June - CareSearch

Newsle er June 2015 ISSUE 24 Please consider becoming a PaCCSC Member— follow this LINK to find out how.
From the desk of the naƟonal manager…
Dear PaCCSC Members There has been li le me to take breath in the first six months of the year. At the end of March we celebrated the successful closure of the megestrol v dexamethasone v placebo for appe te/anorexia study. The required sample size 159 comple ons was reached and data analysis is now underway. This is the fourth Commonwealth funded study to be successfully closed and we eagerly await the publica on of study results. As men oned in the April newsle er the abstract for the risperidone v haloperidol v placebo study was accepted at the 2015 May mee ngs of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Geriatric Medicine in Perth and the American Geriatrics Society mee ng in Washington, USA as a presiden al poster. We are very proud to announce that Associate Professor Meera Agar and the fellow study inves gators were awarded the presiden al poster award for Clinical Trials from the USA mee ng. Our thanks to Adjunct Associate Professor Paul Lawlor from the University of O awa, Canada for presen ng on behalf of the team. There were also a number of posi ve ‘tweets’ post the presenta on at the ANZSGM. I expect by the me this newsle er is available for circula on the morphine or placebo (MOP) study will have closed to recruitment. Again this study will have met the required sample size and adds to the suite of successfully completed adequately powered phase III clinical studies conducted by the Collabora ve. There has been an enormous effort by all par cipa ng sites to achieve the sample size and the past six months have seen recruitment numbers outstrip previous monthly targets. This demonstrates the considerable clinical trials capacity now embedded within the recrui ng sites that make up the Collabora ve. A special men on to the Southern Adelaide Pallia ve Service (SAPS) who in early June reached an incredible 100 randomisa ons to a phase III study – this is the largest number of randomisa ons any one site has made to any PaCCSC auspiced phase III study. The RAPID program con nues to a ract new sites across the globe. The current series haloperidol for nausea has almost reached the half way mark and the next series amitriptyline for pain has had the first mee ng of the sub-commi ee to develop the case report form. This study will open immediately following the closure of haloperidol/nausea reaching 100 comple ons. For more informa on on RAPID please This Issue see Rhiannon’s update in this newsle er. PaCCSC has a number of pilot studies in various stages of development/conduct: The melatonin for delirium pilot has From the Na onal Manager 1-2 successfully closed; the pyridos gmine and opioids in pulUpcoming mee ngs 2 monary rehabilita on studies are open to recruitment – we PaCCSC News 3-6 welcome on board John Hunter Hospital and Westmead Study Updates 7 Hospital for the la er, and offer thanks to Professor Chye and the team at Sacred Heart for opening the pyridos gSite Updates 8-9 mine study to assist with recruitment. Rapid Update 10 Con nued overleaf…. Member Publica ons 11 1 PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24 Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative
From the desk of the naƟonal manager conƟnued…
The PERT study has transi oned into three studies with PERT 1 undertaking qualita ve interviews of pa ents and carers to gain informa on on symptoms; PERT 2 the pilot/feasibility study; and PERT 3 the phase III trial. PERT 1 has had HREC approval and is currently seeking site specific approval at a number of sites in SA and NSW. A very big thank you to all sites, including St George and Concord Hospitals Sydney for agreeing to be involved. The PERT 2 study has been awarded a small grant from the Flinders Centre for Innova on in Cancer. The CADET and Parentarel Dexamethasone for cancer pain studies have both been reviewed by the Scien fic Commi ee. Study summaries for all pilots are available on the PaCCSC website. PaCCSC members submi ed four NHMRC project grant applica ons in the 2015 round. Assessor comments have been received for all four which was very encouraging that they have made it to the next round. My thanks to the CIA’s and the en re inves gator teams on all these studies, Compe ve funding is absolutely necessary to the con nua on of high quality clinical studies in pallia ve care. The octreo de study paper was published in March and a large dissemina on program undertaken. While the results have not a racted the same degree of controversy that the ketamine study a racted, the results will lead to changes in clinical prac ce and further work will be done in the future to determine what prac ce change in the pallia ve se ng has occurred as a result of the study results. PaCCSC received advice in May that we had been successful in gaining infrastructure funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health under the Na onal Pallia ve Care Program. This will enable the con nua on of the Collabora ve for another two years and enable PaCCSC to con nue to hold the Annual Research Forum in March. I wish to thank the Department for their con nued financial support and I look forward to working with representa ves to demonstrate the outcomes and achievements of PaCCSC over the next few years. I hope you enjoy reading the newsle er and please feel welcome to contribute items of interest to members. Kind Regards, Linda Devilee, Na onal Manager PaCCSC Membership
PaCCSC ac vely encourages membership to extend the underlying knowledge of the Collabora ve, to broaden the scope of the trials being conducted, and to priori se subsequent studies which, among other funding streams, con nues to seek compe ve category one funding. Benefits of membership include a endance at the PaCCSC Research Forum, held annually early in the calendar year, receipt of quarterly newsle ers, and vo ng rights for full and associate members. To learn more about membership and the different levels, please click here. You will be directed to the PaCCSC website. Upcoming Mee ng Dates
Management Advisory Board Mee ng: Friday 11th September. Scien fic Commi ee: Friday 28th August. Publica ons Sub‐Commi ee: Friday 12th June. PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24 2 Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative
PaCCSC News
News from the pallia ve care community worldwide
SAVE THE DATE
PaCCSC 7th Annual Research Forum 2016 February 2016 Mon 29 March 2016 Tues 1 Wed 2 Thurs Fri 3 PaCCSC Forum Sydney 4 PaCCSC Forum Sydney Sat 5 Sun 6 The next PaCCSC Annual Research Forum will be held at the beginning of March 2016 in Sydney. New studies will be presented and studies currently underway or completed will be reported on, along with guest speakers and networking opportuni es. Further details are yet to be finalised, however please feel welcome to email [email protected] to register your interest for presen ng or a ending, or for any queries. A formal call for Expressions of Interest and Abstracts will be issued in the coming months. Flinders receives $5m in grants for pallia ve care projects
Almost $5 million in grant funding– for three na onal pallia ve care projects – has been awarded to Flinders University from Australian Government funding of $52 million for pallia ve care projects in Australia. The grants, announced on Wednesday May 26 by Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Fiona Nash, have gone towards a range of pallia ve care projects which will benefit people nearing the end of their lives and their families, and support the medical, nursing and allied health staff who provide their care. The grants recognise Flinders’ excep onal performance in the areas of pallia ve care research and educa on. The University was the only organisa on to be awarded funding for mul ple projects, receiving grants for CareSearch, an online pallia ve care resource; the Pallia ve Care Clinical Studies Collabora ve; and for the development of educa on modules on end of life care in acute hospital se ngs. Director of CareSearch and Associate Professor of Pallia ve and Suppor ve Services at Flinders University, Jennifer Tieman, said receiving the three grants was a ringing endorsement of the pioneering work in pallia ve care at Flinders University. “I am immensely proud of the work that our discipline has undertaken to be er understand the needs of health professionals, pa ents, families and carers, and to address those needs by developing new knowledge around symptoms and by providing pallia ve care training and resources,” said Associate Professor Tieman. “These grants will allow us to con nue our work in improving pallia ve care educa on and resources for health care workers, and also, cri cally, enhance care provision for people at the end of their lives.”
PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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PaCCSC News—Con nued...
Pallia ve Care Australia Conference—September 2015
PaCCSC would like to encourage our members to register for the Australian Pallia ve Care Conference to be held in September 2015. Registra on for this event closes on Friday 7th August 2015 so please register today at this link h ps://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/
index.php?even d=112617& Advanced Symptom Management Workshops for nurses. PCNA and PaCCSC have teamed together to bring you two half day workshops on Tuesday 1st September 2015 at the Melbourne Conven on and Exhibi on Centre, as part of the Pallia ve Care Australia Conference. The workshops will explore advances in four or five common symptoms experienced by pallia ve pa ents. Please add this date to your calendar. Registra on for these workshops are only available to conference delegates when registering for the conference. The price of each session per person is $185.00, however PCNA members will be offered a discount of $50.00 per session, accessible via a special link sent directly to members. PCNA membership is available for free when registering for the conference and elec ng to a end a session. Please use the below link for schedule details. h ps://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/13apcc2015/277685/ 3rd Australian Pallia ve Care Research Colloquium
We encourage our members to a end and submit abstracts for the 3rd Australian Pallia ve Care Research Colloquium, to be held in Melbourne on 22nd and 23rd October 2015. This will be an important Forum in which to discuss key issues and learn new approaches. This will be an excellent networking opportunity for those interested in pallia ve care research and related fields. Please click the below link to learn more. Registra on closes on 2nd October 2015 with places filling fast. h p://centreforpallcare.org/events/australian-pallia ve-care-research-colloquium/ Please visit the colloquium website to submit abstracts, view the program and register online. h p://www.cvent.com/events/3rd-australian-pallia ve-care-research-colloquium/ PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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PaCCSC News—Con nued...
PaCCSC farewells Magnus Ekstrom
Magnus’s me in Australia is coming to a close, and PaCCSC has asked some ques ons about his stay, reques ng complete honesty of course! Do you think you will return “Down Under” in the future? Thank you for asking. If you by down under refer to Australia, my answer is: yes, would love to. As to the second part of your ques on: yes, it would likely be in the future as that is the most convenient and less me consuming op on. What is the silliest colloquial term you learnt while in Oz? Here I would like to extend warm thanks to Zac Vandersman at the PaCCSC office for deepening my experience of human language in general and Ozzy jokes and foul words scribbled on pos t patches. I've been informed that the mere u erance of any of these would entail me to wear a li le gadget around my wrist and prolong my stay in Australia for up to six months. What was your favourite Australian food experience? Sneaking up in the middle of the night and eat a sausage directly from the fridge. What was your worst Australian food experience? Empty fridge. Are Australians good drivers? Absolutely! I think it mainly depends on your goal when driving. If it is to take you and your family from point A to point B without major injury or mental scars: no, probably not. But if you see driving more as a way of mee ng others in unexpected situa ons, improve your reflexes, and to appreciate life: yes. A car in Adelaide is like life itself. You can never know how it turns. Did your children learn any exple ves in English while in Australia? O my, I'll have to ask the kids what that means... Is there anywhere in Australia you haven’t been? I haven't been in jail, me, or Perth. I and the whole family have had a fantas c me in Australia. The kids learned to swim in Daintree and now correct my English. I've been privileged to meet so nice, helpful and warm people: Aine Greene and the outstanding SAPS team, all and everyone at the PaCCSC office (it was I who took the candy Linda), the lunches with Zac and Honsy - was there anything that we didn't solve?, fabulous Debbie Marrio and the gang in the university building, the clinical team at Repat (it's been a joy) and of course David! Now I'm going back to my li le kingdom up north. Welcome to Sweden! (just call before so that I have something in the fridge) Magnus and his family posing on Gordon River, Strahan, Tasmania PaCCSC welcomes Jamilla Hussain
“I am a pallia ve care medical doctor in the UK who has taken me out of training to undertake a Na onal Ins tute for Health Research (NIHR) Doctoral Research Fellowship at Hull York Medical School. My thesis focusses on missing data in pallia ve care randomised controlled trials. As part of this I have completed a systema c review and meta-analysis on the extent of missing data reported in pallia ve care trials. I will also be reviewing data on reasons for trial withdrawal from completed PaCCSC studies and aim to send a postal survey and interview par cipants who complete and withdraw from on-going trials in the UK and Australia. Finally, I will test different approaches to handling missing data using trial datasets. My supervisors are Professors David Currow (Aust), Miriam Johnson (UK) and Mar n Bland (UK). Luckily for me the NIHR agreed that in order to develop my understanding of the challenges of running and successfully comple ng pallia ve care trials, I must visit and learn from the experts at PaCCSC. So, from the 3rd August to the 30th October 2015 they have funded me to come visit! I apologise in advance for the numerous ques ons I will ask and my general excitement about working with you and visi ng Australia for the first me. I really look forward to mee ng everyone.” Jamilla Hussain, Hull York Medical School PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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PaCCSC News—Con nued...
The 14th World Congress of the European Associa on for
Pallia ve Care Dr Nikki McCaffrey, PaCCSC Health Economist The 14th World Congress of the European Associa on for Pallia ve Care (EAPC) took place in the beau ful, historic city of Copenhagen, Denmark. As many of you will know, the EAPC is one of the most pres gious interna onal pallia ve care conferences and this year the architecturally stunning Bella Center hosted over 2,800 delegates from more than 80 different countries. Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark a patron of the congress opened the conference. We were warmly welcomed by the EAPC Local and Scien fic Commi ee Chairs before proceedings kicked off with a s mula ng plenary session on public health and pallia ve care by Professor Luc Deliens (Ghent University, Wales & Vrije University, Brussels). Over the next three days I a ended too many sessions to list here but key themes included: organisa on and ming of specialised pallia ve care services (lots about delivering pallia ve care earlier in the trajectory); demen a and pallia ve care; non-cancer pallia ve care services; and publishing pallia ve care research. The EAPC is going to publish the slides presented at the congress so sign up to the EAPC website at h p://www.eapcnet.eu/ if you’re interested in seeing what else was discussed. This year, I was very proud to run a parallel session tled, ‘Bridging research and policy: economic evalua on in pallia ve care’ co-chaired by the eminent researcher and EAPC Congress Scien fic Chair, Professor Irene Higginson and our own dignitary, the inimitable Professor David Currow. Luckily, I was able to secure two interna onally-renowned health economists, Professors Jo Coast (University of Birmingham, UK) and Charles Normand (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) as my co-presenters and together we demonstrated the benefits of health economics research in the pallia ve and end of life se ng for pa ents, families, carers, clinicians, healthcare professionals, researchers, funders and policy-makers. The session was extremely well a ended and very successful for me personally, directly resul ng in an invita on to be a co-inves gator on a high profile interna onal grant and a member of a journal editorial team for a special edi on on health economics. Another opportunity to fly the PaCCSC flag was during the pain and symptom management session when I presented the ketamine economic evalua on results. Of course, most ques ons concerned the clinical study with just one query about the rela onship between the adverse events and resource use. Of par cular interest was Professor Marie Fallon’s (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) comment about an upcoming ketamine RCT, ‘Double-blind randomized controlled trial of racemic ketamine versus placebo in conjunc on with best pain management in pa ents with neuropathic pain of malignant origin’ which is currently in write up. One to keep an eye open for… Despite the European focus of the associa on there was a strong Australian presence, including presentaons by Professor David Currow, Professor Samar Aoun, Jennifer Fox, Dr Sofia Zambrano, Associate Professor Deborah Parker, Professor Geoff Mitchell, Professor Katy Clarke and Professor Peter Hudson (apologises for anyone I’ve missed!) Finally, perhaps of greatest value was the opportunity to meet and greet like-minded individuals who are passionate about pallia ve care research and discuss future collabora ons. The conference closed with an invita on to next year’s 9th World Research Congress being held in Dublin, Ireland (9-11 June 2016). No doubt at the next congress Australian and PaCCSC pallia ve care researchers will demonstrate yet again why we are leading the way. Nikki’s a endance at the EAPC Research Congress was made possible by the financial and other support of Cancer Council SA's Beat Cancer Project on behalf of its donors, the State Government of South Australia through the Department of Health & Flinders University. PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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PaCCSC Study Updates
The below graphs show the randomisa ons obtained per month for each site since the individual site commenced recruitment to the study. Morphine or Placebo
Recruitment to this breathlessness study has greatly increased this year, and SAPS maintain the lead. It has been fantas c to see recruitment going strong un l the very end of the study, with 6 randomisa ons in the last week alone! Congratula ons to all sites. Megestrol
This study closed on 31st March 2015 having reached the sample size. Another successful study closed and congratula ons to Braeside having recruited the highest to this study. All recrui ng efforts were greatly appreciated and results will be made available post analysis. Sertraline
This study is now the star of the PaCCSC show for the moment with so many studies closing recently. SAPS con nue with the lead recruitment for our remaining breathlessness study. Separate congratula ons are in order for the SAPS team, who in the month of June, randomised their 100th par cipant to the MOP study! This is a huge achievement and reminds us all what hard work and dedica on can achieve. SAPS have been our biggest recrui ng site and we extend our congratula ons of this amazing feat. PaCCSC NHMRC Compe
ve Funded Nausea Study Updates
Title: Trials of an eme c therapy in pa ents with cancer and nausea not related to an cancer therapy. Study 1 aims: To determine whether guideline driven an eme c therapy is superior to single agent therapy. Study 2 aims: To compare the effec veness of parenteral levomepromazine vs placebo (BSC) for people with refractory nausea. Study 3 aims: To assess the efficacy of oral methotrimeprazine versus oral haloperidol in pa ents with cancer and nausea not related to an cancer treatment. Study 1 Update Data checking and cleaning con nues with analysis to commence shortly. Study 2 Update
No further ac vity has commenced on this study since the previous newsle er. Study 3 Update
To date, recruitment to Study 3 is progressing well with 12 pa ents completed from 17 randomisa ons, of which 2 pa ents are currently in the interven on phase. It is hoped that the target of 126 randomisa ons (100 completed cases) can be reached by the end of July 2016. This is a rate of approximately 2 randomisa ons per week (across the study). There has been considerable screening ac vity at the sites, including those sites that have not yet randomised a pa ent. To date, 30 pa ents have been pre-screened and not progressed to randomisa on. The process of rolling out Version 1.4 of the protocol con nues and it is hoped that approval will be effec ve by August 2015. The primary reason for this protocol amendment were the changes to metoclopramide dosing as per the recent TGA guidelines. The Mater Hospital as the largest current recruiter will have the first site monitoring visit completed in July 2015. It is planned that online CRFs via Caresearch will be available for data entry by end of July 2015. Prof Hardy is happy to answer any clinical queries and clarify any uncertain es at any me. PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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Study Site Updates
Mater Health Services, QLD Hospital, NSW Braeside Hospital, NSW Calvary Health Care, NSW Southern Adelaide Pallia ve St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, VIC Services (SAPS), SA The Aus n Hospital, VIC Calvary Mater Newcastle, Barwon Health, Geelong, NSW VIC Sacred Heart St Vincent’s Royal Melbourne Hospital, VIC Westmead Hospital, NSW Greenwich Hospital, NSW Cabrini Health, VIC Nepean Hospital, NSW Concord Hospital, NSW
Liverpool Hospital, NSW The Prince Charles Hospital, Lyell McEwin Hospital, SA QLD Nambour Hospital, QLD St Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane, QLD Gold Coast Hospital, QLD Mater Health Services QLD
The Mater site in QLD has had a number of changes recently. A/Prof Phillip Good has taken over from Prof Janet Hardy as Site Inves gator for PaCCSC. Prof Hardy has a new role at the Mater as Director of Cancer Services. As most are aware, Angela Tapuni has moved on and has been replaced by Karyn Sullivan in the Clinical Trials Coordinator posi on. Karyn Sullivan is a novice researcher who comes from a clinical oncology, haematology and pallia ve care background. Also, Mater research welcomed Petra Vayne-Bossert who will be our research fellow for 2015. Petra joins us from The University Hospital of Geneva. Ngaire Kingi con nues as our research nurse, with Eve Pinkerton as Data Manager. The Mater is currently recrui ng for the MOP and Nausea 3 studies. As the first site to commence recruitment for the Nausea Study 3, we are pleased to have randomised 10 par cipants to date. - Karyn Sullivan, Mater Health QLD Sacred Heart Suppor ve and Pallia ve Care Service, Darlinghurst
Recruitment is cking over at our site, and with Melatonin closed, we are currently recrui ng to Nausea 3, MOP and Sertraline, with some new studies pending. Interes ngly, most of the recruits to the respiratory studies have non-malignant illness, as the cause of their dyspnoea. For many, this is in addi on to a cancer diagnosis. It is impressive that people with such a burden of disease are so willing to par cipate in studies that may benefit others some me in the future. New recruitment strategy: Nausea 3 has opened at this site and in contrast to Nausea 1, recruitment has been quite brisk. An interes ng experience occurred, when the Clinical Trials Nurse was in a 4 bed room, explaining the study to a pa ent who was hearing-impaired and the pa ent in the opposite bed, who couldn’t help but overhear, referred himself – resul ng in “two for the price of one”! Our congratula ons to SAPS on recrui ng 100 MOP pa ents! That is a mighty effort! - Penny West, Sacred Heart NSW Calvary Health Care
Calvary Health Care in Sydney has seen some staff changes in the first half of 2015. We have had the commencement of Tecla Chinganga (Clinical Research Nurse) and Nikki Meller (Clinical Research Nurse and Site Coordinator) into the research team to complete a full complement of staff. Lead by Dr Caitlin Sheehan (Site Inves gator), there has been an influx of study recruitment for May and June with referrals from various networks such as the community pallia ve care team and in-pa ent pallia ve care wards. We are involved in ward, doctor and community team mee ngs on a weekly basis to ensure we are ac vely engaged with all members of staff. This not only enables us to act on referrals promptly, it also gives our research team the opportunity to update everyone involved with new par cipants, our achievements and answer any ques ons other staff may have. We look forward to a successful second half of 2015. - Nikki Meller, Calvary Health Care NSW PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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Greenwich Hospital
Dr Bridget Johnson has recently commenced as a PaCCSC site inves gator for HammondCare at Greenwich hospital in Sydney. Bridget became interested in clinical research ini ally as a senior resident running one arm of randomised controlled trial inves ga ng the management of Cryptococcal meningi s in pa ents with AIDS in Ubon Ratchathani in North Eastern Thailand. Since then Bridget has completed her FRACP with advanced training in pallia ve medicine. Bridget has been working as a pallia ve care staff specialist for HammondCare for the past 12 months working both at Royal North Shore hospital and Greenwich hospital. Bridget is very enthusias c about joining the dynamic research group at Greenwich hospital. Bronwyn Raymond has recently commenced with HammondCare as the clinical trials coordinator at Greenwich Hospital. Bronwyn is a registered nurse who became interested in research during her studies at Sydney University. She has worked on a number of research projects over the years in differing capaci es including clinical trials nursing roles in medical and radia on oncology. She oversaw the growth of the trials unit in radia on oncology from one to 27 trials. A er a short clinical role as lung cancer care coordinator, which gave her a be er understanding of the pallia ve care teams role in the care of lung cancer pa ent, she sought out a posion in pallia ve care and looks forward to working with the enthusias c research team at Greenwich. - Bronwyn Raymond, Greenwich Hospital NSW Barwon Health
The Barwon Health Pallia ve Care Trails team likes to reward our team with a Freddo frog for each successful referral to our trials. We find this li le reward is a great way to encourage our team members to refer to our trials and creates a sense of compe on within our team. We send a recruitment update to all members of our team each week with our recruitment targets and randomisa ons and an update on any pa ent referred to the trials. This has been a posi ve ac vity within our team and a great way to introduce trials to new team members. - Anna Dowd, Barwon Health VIC Southern Adelaide Pallia ve Services
Life at SAPS con nues to be busy .With the approach of winter which has started very cold here in Adelaide we are seeing an increase in our study par cipants having hospital admissions. There is some level of anxiety within the team re the proposed closure of Repatria on General Hospital and an uncertain future loca on for both research and the clinical teams. Magnus Ekström, our visi ng Postdoctoral research fellow, will soon be returning to Lund University in Sweden. Magnus has a par cular research interest in morbidity, mortality and symptoma c treatment in people suffering from chronic respiratory failure and other severe and life-limi ng diseases so he was a perfect fit at SAPS. We will miss him when he returns home . Yutaka Hatano is also an academic visitor who has joined us from Japan. He is a psychiatrist at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan. He is a clinician and a researcher. His research interests include delirium, cancer survivorship issues, and psycho-social supports for caregivers/bereaved caregivers. Yutaka will be with us un l September. During his me with us, he is undertaking a popula on based study of caregivers and the iden fying ways to organize well designed clinical trials. As his interest is in the psychosocial side of pallia ve care, he has had widespread involvement with the clinical teams. - Aine Greene, SAPS SA PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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Pilot and Phase 4 Study Updates
PaCCSC con nues to develop new study concepts in alignment with the symptom nodes currently in progress or previously studied. This includes medica ons for which the evidence base is low or non existent. Included symptoms are: pain, nausea, gastro-intes nal symptoms, breathlessness and delirium.
If you would like to be involved in any of the studies below or have a new study idea please contact the PaCCSC office at: [email protected]
RAPID Pharmacovigilance
The RAPID study con nues to progress with the collec on of pharmacovigilance data documen ng net clinical benefit and safety of common medicaons. The inten on of the RAPID study is for a diverse and large group of clinical units to record data prospec vely on a small de-iden fied consecuve cohort of pa ents started on the medica on of interest. The completed RAPID series to date include metoclopramide for nausea, haloperidol for delirium, gabapen n/pregabalin for neuropathic pain and dexamethasone for anorexia. The current medica on series - haloperidol
for nausea opened for data collec on in October 2014 and has recorded data for 50 completed pa ents. Once this series has reached its target of 80
-100 completed pa ents, the next series amitriptyline/nortriptyline for neuropathic pain will open. The subcommi ee for this series recently held ini al discussions and the CRF is currently being dra ed. The interven on series running concurrently on blood transfusions has recorded data for 81 completed pa ents. An interven on series on Hypo‐
dermoclysis is next in line, which will assess the benefits and harms associated with subcutaneous infusions. The RAPID study now has 101 sites from 20 countries that are registered for the program. To further promote the project an abstract for a six minute speed talk on the program has been accepted at the Australian Pallia ve Care Conference in Melbourne in September. If you would like to present the RAPID program at a local event please make contact with the PaCCSC office as there are a range of resources we can provide you with. If you are interested in hearing more about the RAPID pharmacovigilance program or know of any colleagues or services that may interested in joining please contact Rhiannon Vince [email protected] PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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Recent Publications by members of the PaCCSC Site Investigator Team
If you have published a paper in the last three months, please write to us and let us know!
Adapta on of interna onal guidelines on assessment and management of cancer pain for the Australian context. Lovell M, Lucke T, Boyle F, Stubbs J, Phillips J, Davidson PM, Olver I, von Dincklage J, Agar M. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol. 2015 Jun;11(2):170-7. doi: 10.1111/ajco.12352. Epub 2015 Apr 14. PMID: 25871343 [PubMed - in process] The Popula on Burden of Chronic Symptoms that Substan ally Predate the Diagnosis of a Life‐Limi ng Illness. Currow DC, Clark K, Kamal A, Collier A, Agar MR, Lovell MR, Phillips JL, Ritchie C. J Palliat Med. 2015 Jun;18(6):480-5. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2014.0444. Epub 2015 Apr 10. PMID: 25859908 [PubMed - in process] Poten al economic impact on hospitalisa ons of the Pallia ve Care Clinical Studies Collabora ve (PaCCSC) ketamine randomised controlled trial. McCaffrey N, Hardy J, Fazekas B, Agar M, Devilee L, Rowe D, Currow D. Aust Health Rev. 2015 Jun 22. doi: 10.1071/AH15012. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26093387 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Advance care planning in 21st century Australia: a systema c review and appraisal of online advance care direc ve templates against na onal framework criteria. Lucke T, Bha arai P, Phillips J, Agar M, Currow D, Krastev Y, Davidson PM. Aust Health Rev. 2015 Jun 1. doi: 10.1071/AH14187. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26027723 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Tes ng pilocarpine drops for dry mouth in advanced cancer using n‐of‐1 trials: A feasibility study. Nikles J, Mitchell GK, Hardy J, Agar M, Senior H, Carmont SA, Schluter PJ, Good P, Vora R, Currow D. Palliat Med. 2015 May 22. pii: 0269216315585473. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26001395 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Academic detailing of general prac oners by a respiratory physician for diagnosis and management of refractory breathlessness: a randomised pilot study. Collier A, Rowe D, Allcro P, Greene A, Currow DC. BMC Health Serv Res. 2015 May 9;15(1):193. doi: 10.1186/s12913-015-0861-9. PMID: 25956910 [PubMed - in process] Free PMC Ar cle Can variability in the effect of opioids on refractory breathlessness be explained by gene c factors? Currow DC, Quinn S, Ekstrom M, Kaasa S, Johnson MJ, Somogyi AA, Klepstad P. BMJ Open. 2015 May 6;5(5):e006818. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006818. PMID: 25948405 [PubMed - in process] Free PMC Ar cle The Effect of Methylphenidate on Fa gue in Advanced Cancer: An Aggregated N‐of‐1 Trial. Mitchell GK, Hardy JR, Nikles CJ, Carmont SA, Senior HE, Schluter PJ, Good P, Currow DC. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2015 Apr 18. pii: S0885-3924(15)00176-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2015.03.009. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 25896104 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Midazolam in pallia ve care: at what cost? Clark K, Currow D. J Palliat Med. 2015 Feb;18(2):96-7. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2014.0375. Epub 2014 Dec 30. No abstract available. PMID: 25548980 [PubMed - in process] Dying in Australian hospitals: will a separate na onal clinical standard improve the delivery of quality care? Clark K, Collier A, Currow DC. Aust Health Rev. 2015 Apr;39(2):202-4. doi: 10.1071/AH14175. PMID: 25513880 [PubMed - in process] Be er informing decision making with mul ple outcomes cost‐effec veness analysis under uncertainty in cost‐disu lity space. McCaffrey N, Agar M, Harlum J, Karnon J, Currow D, Eckermann S. Contact Us
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 9;10(3):e0115544. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115544. eCollec on 2015. 700 Goodwood Road
PMID: 25751629 [PubMed - in process] Free PMC Ar cle Daw Park SA 5041
A preliminary study to develop an interven on to facilitate communica on between couples in advanced cancer. P: 08 8275 1926
Mowll J, Lobb EA, Lane L, Lacey J, Chochinov HM, Kelly B, Agar M, Links M, Kearsley JH. F: 08 8374 0350
E: [email protected] Palliat Support Care. 2015 Feb 6:1-10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 25655763 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] PaCCSC is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health PaCCSC Newsletter June 2015: Issue 24
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