Heartbeat: Trust amongst first in the world to conduct research trial in chronic pain
June 22, 2022
Research is a significant part of medicine as the world pushes forward to understand medical conditions, find answers for why they develop and ultimately discover new treatments to help patients. In this our Trust has always ensured research is a key part of what we do, and in some areas, notably cardiology, we have often led the way.
However, amongst all the research that has been done and is ongoing, one area has been less explored, which is the reason pain management specialists Dr Arasu Rayen and Dr Beth Fitzmaurice chose to run a feasibility trial within their chronic pain population to see if whole-body photo biomodulation therapy can be used effectively in treating chronic pain. Photo biomodulation is a method of treating patients with specific wavelengths from the light spectrum.
A team of 14 colleagues including clinicians and data experts are involved in the trial, which sees patients rest for sessions of up to 20 minutes at a time (approximately three times a week) on a bed of ‘lights’ – similar to a sunbed. The trial is for patients with chronic pain, specifically patients with fibromyalgia. Throughout the trial 20 patients will complete six weeks of therapy, provisionally due to conclude this summer.
Chronic pain, which is pain endured for more than three months, is difficult to treat. There are a limited number of treatments for treating chronic pain including medications, physiotherapy, psychology and injections, and there is still an unmet need to treat chronic pain.
Working for the Trust for over 20 years as a consultant Dr Rayen chose medicine as a career because he describes himself as a ‘people’s person’ who gets pleasure in helping others. Practicing medicine and being a doctor encompasses all that he is passionate about. He has a long-held interest in research and explained: “I am always interested in providing the best and evidence-based treatment for the patients under my care. Good, well thought out, sensible, reproducible research gives us the opportunity to find new modalities of treatment. Following this trial our long-term plan is to continue this trend of doing research and set up rolling research program for pain management in the Trust. If photo biomodulation is proved to be effective, we will aim to get this service permanently in our hospital.”
Dr Fitzmaurice has always had a curiosity towards research, and after commencing chronic pain training, she says it quickly became evident there were massive treatment gaps for these patients which made her feel she had to do more to help. She explained: “I love the idea of creating something ‘new’ as a standard in the world of pain, which requires research in order to make it accessible and free to all.
“I am hoping to complete a PhD alongside my research which is set to include a review article of fibromyalgia patients’ experience of their pain management. Upon completion of this feasibility trial, we hope to use the results to calculate numbers for the next part of a larger multi-site double blinded placebo-controlled randomised trial. This will ultimately determine whether this therapy is effective and hopefully be the first step towards getting this therapy into the NHS, so it is widely accessible to those who need it.
“I’ve always felt at home at this Trust. From the chronic pain side of things there is such a breadth of exposure which is an excellent experience for my training. Research is not commonly undertaken by anaesthetic and pain trainees and if it weren’t for the massive support I received from the anaesthetics department which I work in, it most certainly wouldn’t have been possible. The department have nurtured and encouraged me to ‘act-up’ into more senior positions which has been invaluable. I feel I have found my niche in the speciality of chronic pain which I find very rewarding.”