Combination Therapy for Cancer Related Fatigue in Patients with Metastatic Cancers
Abstract
PRCRP Topic Areas: Because cancer-related fatigue (CRF) can impact any patient with cancer regardless of tumor type, this project will address multiple PRCRP Topic Areas, including bladder cancer, brain cancer, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, germ cell cancers, head and neck cancer, liver cancer, metastatic cancers, stomach cancer, sarcoma, thyroid cancer, and Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome malignancies. Scientific Rationale: Patients with cancer often experience CRF as a result of their disease and its arduous treatment. It severely diminishes their quality of life and can prevent them from taking care of their daily activities of life, hamper their ability to work, reduce their enjoyment of time spent with loved ones, and can also make them dependent on others. CRF is most common and severe in patients with metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread). Unfortunately, there have been very few studies researching treatments for CRF, and as a result, there are no truly effective treatment options for this condition. There are, however, a few promising treatment options. For example, Psychoeducational Intervention (PI) is a treatment that educates patients on the causes of CRF and provides strategies they can use to manage fatigue. While it can help, it is not enough to make a real difference. Recently, our group has been investigating another strategy called Open-Label Placebo. A placebo is a sham, innocuous treatment (an example would be a sugar pill instead of the pill being tested) often used in research studies to compare with a real treatment; open-label refers to the fact that patients are aware they are receiving the placebo and not the real treatment. This study showed that patients knowingly receiving placebo were able to see a small improvement in their symptoms. We suspect that combining Open-Label Placebo with Psychoeducational Intervention will help patients with their fatigue more than either treatment alone. The goal of this study is to investigate whether the combination treatment is better at reducing CRF in metastatic cancer patients than just providing PI alone. Due to the non-invasiveness of this treatment, unlike pharmacological treatment, we anticipate no risk of harm to the patients. Patients Impacted by this Research: CRF is a highly common and extremely distressing condition among cancer patients. Since this study is focused on patients with metastatic cancer (who experience the worst fatigue among cancer patients), the results of the research could rapidly benefit metastatic cancer patients throughout the U.S. and around the world. We expect that the results will also apply to cancer patients of all types and stages suffering from CRF, and even patients who experience severe fatigue due to other conditions. Overarching Challenges to be Studied: This proposal will address the Behavioral Science Overarching Challenge. Specifically, it will address the challenge to develop strategies to address survivorship issues including quality of life, overall mental health, psychological impact of recurrence, and/or survivor permanent disability. In fact, cancer-related fatigue negatively impacts quality of life and overall mental health, and acts as a permanent disability in many patients. We therefore anticipate that finding an effective treatment for CRF will relieve these three critical survivorship issues. Relevance to Active-Duty Service Members, Veterans, and other Military Beneficiaries: This proposal addresses Gaps in cancer research that may affect mission readiness; specifically, it addresses gaps in quality of life and/or survivorship that may impact mission readiness and the health and well-being of military members, Veterans, their beneficiaries, and the general public. Patients experiencing cancer-related fatigue can lose their independence when they can t perform the daily activities of life. Thus, if CRF impacts the Family of an active-duty Service Member, they m
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2024
- Source ID
- HT94252310607
Entities
People
- Sriram Yennu
Organizations
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- United States Army