does not have the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen are eligible for this trial * Patients with known history or current symptoms of cardiac disease, or history of treatment with cardiotoxic agents, should have a clinical risk assessment of cardiac function using the New York Heart Association Functional Classification. To be eligible for this trial, patients should be class 2B or better (class 2B is defined as having cardiac enlargement but no history of congestive heart failure) * Expected survival greater than 9 months * Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with coexistence of another untreated malignant neoplasm other than basal cell carcinoma of the skin within the last five years * Sites of metastases other than loco-regional lymph nodes and peritoneum (ex. Visceral metastases such as liver, lungs, bone, brain) * Patients with uncontrolled intercurrent illness * Severe needle phobia * Patients with psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements * Known bleeding disorder (e.g. hemophilia, Von Willebrand's disease, thrombocytopenia) * Pacemaker or other electronic metal implants * Epilepsy * Received acupuncture therapy within the past 3 months prior to study enrollment * Patients who are breastfeeding, pregnant or are planning get pregnant during the study period.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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UCI Health Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute
Irvine, California, 92697, United States
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University of California Irvine, Health
Orange, California, 92868, United States
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