Effect of Self-administered Acupressure for Improving Xerostomia in Head and Neck Cancer Patients: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral, Other
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

This is a randomized controlled trial aimed to1) examine the effect of a self-administered acupressure intervention on head and neck cancer patients with xerostomia (primary outcome) relative to oral health education control; 2) examine the effect of self-administered acupressure on secondary outcomes, including quality of life and severity of symptoms of head and neck cancer patients; 3) evaluate patients' expectancy of acupressure; 4) explore the acceptability of self-administered acupressure for head and neck cancer patients with xerostomia. Hypothesis: self-administered acupressure has better effect on xerostomia for head and neck cancer patients comparing to oral health education. Acupressure will also benefit head and neck cancer patients on quality of life and severity of symptoms. Head and neck cancer patients may have good acceptability of self-administered acupressure.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• age ≥18 years;

• able to give informed consent;

• diagnosed with head and neck cancer (cancers in the head and neck region, e.g. oral cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, hypopharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, sinus cancer, salivary gland cancer);

• completed radiation therapy or chemoradiotherapy for at least 2 weeks;

• complains of xerostomia after the treatment;

• able to communicate in Cantonese or Mandarin.

Locations
Other Locations
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Queen Mary Hospital
RECRUITING
Hong Kong
Contact Information
Primary
Denise Cheung, PhD
denisest@hku.hk
39176673
Backup
Xueyan Cheng, Master
u3009142@connect.hku.hk
93569604
Time Frame
Start Date: 2024-12-01
Estimated Completion Date: 2027-03-31
Participants
Target number of participants: 126
Treatments
Experimental: Self-administered acupressure
Participants will attend a 90-min self-administered acupressure training session by a registered Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner. A follow-up session will be arranged in the second week to reinforce learning and to make sure all participants can locate the proposed acupoints correctly. The follow up session will be conducted face to face (prioritized mode), or by phone/video call based on patients' preference. The acupoints are chosen for inclusion in the protocol based on literature review \[25, 29, 34, 35, 39\] and expert experience of the PI \[40-43\]. The location of acupoints (nine in total) include face and neck (Ren 23, Ren 24, ST5, ST6, ST7, TE17), upper limbs (LI2, LI4), and lower limbs (KI6). All acupoints should be massaged bilaterally except Ren 23 and Ren 24. After the training, participants are encouraged to self-administered acupressure on the acupoints twice daily for 12 weeks, each point lasting for 1 minute.
Active_comparator: Oral health education
Participants will attend a 90-min oral care education session in the first week by a trained research staff (the same frequency and duration as the intervention group). The content includes the causes of xerostomia, consequences, current preventative measures, dietary advice and oral hygiene advice.~Participants in the control group will receive a booklet documenting the content of the oral care education sessions. Throughout the 12-week period, participants will receive reminders of oral care for xerostomia twice weekly
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Leads: The University of Hong Kong

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov