The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has been awarded a grant to study whether xerostomia, a debilitating side effect caused by head and neck cancer radiation treatment, can be prevented when acupuncture is part of a patient’s treatment regimen. The $2.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the study of acupuncture in cancer was awarded to Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., professor in the Departments of General Oncology and Behavioral Science. The MD Anderson has offered acupuncture, when appropriate, to patients for pain or other cancer or treatment-related symptoms since 2004. This Phase III randomized clinical trial will enroll 300 head and neck cancer patients receiving radiation treatment at either Shanghai Cancer Center or MD Anderson. Those enrolled in the sister Shanghai center will have nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a malignancy much less common in the United States. Prior to undergoing radiation, patients will be randomized to receive either acupuncture (needles inserted at appropriate, selected points), sham acupuncture (real and placebo needles inserted at inactive points), or standard care. Subjective and objective assessments of xerostomia will be collected prior to, during and at the completion of therapy, as well at three, six and 12 months post-radiation.
