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NCT Number: NCT07335224

Men With Prostate Cancer: Optimizing Wellness by Enhanced Relief From Hot Flashes With Acupuncture

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States. Many men with prostate cancer are treated with hormone therapy, also called androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). While this treatment is effective, it often causes bothersome side effects such as hot flashes, poor sleep, fatigue, and other physical and emotional symptoms. There is currently no standard treatment to help manage these side effects in men. Acupuncture is a non-drug treatment that has been shown to help reduce hot flashes and related symptoms in women receiving hormone therapy for breast cancer. However, much less is known about whether acupuncture is helpful for men receiving hormone therapy for prostate cancer. This study will test whether an acupuncture program, combined with usual lifestyle education, is feasible and acceptable for men undergoing ADT. The study will also explore whether acupuncture may help reduce hot flashes and improve related symptoms. A total of 24 men with prostate cancer receiving ADT will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: one group will begin acupuncture right away, and the other group will begin acupuncture after a delay, with regular check-ins during the waiting period. All participants will receive standard lifestyle education. Participants will be followed for about five months and will be asked to complete daily hot flash diaries, questionnaires about their symptoms and quality of life, and wear a Fitbit to track sleep. The results of this pilot study will help determine whether a larger study should be conducted to better understand the role of acupuncture in managing hormone therapy side effects in men with prostate cancer.

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Key information

Conditions

Hot Flashes Acupuncture Therapy Androgen Deprivation Therapy Genital Diseases Genital Diseases, Male Genital Neoplasms, Male Male Urogenital Diseases Neoplasms Neoplasms by Site Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Prostatic Diseases Prostatic Neoplasms Signs and Symptoms Urogenital Diseases Urogenital Neoplasms Vasomotor Symptoms

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

Male

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

About this study

This study is a pilot feasibility randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and delivery of an acupuncture intervention for men with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). A total of 24 participants will be enrolled and randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either an intervention arm with immediate acupuncture (IA) or a wait-list attention control arm with delayed acupuncture (DA), resulting in 12 participants per group. Randomization will be conducted using a simple randomization scheme.

Participants will be followed for a total of 22 weeks. Those assigned to the IA arm will receive a standardized acupuncture protocol consisting of weekly 30-minute manual acupuncture sessions for 10 weeks, administered by a certified acupuncturist with expertise in oncology care. In addition to acupuncture, participants in the IA arm will receive lifestyle education consistent with usual clinical practice. Following completion of the 10-week acupuncture period, participants in the IA arm will enter a 12-week follow-up phase without acupuncture treatment.

Participants assigned to the DA arm will receive lifestyle education per usual care during the initial 10-week period without acupuncture, along with scheduled check-ins with study staff to control for attention. At week 12, participants in the DA arm will begin the same standardized acupuncture protocol as the IA arm, consisting of weekly 30-minute sessions for 10 weeks. This design allows all participants to receive the acupuncture intervention while enabling comparison of feasibility and acceptability between immediate and delayed initiation.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Male
  • At least 18 years of age
  • Histologically or cytologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of prostate of any stage I-IV
  • Undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and/or androgen receptor pathway inhibitors
  • Experiencing moderate to severe daily interference from hot flashes, as indicated by the Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale (score≥4)
  • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-1
  • Able to read, understand, and provide written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

  • Severe or uncontrolled concurrent disease, infection or co-morbidity that, in the opinion of the Investigator, would make the patient inappropriate for enrollment
  • Known hypersensitivity to the acupuncture needles
  • Any condition that in the opinion of the Investigator would impair the patients' ability to comply with the study procedures
  • Unable to comply with study requirements
  • Use of acupuncture for hot flashes within 6 months prior to enrollment

Treatment and study plan

Acupuncture

Other

Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body

Lifestyle Management

Behavioral

lifestyle education per usual care without acupuncture for the first 10 weeks. At week 12, they will begin the acupuncture protocol (weekly 30-minute sessions).

Primary outcomes

  1. Study feasibility - patient enrollment

    Time frame: 12 months

    Study feasibility will be measured by patient enrollment rates, defined as the proportion of eligible patients approached about the study who consent to participate.

  2. Study feasibility - Patient intervention engagement

    Time frame: 18 months

    Study feasibility will be measured by patient intervention engagement, defined as the proportion of enrolled patient subjects who attend at least 6 of 10 scheduled acupuncture visits.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Intervention acceptability - quantitative

    Time frame: 11, 17, and 22 weeks

    Intervention acceptability will be measured using satisfaction ratings.

  2. Intervention acceptability - qualitative

    Time frame: 22 weeks

    Intervention acceptability will be evaluated using thematic analysis of post-intervention semi-structured interviews.

  3. Hot Flash Severity Score

    Time frame: Baseline, 11, 17, and 22 weeks

    The primary patient outcome is the weekly mean hot flash score, which is calculated by multiplying hot flash frequency by severity, as recorded in the Daily Hot Flash Diary (DHFD).

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Bre Azad

CONTACT

[email protected]

(703) 634-8843

Melissa F Miller, phD, MPH

CONTACT

[email protected]

(571) 232-8306

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Inova Health Care Services

Other

Registry information

Official study title

MPOWER: A Pilot Trial Among Men With Prostate Cancer: Optimizing Wellness by Enhanced Relief From Hot Flashes With Acupuncture

Acronym: MPOWER

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2027
First posted
Jan 13, 2026
Registry last updated
Feb 4, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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