EPCRC: Improved treatment of pain, depression and fatigue through translation research
Pain, depression and fatigue are subjective clinical manifestations of advanced cancer, affecting large patient groups. Even today, our understanding and management of these symptoms and conditions are insufficient. This project aims at improving the care by addressing diagnosis and classification as well as the underlying mechanisms. This will be done through research in several areas, in cooperation between clinicians, clinical researchers, and basic scientists.
The European Palliative Care Research Collaborative (EPCRC) consists of eight participating centres from six European countries: UK, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Norway.
The overall objectives are to develop new genetic methods for predicting individual variation of fatigue/Cachexia and response to opioid treatment for pain, and methods for assessment and classification of pain, fatigue (cachexia), and depression.
The collaborative´s proposal was successfully evaluated in 2006 and received EU funding for a three year period.
Guidelines
New European Clinical Guideline: USE OF OPIOID ANALGESICS IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER PAIN: evidence-based recommendations from the EAPC
The EPCRC Opioid Guidelines Group have produced revised recommendations on the use of opioid analgesics for cancer pain. The work has been led by the EPCRC Work Package 3.1 team coordinated by Professor Augusto Caraceni at the Unit of Palliative Care, Pain Therapy and Rehabilitation of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan, Italy. However, coworkers across Europe have contributed to the evidence base by conducting the systematic reviews on which the new recommendations are based. The recommendations have been endorsed by the Board of Directors of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC).
The new opioid guidelines were published in Lancet Oncology in February 2012. A Podcast with a discussion of the updated guidelines is available at the homepage of Lancet Oncology. (If you are not able to access these items, please send an Email to dagny.haugen@ntnu.no )
The supporting evidence for the updated opioid guidelines consists of 17 systematic reviews that were published in a special issue of Palliative Medicine in July 2011. The table of contents for the July special issue of Palliative Medicine may be accessed here.
A patient friendly guideline summary in five European languages may be accessed below.
New European Clinical Guideline: THE MANAGEMENT OF DEPRESSION IN PALLIATIVE CARE
The EPCRC Work Package 3.2 team at King's College London have developed a new, European Clinical Guideline on the Mangement of Depression in Palliative Care. This has been a comprehensive process involving expert and public consultations and literature reviews, including a Cochrane review on the use of antidepressants for depression in physically ill people. A journal paper on the guideline was published in the European Journal of Cancer in January 2011. The full guideline may be accessed below, along with a patient friendly summary in five European languages.
New European Guidelines: CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES ON CANCER CACHEXIA IN ADVANCED CANCER PATIENTS
The EPCRC cachexia work team has produced new European, clinical guidelines on the management of cancer cachexia in advanced cancer patients, with a focus on refractory cachexia. This has been a comprehensive process involving expert and public consultations and literature reviews. The final guideline may be accessed below, together with a patient friendly summary (leaflet) in five European languages.
