NESA Acupuncture Research Collaborative

作为补充和替代医学(DCRC)的发展研究中心，新英格兰针灸学院(NESA)-哈佛针灸研究合作将汇集来自东方医学(OM)和传统医学界的领导人，对针灸的有效性和安全性进行批判性评估，并开发针灸研究所需的合理方法和可行的研究设计。我们的DCRC将加强和加强NESA、哈佛医学院(HMS)Osher研究所和另外两个HMS附属机构--Dana Farber癌症研究所和波士顿儿童医院之间已经进行的合作。发改委将支持三个开发/探索性研究和两个基础设施核心(行政和临床试验)，这两个核心将通过三个主题协同整合。第一个主题围绕多样化的OM研究，以评估临床实践中采用的多种方法，这将通过对日式和中国式针灸的评估来解决。第二个主题强调开发和实施新的研究方法，以满足针灸和OM临床试验中提出的独特挑战。我们三项研究中的一项将在临床试验的背景下开发、验证和测试用于得出OM诊断的仪器的可靠性。其他方法学问题涉及针灸治疗的个体化、针灸试验中的适当对照以及结果的发展。 还将讨论反映OM治疗理念的措施。第三个主题阐述了针灸作为一种辅助疗法在治疗妇女健康状况方面的好处。具体地说，我们将研究针灸在两种目前评估其有效性和安全性的证据有限的情况下的应用--卵巢癌女性患者中化疗引起的中性粒细胞减少症，以及患有子宫内膜异位症的青少年和年轻女性的慢性盆腔疼痛。我们的DCRC有许多学术和行政指导计划，通过这些计划，HMS的教职员工和培训计划将帮助NESA发展其临床研究基础设施和能力，以自主地维持一个结合了最高科学标准和传统OM实践完整性的生产性研究计划。我们DCRC的最终目标将是让NESA在未来提交以我们的发展研究为基础的R01和R21提案方面发挥主导作用。

As a Developmental Center for Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (DCRC), the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA)-Harvard Acupuncture Research Collaborative will bring together leaders from the oriental medicine (OM) and conventional medicine communities to critically evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture, and develop sound methodologies and feasible study designs required for acupuncture research. Our DCRC will strengthen and build upon already ongoing collaborations between NESA, the Harvard Medical School's (HMS) Osher Institute, and two other HMS-affiliated institutions, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston. The DCRC will support three developmental/exploratory studies and two infrastructure cores (Administrative and Clinical Trials) that will be synergistically integrated by three themes. The first theme centers around diversifying OM research to evaluate the plurality of approaches employed in clinical practice which will be addressed through the evaluation of both Japanese- and Chinese-style acupuncture. The second theme emphasizes the development and implementation of novel research methods that are required to meet the unique challenges posed in clinical trials of acupuncture and OM. One of our three studies will develop, validate, and test the reliability of an instrument used to derive OM diagnoses in the context of clinical trials. Other methodological issues related to individualization of acupuncture treatments, appropriate controls in acupuncture trials, and the development of outcome measures that reflect the treatment philosophy of OM will also be addressed. The third theme addresses the benefits of acupuncture as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of women's health conditions. Specifically, we will study the application of acupuncture to two conditions for which the current evidence evaluating its efficacy and safety is limited-- chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in women with ovarian cancer, and chronic pelvic pain in adolescent and young women with endometriosis. Integral to our DCRC are a number of academic and administrative mentoring programs through which HMS faculty, staff, and training programs will assist NESA in developing its clinical research infrastructure and capacity to autonomously sustain a productive research program that combines the highest standards of science and the integrity of traditional OM practices. The ultimate goal of our DCRC will be for NESA to play the lead role in the future submission of R01 and R21 proposals that build upon our developmental studies.