Acupuncture delivered before bladder cancer immunotherapy may reduce serious treatment harms and interruptions while fitting within routine urology clinic care.
This randomized feasibility study enrolls adults with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer receiving bladder-administered Bacillus Calmette-Guerin immunotherapy. Participants are assigned to receive either acupuncture before weekly treatment sessions for six weeks or an attention and waitlist control condition. The study includes standardized training, manuals, monitoring, and regular meetings for acupuncturists, while assessing recruitment, retention, treatment adherence, acupuncture-related harms, and effects on clinic workflow.
Researchers compare patient-reported quality of life, treatment-related adverse events, medication use, healthcare utilization, use of complementary therapies, and expectations and preferences between groups. The study is designed to determine whether pre-treatment acupuncture can be delivered reliably in a urology clinic and whether it shows potential to lessen serious adverse events and treatment interruptions.
