Feasibility of Auricular Acupressure for Appetite and Weight in Patients With Stage II-IV Gastric, Esophageal, and Pancreatic Cancer
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT05911243. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
A Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Effects of an Acupressure Intervention on Appetite and Weight in Patients With Gastric, Esophageal, and Pancreatic Cancer: A Pilot and Feasibility Study
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
This clinical trial evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of acupressure to the ear (auricular) to address appetite and weight in patients with stage II-IV gastric, esophageal, or pancreatic cancer. Cancer anorexia, the abnormal loss of appetite, directly leads to cancer-associated weight loss (cachexia) through malnourishment, reduced caloric intake, treatment side-effects, and other modifiable risk factors. Cachexia prolongs length of hospital stay for patients, negatively impacts treatment tolerance and adherence, and reduces overall patient quality of life. Auricular acupressure is a form of micro-acupuncture that exerts its effect by stimulating the central nervous system using adhesive taped pellets applied to specific locations on the external ear. The use of these pellets to deliver auricular acupressure has been shown to improve pain, fatigue, insomnia, nausea and vomiting, depression, and quality of life in both cancer and non-cancer settings. Auricular acupressure is a safe, inexpensive, and non-invasive approach to addressing cancer-related symptoms and treatment side-effects and may be effective at improving appetite and weight loss in stage II-IV gastric, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer patients.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT05911243
- Recruitment status
- Terminated
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 3 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
- Clinical Stage II Esophageal Adenocarcinoma AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage II Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage II Gastric Cancer AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage III Esophageal Adenocarcinoma AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage III Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage III Gastric Cancer AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage IV Esophageal Adenocarcinoma AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage IV Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma AJCC v8
- Clinical Stage IV Gastric Cancer AJCC v8
- Stage II Pancreatic Cancer AJCC v8
- Stage III Pancreatic Cancer AJCC v8
- Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer AJCC v8
Interventions
- Acupressure Therapy Procedure
- Best Practice Other
- Biospecimen Collection Procedure
- Questionnaire Administration Other
Procedure · Other
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 65 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2024
- Primary completion
- Jul 8, 2025
- Completion
- Jul 8, 2025
- Last update posted
- May 17, 2026
2024 – 2025
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium | Seattle | Washington | 98109 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT05911243, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted May 17, 2026 · Synced Sep 12, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT05911243 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.