Validation of a Non-Invasive Sham Technique

NCT ID: NCT04960176

Last Updated: 2022-04-05

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

56 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-07-01

Study Completion Date

2022-11-30

Brief Summary

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The objective of this study is to develop, describe in detail and validate a feasible, cheap and convenient non-invasive sham acupuncture technique in order to use safely and repeatedly in future studies. Additionally, the reactions of the volunteers to sham needles in different positions and in different parts of the body will be investigated.

Detailed Description

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Following the Second World War, the evidence based research is the keystone of modern medicine applications. Randomized, placebo controlled and double/triple blinded clinical studies are the sine qua non of evidence based medicine. As a matter of course acupuncture which was defined as traditional and the main outcome was the clinical effects throughout the centuries, had its share form the tremendous evolution. For the past decades, studies on acupuncture are designed and prosecuted on the basis of randomized and placebo controlled trials.

In clinical trials for invasive modalities, placebo is the procedure that mimics the original procedure in order to provide objective comparison. These procedures are called as sham techniques and in acupuncture sham techniques are divided into two categories as invasive sham procedures and non-invasive sham procedures. Non-invasive sham is a technique that is designed to create a minor sensory stimulation in the absence of skin penetration using a placebo needle or any device imitating needle. In acupuncture practice it is a fact that sham procedures are non-inert and even can exert high therapeutic effect. Consequently, the main concern regarding the randomized controlled trials on acupuncture is that false negative rates might be misleadingly higher than acceptable values. The clinical therapeutic effects of non-invasive techniques are attributed to the activation of physiologic endogen systems due to the belief that acupuncture was applied although it was only sham. Non-invasive techniques need to be used in clinical trials designed to discriminate this mentioned effect from the point-specific effects of real acupuncture and non-specific effects obtained by skin penetration in invasive sham techniques.

The fact that sham techniques used in clinical studies are far from standardization inevitably increase the false negativity rates. In fact there are various techniques about non-invasive sham acupuncture. Blunted needles or plastic guide tube, nail, pencil point probe or even wooden skewers were used. Techniques are not described most of the time and majority of the studies lack standardization and validation of the non-invasive sham technique that is used. There are standard Park and Steinberger needles which were developed privately for non-invasive sham procedures. The advantage these latter needles is that the patient cannot see the application of the needle. Otherwise as in all non-invasive sham technique the needles do not penetrate the skin, the patient does not get the de chi sensation and the stimulation of the needles is not possible.

Conditions

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Acupuncture

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Acupuncture Group

Acupuncture will be administered to 5 different reel acupoints. The acupoints are Du20 in head, LI4 bilateral in hands and ST36 bilateral in legs.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Acupuncture

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Acupuncture will be applied by using 0,25x25mm needles.

Non-Invasive Sham Acupuncture Group

Non-invasive sham acupuncture using a blunted needle will be administered to 5 different reel acupoints. The acupoints are Du20 in head, LI4 bilateral in hands and ST36 bilateral in legs.

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

Non-invasive Sham Acupuncture

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Non-invasive sham acupuncture will be applied by using blunted 0,25x25mm needles.

Interventions

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Acupuncture

Acupuncture will be applied by using 0,25x25mm needles.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Non-invasive Sham Acupuncture

Non-invasive sham acupuncture will be applied by using blunted 0,25x25mm needles.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* The healthy attendants of patients referred to General Surgery outpatient clinic

Exclusion Criteria

* presence of any diagnosed disease
* on any regular medication
* skin reaction on the area of planned acupuncture administration
* neurologic sequela
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Nigde Omer Halisdemir University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Pınar Erdoğan

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Pınar Erdoğan, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Midwifery Department

Locations

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Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Research and Training Hospital

Niğde, , Turkey (Türkiye)

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Turkey (Türkiye)

Central Contacts

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Pınar Erdoğan, MD

Role: CONTACT

05323646954

Facility Contacts

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Alirıza Erdoğan, MD

Role: primary

References

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Kaptchuk TJ. Placebo Effects in Acupuncture. Med Acupunct. 2020 Dec 1;32(6):352-356. doi: 10.1089/acu.2020.1483. Epub 2020 Dec 16.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33362886 (View on PubMed)

Birch S. A review and analysis of placebo treatments, placebo effects, and placebo controls in trials of medical procedures when sham is not inert. J Altern Complement Med. 2006 Apr;12(3):303-10. doi: 10.1089/acm.2006.12.303.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16646730 (View on PubMed)

Lundeberg T, Lund I, Naslund J, Thomas M. The Emperors sham - wrong assumption that sham needling is sham. Acupunct Med. 2008 Dec;26(4):239-42. doi: 10.1136/aim.26.4.239.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19098696 (View on PubMed)

Moffet HH. Sham acupuncture may be as efficacious as true acupuncture: a systematic review of clinical trials. J Altern Complement Med. 2009 Mar;15(3):213-6. doi: 10.1089/acm.2008.0356.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19250001 (View on PubMed)

Hammerschlag R. Methodological and ethical issues in clinical trials of acupuncture. J Altern Complement Med. 1998 Summer;4(2):159-71. doi: 10.1089/acm.1998.4.159.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9628206 (View on PubMed)

White AR, Filshie J, Cummings TM; International Acupuncture Research Forum. Clinical trials of acupuncture: consensus recommendations for optimal treatment, sham controls and blinding. Complement Ther Med. 2001 Dec;9(4):237-45. doi: 10.1054/ctim.2001.0489.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 12184353 (View on PubMed)

Park JE, Ryu YH, Liu Y, Jung HJ, Kim AR, Jung SY, Choi SM. A literature review of de qi in clinical studies. Acupunct Med. 2013 Jun;31(2):132-42. doi: 10.1136/acupmed-2012-010279. Epub 2013 Mar 13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23486017 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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08.06.2021/31

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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