Head and Neck Cancer, Pain
Conditions
Brief summary
This study is looking at treating cancer pain in head and neck cancer. Patients are asked in outpatients to score their worst pain on a scale of 0 to 10 in the last 24 hours. Those with a pain score of 4 and above are randomised into the study. Patients are allocated to continue with their current care (control group) or to be reviewed by the pain/palliative care team (intervention group). At baseline questionnaires are completed on level of pain, type of pain, quality of life and anxiety/depression. Information is also collected on the analgesia they've used in the past month and basic health economics (GP/hospital visits related to pain management and treatment). Follow up in the trial is for 3 months and consists of questionnaires as above and further collection of information on analgesic usage and health economics.
Interventions
OTHERIntervention
Patients allocated to the intervention group will undergo prospective, proactive, integrated, structured pain treatment according to recent guidelines on cancer pain care
Sponsors
National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom
Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Patients attending head and neck oncology clinics * Patients with a cancer diagnosis who are receiving anti cancer treatment or who have received anti cancer treatment * Patients who score 4 or more on the Brief Pain Inventory numerical rating scale screening question 'worst pain in past 24 hours'
Exclusion criteria
* age below 18 years * patients unable to respond to an English written assessment * patients with medical conditions that could affect their mental function or level of consciousness such as stroke, or dementia * patients who score \<4 on the Brief Pain Inventory numerical rating scale screening question * patients already under the care of a pain/palliative care service
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The change in pain score summarized from patient reports | 1 month, 2 months and 3 months |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Adequacy of pain treatment | 1 month, 2 months and 3 months | Using Pain Management Index, calculated from BPI and WHO ladder |
| Quality of life | 1 month, 2 months and 3 months | Assessed using the EQ-5D questionnaire |
| Impact of pain | 1 month, 2 months, 3 months | Measured by the brief pain inventory questionnaire |
| Anxiety and depression | 1 month, 2 months and 3 months | Assessed using the Hospital anxiety and depression questionnaire |
| Treatment costs | 1 month, 2 months and 3 months | Information collected on analgesic usage and contact with healthcare professionals for pain management purposes |
| Patient satisfaction | 1 month, 2 months and 3 months | Likert scale |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed