I believe that there are at least two Sloan-Kettering trials, "Acupuncture for Dry Mouth: Point Increases Saliva Production and Brain Activity" conducted by Diane Joswick in 2008 and "Acupuncture for Pain and Dysfunction After Neck Dissection: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial" published by Pfister, et. al in 2010.

I'm not certain about the double blind source, I'll keep looking for it. I've read so much lately and chemo-brain makes my memory faulty. However the Mayo trial called "Randomized Study of Electroacupuncture for Chronic Radiation-Induced Xerosomia in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer" uses a double blind with sham electroaccupuncture. The trial was reported as open for patients in 2010 and I haven't been able to find the results. I tried contacting the principal researcher, Dr. Michele Halyard, but she never got back to me.

The MDAnderson pilot study is called "Acupuncture for Radiation-induced Xerostomia in Patients with Cancer". I did communicate with the lead investigator, Kay Garcia, and she informed me that the study was a small, non-randomized study but that they have a large, randomized study underway.

The Brazilian study is called: "Acupuncture for the prevention of radiation-induced xerostomia in patients with head and neck cancer" and was conducted by the Department of Stomatology, School of Dentistry, University of Sao Paulo. It si published in "Brazilian Oral Research" vol,25 no.2 Sao Pauolo Mar/Apr 2011.

There is the article called "Treatment of Xerostomia in Prosthetic Patients Using Local Acupuncture Points on the Face" in the "Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice", Nov 15, 2004 by Wang, et. al. Dentists. Also a study by Blom and Lundberg published in the journal "Oral Diseases" 2000 called "Long-term follow-up of patients treated with acupuncture for xerostomia and the influence of additional treatment".

No, I am not an expert in evaluating the results of clinical trials but I assume that the researchers at renown centers such as Sloan-Kettering, MDAnderson and Mayo are, and, further, that they would not get funding for their research if it wasn't reviewed and found to be scientifically valid.

Stage 3-4 Squamous BOT diagnosed 3/19/12
Molars removed 3/29/12
(Cisplatin) inpatient: 4/11/12-4/16/12; 5/2/12-5/9/12; 5/29/12-6/4/12
Feeding tube: 8/9/12-11/21/12
Radiation 8/10/12-8/29/12
Chemo 1X/week 8/10/12-8/22/12
Last PET/CT clear: 9/17/13