This research study is evaluating acupuncture, a medical therapy in which hair-thin, stainless steel needles are shallowly inserted into specific points to help the body's natural healing process, as a possible treatment to reduce hot flashes.

Hot flashes are a sensation of sudden onset of body warmth, flushing and sweating. Hot flashes are common side effects of breast cancer treatments and can affect mood and daily life. Medications can help ease hot flashes, but many patients continue to experience symptoms despite these treatments.

Acupuncture is a complementary therapy in which, hair-thin, sterile disposable needles are inserted into various spots on the skin, with the goal of affecting body's natural healing system. Acupuncture has been tested in clinical trials in cancer patients and has been shown to be helpful in treating a number of side effects of cancer treatment, such as nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy. A few early studies have suggested that acupuncture may help to lessen hot flashes, but more information is needed about the benefits of acupuncture in breast cancer patients.

This study is being done to test whether acupuncture can help to reduce the number and intensity of hot flashes in breast cancer patients who are being treated with mediations such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, such as anastrozole (Arimidex), exemestane (Aromasin), and letrozole (Femara).

Inclusion Criteria:

• History of histologically or cytologically proven Stage I-III breast cancer with estrogen receptor positive with HER-2 positive or negative tumor;
• Premenopausal or postmenopausal status;
• Completed all primary chemotherapy and surgery;
• Currently undergoing adjuvant hormonal therapy (e.g. Tamoxifen and/or Aromatase inhibitors) with or without ovarian function suppression for at least 4 weeks at study entry; the use of Trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy is allowed;
• Reported persistent hot flashes for at least 4 weeks AND more than 14 episodes of hot flashes per week (2 hot flashes per day) during the week prior to the study entry;
• Age ≥ 18 years;
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1;
• Signed informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

Undergoing chemotherapy or planned surgery, chemotherapy, change doses and regimen of hormonal therapy during the study period;

• Unstable cardiac disease or myocardial infarction within 6 months prior to study entry;
• Uncontrolled seizure disorder or history of seizure;
• Active clinically significant uncontrolled infection;
• Use of acupuncture for hot flashes within 6 months prior to the study entry;
• Uncontrolled major psychiatric disorders, such as major depression or psychosis;
• Newly starting pharmacologic treatment of hot flashes such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and/or anti-convulsant for less than 4 weeks prior to study entry. Participants may continue with medications or therapies for the treatment of hot-flashes while participating in the study if the medication has been taking for more than 4 weeks prior to study entry AND the dose of the medication is going to be kept consistently during the study

The Dana-Farber / Harvard Cancer Center encourages and supports the responsible and ethical sharing of data from clinical trials. De-identified participant data from the final research dataset used in the published manuscript may only be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement. Requests may be directed to: [contact information for Sponsor- Investigator or designee]. The protocol and statistical analysis plan will be made available on Clinicaltrials.gov only as required by federal regulation or as a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.

Data can be shared no earlier than 1 year following the date of publication.

Requests may be directed to: [contact information for Sponsor- Investigator or designee].

20 weeks: The adverse events were reported separately for each intervention phase to accurately capture the effects of the treatments. The study had two arms: Immediate Acupuncture Arm (Treatment Weeks 1-10) and (Usual Care Weeks 11-20) Adverse events were recorded during both the treatment and follow-up phases. Delayed Acupuncture Arm (Usual Care Weeks 1-10) and (Intervention Weeks 11-20) Adverse events were recorded during both the usual care and intervention phases.

We randomized patients to immediate acupuncture vs. delayed acupuncture rather than using an active control condition. This raises the possibility that the placebo effect could have contributed to the impact of the immediate acupuncture intervention on hot flashes.