Rehabilitation and treatment of pain in head and neck cancer patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessment of Functional Rehabilitation and Treatment of Chronic Pain after completion of Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer.
IRAS ID
109783
Contact name
Nicholas Kalavrezos
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCLH, research and development
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
14/ee/1153, REC NUMBER
Research summary
Complications following treatment for head & neck cancer include disfigurement, chronic pain, impaired speech and swallow and impaired movement of the mouth, neck and shoulder, which usually result from treatment-induced fibrosis. Grafting of fat from the abdomen was initially used to reconstruct defects but recently has also demonstrated improvements in movement of the shoulder and neck following radiotherapy treatment for breast and neck cancers respectively. This is likely to result from modification of fibrotic tissues. Fat grafting has also been published as a treatment for chronic pain in patients with neuromas or severe trauma.
Our group at UCLH has previously treated 11 patients with fat grafting to correct severe facial and neck deformities (after surgery and radiotherapy) and documented dramatic improvement in neck and shoulder movement, swallow function and chronic pain.
Our study aims to formally assess and quantify the functional effects of fat graft treatment on patients following head and neck cancer treatment, using a standardised format captured by a specific questionnaire (10 minutes to complete in total), together with standard clinical examinations (10 minutes), yearly for 3 years. The questionnaire looks specifically at functional changes and the effect of these on patients' quality of life. During our clinical examinations we will obtain patients' consent to take standard photographs and thermographic images (non-invasive) of them to aid in our qualification and quantification of the treatment effects and to enhance the standardisation and reliability of the results. The research is important as 16000 cases of head and neck cancer are diagnosed every year and radiotherapy is used in 61% of these. Up to 50% of these patients then develop subcutaneous fibrosis. Patients with fibrosis will be recruited from UCH head & neck cancer department. Study will be conducted at UCLH (macmillan) & RFH (plastics department) and is funded by the UCL BPRS MSc.REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1153
Date of REC Opinion
18 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion