Endometriosis : Traditional Medicine vs Hormone Therapy

NCT ID: NCT00034047

Last Updated: 2008-01-25

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: PHASE1/PHASE2
• Total Enrollment: 50 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2002-09-30
• Study Completion Date: 2006-08-31

Brief Summary

This 36-week study will determine whether traditional Chinese medicine (acupuncture and Chinese herbs) is as effective as hormone therapy for alleviating endometriosis-related pelvic pain.

Detailed Description

Endometriosis is a significant public health problem affecting 10-15% of women of childbearing age, many of whom suffer persistent pelvic pain and infertility. Therapeutic options include surgery and hormone therapy that are often temporarily effective but produce unwanted side-effects. The present proposal, based on case series reports of the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM: acupuncture and Chinese herbs) for this condition, aims to evaluate whether TCM is as effective as hormone therapy for alleviating endometriosis-related chronic pain.

Women with laparoscopy-diagnosed endometriosis will be randomly assigned to either TCM or hormone therapy. Women assigned to TCM will be divided into four sub-groups on the basis of the diagnostic categories of endometriosis recognized by TCM. A pre-established acupuncture protocol and herbal formula specific for each sub-group will be followed. This aspect of the research design permits an important feature of the clinical practice of TCM (matching treatment to sub-group diagnosis) to be adopted in a clinical trial. Women assigned to hormone therapy will be treated with the gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa), nafarelin, chosen for this study on the basis of its clinical trial-established efficacy, ease of patient usage via intranasal spray and milder side-effect profile relative to other GnRHa's. Pelvic pain symptoms (patient-scored) and signs (physician-scored) will be assessed at baseline, after 12 weeks of treatment, and at 12- and 24-week post-treatment follow-up. Pelvic examination scores will be determined by a physician blinded to the treatment group assignments. Side effects, including those of pseudomenopause known to result from GnRHa therapy, will be recorded in both groups at 4-week intervals during the 12-week treatment, and at each follow-up time. A further objective is to make a preliminary assessment of whether diagnostic sub-groups of endometriosis recognized by TCM serve as predictors of differential response to hormone therapy. Data obtained from this study, on treatment effectiveness, side effect profiles, recurrence of symptoms, compliance with therapy and drop-out rates, will be used to design a large-scale clinical trial.

Conditions

Endometriosis; Pelvic Pain

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Interventions

Acupuncture

Intervention Type: PROCEDURE

Chinese Products

Intervention Type: DRUG

Nafarelin

Intervention Type: DRUG

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Women with laparoscopy-confirmed endometriosis within the past 6 years
• Experiencing chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea (painful periods) and dyspareunia (painful intercourse), at least one of which is moderate to severe

Exclusion Criteria

• Use of traditional Chinese medicine for endometriosis. If previous treatment with hormone therapy, must have responded positively but not have been on hormone therapy within the past 6 months
• Use of any form of hormone-based contraception during the 12-week treatment and 24-week follow-up periods
• Diagnosed with any chronic condition other than endometriosis, or any other acute condition that causes pain
• Pregnancy or breast feeding

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 45 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

NIH

Sponsor Role: lead

Principal Investigators

Richard Hammerschlag, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Oregon College of Oriental Medicine

Kenneth Burry, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Oregon Health and Science University

Locations

Oregon Health Sciences University, Women's Health Research Unit

Portland, Oregon, United States

Oregon College of Oriental Medicine Clinic

Portland, Oregon, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

R21AT000453-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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