CIPN and QST

Chemotherapy is an important treatment for cancer. Sadly, it also causes side effects, including chronic pain and changes in the sense of touch. This is due to nerve damage. In up to 1 in 3 people, these changes last longer than 6 months, causing misery, disability and adding to the burden of cancer survivorship.  These changes are vague to begin with, yet early detection is important, as altering the chemotherapy dose is the only way to reduce the severity of symptoms. Reducing the dose, however, must be balanced against the possible risk of the treatment being less successful. This highlights how important it is to detect these vague signs early and accurately.

One way of detecting these changes is with careful testing of the skin’s sensitivity. This is achieved by asking patients when they feel changes in temperature or pressure or vibrations and then comparing that to readings taken before chemotherapy was started. Such tests are well known in the pain research community where they are called Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST). Unfortunately, QST takes a long time to perform, is relatively expensive and needs patients to keep coming into clinic during a very vulnerable time in their cancer treatment. These issues mean that QST is not suitable for routine clinical use.

 

The SenseCheQ Project

The SenseCheQ project is funded by UKRI and Versus Arthritis as part of the Advanced Pain Discovery Platform.  Our objective is to develop a simple and reliable device and approach to monitor nerve function in the community.  This is relevant for patients having chemotherapy for cancer which commonly causes irreversible nerve damage and pain.  We hope to be able to help patients to identify these problems early with the aim of preventing harm.  It is a collaboration led by Prof Tony Pickering and Dr Jim Dunham at the University of Bristol who are working with Microelectronic Engineers and Clinical Neurophysiologists at the University of Newcastle and pain clinicians at the University of Dundee with the active involvement of a patient partner group in the research and design process.  Over the 3 years of the project we will develop and pilot a device for sensory testing in a patient cohort establishing the feasibility and value of the approach.