Unable to recruit patients in the 6 month extension allowed.

RATIONALE: Acupuncture may help relieve nerve pain caused by chemotherapy.

PURPOSE: This randomized clinical trial is studying how well acupuncture works in treating nerve pain in patients with stage I, stage II, and stage III breast cancer who are receiving paclitaxel.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. To explore the potential for the use of acupuncture to prevent a worsening of the nerve damage in patients (during treatment) due to paclitaxel as measured by a Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Evaluate the impact of acupuncture based on neurological assessment, quantitative sensory tests and nerve conduction tests.

II. Evaluate the improvement observed when treating patients for peripheral neuropathy (post-chemotherapy) with acupuncture based on the same metrics.

III. To correlate objective measures of neuropathy (nerve conduction, quantitative sensory tests, neuropathy composite score, and blood cytokine levels) with the subjective questionnaire/quality of life measures.

OUTLINE:

Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

ARM I: Patients receive paclitaxel every 2 weeks for 4 courses as standard of care. Patients undergo acupuncture therapy comprising 2 30-minute sessions a week for 4 weeks during courses 3 and 4.

ARM II: Patients receive paclitaxel every 2 weeks for 4 courses as standard of care. Patients then undergo acupuncture therapy comprising 2 30-minute sessions a week for 4 weeks.

Inclusion

• Patients must have a history of histologically or cytologically confirmed stage I, II, or III breast cancer that have received 2 cycles of paclitaxel, and expected to receive paclitaxel for two more cycles, and are experiencing grade 1 peripheral neuropathy (CTCAE criteria)
• Performance ECOG 0-2 (Karnofsky Performance Status >= 60%)
• Life expectancy of greater than 6 months
• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document

Exclusion

• Patients with radiologically confirmed stage IV breast cancer
• Patients who had acupuncture in the previous 8 weeks
• Change in use of any of the following drugs in the prior 4 weeks: opiates, antidepressants, or anxiolytics ("change" is defined as initiation or cessation of treatment, or change in prescribed dose or regimen)
• Patients with needle phobia
• Patients who experienced any peripheral neuropathy prior to chemotherapy
• Patients who have the potential for serious bleeding due to inherited diseases such as hemophilia
• Patients with diabetes