Trials For Cancer Patients Who Suffer From Pain

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New Orleans is one of the sites for clinical trials going on to help people suffering from cancer pain. There are two studies involving new medications and the studies are enrolling patients now.

Doctors say along with the fear of having a terminal cancer there can be extreme pain. Some people suffer 24 hours a day.

"Many times they are they do require long term or long acting pain medications to handle their pain because it is chronic and does not go away," says Dr. Michael Biunno, the Medical Director of Louisiana Research Associates in New Orleans.

Dr. Michael Biunno says part of the reason is that the cancer can be in many locations in the body when it spreads. So pain is very common especially in one type of cancer.

"If cancer happens to spread to bone it does seem to cause tremendous pain. That's what we're seeing at least in our studies," he says.

So Louisiana Research Associates is testing two new pain medications for people with an incurable form of cancer. Both will be a sublingual spray, meaning you spray it right under the tongue where it can get to your blood stream very quickly.

"The first study the medicine is already on the market in patch form and in oral form but not in the sublingual spray form and that is for breakthrough pain. The other study is actually a cannabinoid, which is from the marijuana plant, and that study is to see if this drug taken with a sublingual spray can relieve pain and reduce inflammation," says Dr. Biunno.

Dr. Biunno says at times the highest doses of pain medication are not enough to take care of the pain in cancer patients and some people can't tolerate the highest dose so they need something else to help out. These two clinical trials will not interfere with other treatments.

"The good news about the two studies is that the current pain medicine that the client is taking does not have to change, so they do not have to change anything or stop anything that they are taking already this is merely to supplement what they are already taking," he says.

And it's a way that could give some quality of life to those in need.

Louisiana Research Associates is looking for adults who have cancer that can not be cured, and who are on long acting pain medication but are still having cancer pain.


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Source: WWL-TV
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