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Randomized sham-controlled pilot trial of weekly electro-acupuncture for the prevention of taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy in women with early stage breast cancer

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Abstract

To investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) as a non-pharmacological intervention to prevent or reduce chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy of taxane. Women with stage I-III breast cancer scheduled to receive taxane therapy were randomized to receive a standardized protocol of 12 true or sham EA (SEA) weekly treatments concurrent with taxane treatment. Subjects completed the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Taxane neurotoxicity subscale (FACT-NTX), and other assessments at baseline and weeks 6, 12, and 16. A total of 180 subjects were screened, 63 enrolled and 48 completed week 16 assessments. Mean age was 50 with 25 % white, 25 % black, and 43 % Hispanic; 52 % had no prior chemotherapy. At week 12, both groups reported an increase in mean BPI-SF worst pain score, but no mean differences were found between groups (SEA 2.8 vs. EA 2.6, P = .86). By week 16, the SEA group returned to baseline, while the EA group continued to worsen (SEA 1.7 vs. EA 3.4, P = .03). The increase in BPI-SF worst pain score was 1.62 points higher in the EA group than in the SEA group at week 16 (P = .04). In a randomized, sham-controlled trial of EA for prevention of taxane-induced CIPN, there were no differences in pain or neuropathy between groups at week 12. Of concern, subjects on EA had a slower recovery than SEA subjects. Future studies should focus on EA for treatment as opposed to prevention of CIPN.

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Research Support

Breast Cancer Research Foundation (to DLH), National Cancer Institute NCI K23CA141052 (to HG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Heather Greenlee, Katherine D. Crew, Donna Buono, Zaixing Shi & Dawn L. Hershman

  2. Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Heather Greenlee, Katherine D. Crew, Danielle Awad, Anne Jeffres, Sharon Wyse, Wendy Whitman, Kevin Kalinsky & Dawn L. Hershman

  3. College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Katherine D. Crew, Danielle Awad, Meghna S. Trivedi, Kevin Kalinsky & Dawn L. Hershman

  4. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Jillian Capodice

  5. Columbia University, 722 W. 168th Street, Room 733, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Heather Greenlee

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  1. Heather Greenlee
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Correspondence to Heather Greenlee.

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Ethical standards

The experiments performed in this study comply with all relevant laws in the United States. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Prior presentations: The 12th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology.

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Greenlee, H., Crew, K.D., Capodice, J. et al. Randomized sham-controlled pilot trial of weekly electro-acupuncture for the prevention of taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy in women with early stage breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 156, 453–464 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-016-3759-2

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