Participants
Between September 2019 and June 2020, 263 patients were screened, of which 101 were randomly allocated to the pharmacopuncture and usual care groups. One participant from each group withdrew their consent before receiving the treatment; moreover, one participant from the PT group was dismissed by the investigator due to an administrative error in the random allocation process. Ultimately, 98 patients (49 each in the pharmacopuncture and usual care groups each) who received at least one treatment session were included in the ITT analysis. The flow chart of the study is shown in Supplementary Figure A2 (see Additional file 