Acupuncture for Relieving Chronic Pelvic Pain

William Xu, MD

Status: Withdrawn

Conditions: Pelvic Pain

Treatments: Procedure: Acupuncture

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03854188

201808791

Details and patient eligibility

About

Individuals with chronic pelvic pain will be identified, consented and enrolled in this study in which acupuncture will be offered in addition to current standards of care. The primary outcome will assess if there is a reduction of pain intensity from the baseline to 6 months as a result of treatment.

Full description

Chronic pelvic pain as defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is "noncyclic pain of 6 or more months duration that localizes to the anatomic pelvis, anterior abdominal wall at or below the umbilicus, the lumbosacral back or the buttocks and is of sufficient severity to cause functional disability or lead to medical care". This has devastating consequences both monetarily as well as emotionally and can lead to opioid addiction, depression and even suicide.

Acupuncture has been used to treat pain in China for millenniums and was one of the more effective ways to treat pain before morphine was discovered. Acupuncture is feasible, economic and a safe way to treat chronic pain.

Patients with chronic pelvic pain will be identified and offered participation in the study. After the consent process is completed, patients will undergo a brief physical exam to rule out acute symptoms. The patient will be asked to complete a baseline pain inventory and genitourinary pain index survey before proceeding with acupuncture treatment. Qualified patients will be requested to accept acupuncture treatments twice weekly for 12 consecutive weeks. Each week the patient will be asked to report their current medications and changes in the dosage as well as their narcotic (opioid) doses and any changes in the dosages. Patients will be followed up monthly for up to 3 months after treatment completion by phone to record their pain inventory as well as their genitourinary pain index survey.

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 80 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Chronic pelvic pain persisting for at least 6 months
• English speaking
• Able to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Unable to provide informed consent
• Pregnant
• Prisoners
• Morbid obesity (BMI >40, or > 36 associated with hypertension and diabetes)
• Severe cardiac disease
• Active chemotherapy or radiation therapy
• Skin infections or lesions
• Severe COPD
• Neuropathy
• Previous stroke
• Paralysis
• Needle phobia

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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0 participants in 1 patient group

Acupuncture treatment

Experimental group

Description:

Patients diagnosed with chronic pelvic pain will be offered acupuncture treatment as an adjuvant therapy to standard of care treatment.

Treatment:

Procedure: Acupuncture