Adouble-blind Placebo Contorolled Study Of Subcutaneous Ketamine In The Management Of Cancer Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$50,000.00
Summary
Palliative care teams are studying an anaesthetic, ketamine, used at low doses for cancer pain which is not responsive to opioid drugs. Clinical experience suggests ketamine may help in neuropathic pain, which is due to nerve damage and is common in cancer. The study involves five days of treatment at three doses of ketamine, to see how well pain is controlled on each dose. The highest dose given will be that which gives good pain control. The study compares ketamine with a placebo, and patients ....Palliative care teams are studying an anaesthetic, ketamine, used at low doses for cancer pain which is not responsive to opioid drugs. Clinical experience suggests ketamine may help in neuropathic pain, which is due to nerve damage and is common in cancer. The study involves five days of treatment at three doses of ketamine, to see how well pain is controlled on each dose. The highest dose given will be that which gives good pain control. The study compares ketamine with a placebo, and patients keep on their usual pain medicines. Participants are randomised to have ketamine or the placebo. The study looks at pain control, quality of life, ketamine side effects, and change in need for usual pain medicines. This is the first national clinical study of a new palliative care research network, the Palliative Care Clinical Trials Collaborative (PaCCSC). It is hoped that if ketamine is proven safe and effective in difficult cancer pain, it will be more easily available for cancer patients.Read moreRead less
Disorders of pain sensation due to nerve damage are common, debilitating and difficult to treat. Nerve damage often results in increased sensitivity to painful stimuli and the perception of innocuous stimuli as painful; it may also result in spontaneous pain. Pain is one of the commonest clinical problems, and yet it is often accepted or taken for granted. The outcome of this work will be an increased understanding of the way in which nerve injury leads to spontaneous pain and increased sensitiv ....Disorders of pain sensation due to nerve damage are common, debilitating and difficult to treat. Nerve damage often results in increased sensitivity to painful stimuli and the perception of innocuous stimuli as painful; it may also result in spontaneous pain. Pain is one of the commonest clinical problems, and yet it is often accepted or taken for granted. The outcome of this work will be an increased understanding of the way in which nerve injury leads to spontaneous pain and increased sensitivity to painful stimuli. This will lead in turn to the development of more effective treatments for neuropathic pain.Read moreRead less
The Analgesic Evaluation Of Novel Natural Products From The Australian Plant Barringtonia Acutangula
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$174,500.00
Summary
This project aims to evaluate the analgesic activity of several novel natural products that have been isolated from the Australian plant Barringtonia acutangula. An Australian Aboriginal tribe have been known to use B. acutangula aqueous bark extracts for its analgesic properties. Griffith University researchers have confirmed this biological activity in the crude aqueous bark extract. A large scale extraction and isolation process will obtain the novel compounds in sufficient quantities that wi ....This project aims to evaluate the analgesic activity of several novel natural products that have been isolated from the Australian plant Barringtonia acutangula. An Australian Aboriginal tribe have been known to use B. acutangula aqueous bark extracts for its analgesic properties. Griffith University researchers have confirmed this biological activity in the crude aqueous bark extract. A large scale extraction and isolation process will obtain the novel compounds in sufficient quantities that will allow for their pharmacological evaluation as potential analgesic drugs.Read moreRead less
Thalamic Neuroplasticity And Pain Following Spinal Cord Injury
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$299,520.00
Summary
Pain is a major problem for people with spinal cord injuries and is common, severe and difficult to treat. There is increasing evidence to suggest that pain may be linked to specific changes in some brain regions following a spinal cord injury. Several possible brain changes have been suggested but not investigated fully and have different implications for treatment. This project aims to characterise these brain changes with the purpose of developing novel effective and targeted treatments.
The fundamental problem with pain is that it cannot be seen. We can see injury, but pain and injury are quite often not related. Brain imaging has demonstrated consistent patterns of activity when we feel pain, and long-term changes that happen in chronic, i.e. persistent, painful disorders. This project will use the best technology available to investigate the basics of how our brains perceive pain, and to shed light on some of the brain mechanisms that underpin chronic pain.
Excitatory Interneurons: A Sensory Amplifier For Pathological Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$649,848.00
Summary
Changes to the nervous system during pathological pain remain poorly understood. This poses a barrier to new and more effective pain therapies. We have recently shown that a population of excitatory nerve cells, which express a protein called calretinin, form an amplifier network within the spinal cord that enhances pain signalling. This application will determine how calretinin-positive nerve cells contribute to pathological pain and can subsequently be targeted to provide pain relief.
Chronic pain from damage to the nervous system is extremely debilitating and notoriously difficult to treat. The current drug of choice, gabapentin, has serious side effects and only works in two-thirds of patients. We have developed a drug, derived from sea snail venom, that exhibits ten times the activity of gabapentin. This proposal seeks to progress our drug to clinical trials and attract a commercial partner for its development into the market.
Neuropathic pain is particularly difficult to treat and existing medications have considerable side effects. This project will develop a new set of glycine transport inhibitors that have the potential to provide pain relief without side effects.
What Triggers Complex Regional Pain Syndrome After Minor Injury?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$958,898.00
Summary
Most people recover from minor trauma but some develop very disabling, difficult to treat, costly pain syndromes. We can identify those at high risk of developing such a syndrome after wrist fracture. By comparing inflammation, immune system function, stress, brain function and behaviour between high and low risk patients, we will take a major step towards understanding, preventing and treating these syndromes.