Grant: Catalyst Grant: Biomedical & Clinical Approaches to Improving Quality of Life

Although it is becoming increasingly common for people to survive many forms of cancer, the disease sometimes leaves survivors with long-term health problems, including pain. Moreover, the treatments for cancer - surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation - can actually cause damage to nerves, which results in a particularly difficult problem called chronic "neuropathic" pain. Neuropathic pain is characterized by sensations of burning, sensitivity to touch, and feelings of an electric tingling. There are medications that can help neuropathic pain, but they seldom eliminate it. Therefore, many cancer survivors must learn to cope on a long-term basis with this distressing condition. There are psychological treatments that have been found to be very helpful in teaching people with other forms of chronic pain to live more comfortably with their conditions, but they are just beginning to be extended to people with neuropathic pain conditions. Members of our group have developed one such intervention, but we have never examined whether it might be helpful for cancer survivors. The present research has two parts. In the first part, we will conduct a survey of cancer survivors who have chronic neuropathic pain, and investigate its impact on mood, coping, and daily function. In the second part, we will conduct a treatment study with 24 volunteers. First, the volunteers will be seen by a pain management specialist who will optimize their medications. Next, they will take part in a 10-week "Coping with Chronic Neuropathic Pain" intervention, in order to provide preliminary evidence as to its efficacy .