Sudbury residents will be told this week how the Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI) is making progress in helping cancer patients get through their treatments and have better outcomes.
There is a public event at Science North’s Vale Cavern happening Thursday to let people know the importance of the work being done by HSNRI, especially with respect to cancer care.
Sudburians might not realize the level of state-of-the-art cancer research being conducted in the Nickel City, or that local cancer patients can sign up to participate in clinical trials of treatments right here in Sudbury.
One person who is well aware of the importance of cancer research and how much research is being conducted locally is Amanda Snyder, a clinical research study co-ordinator in cancer research at Health Sciences North, who works closely with HSNRI.
Through that role, Snyder works with cancer patients participating in clinical trials, helping them through their treatment by providing them with relevant information and support.
Clinical trials, she said, give patients access to cutting-edge treatments under development, giving them better patient outcomes, but also helping drive cancer research forward.
“So we currently have 10 open trials. They range from academic studies to radiation trials to investigational drug trials,” said Snyder. “Whether it’s a better outcome for overall survival or overall symptom management is usually what we’re aiming to alleviate.”
Snyder added that the drug trials or radiation trials local patients participate in are all carefully scrutinized by ethics boards and formally approved by such organizations as Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“What the patients are getting, you know, essentially are cutting-edge treatments … that just haven’t come to market yet,” said Snyder.
As an example she mentioned one study done in Sudbury for patients that had oral mucositis, which is a complication from radiation therapy.
Snyder said the condition is one of the unpleasant things that can happen to cancer patients who are on a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. It can cause a series of mouth ulcers that make it difficult for people to eat or drink. In many cases patients need to be fed by a G-tube (gastrostomy tube).
She said the drug trial allowed staff to provide medication to enable patients to eat and drink and not live in pain for several weeks during the chemo and radiation treatments. Snyder said this also made it easier for the patients in that most did not need to be admitted for hospital care during the course of their treatments.
Plus, patients’ participation helps push research forward.
“It was kind of a dual purpose of the study, and it was actually really cool how the medication did benefit the patients in the long term.”
She said the success of the study also had FDA representatives coming to Sudbury to monitor the results.
“It worked out really, really well,” Snyder said. “This was the first time the FDA actually came to our site to monitor the study.”
She added that she is not sure if the data collected by the FDA from other hospitals was as positive as what happened in Sudbury, but she said it was an example of the importance of the work being done.
Snyder added that HSN anticipates the FDA will be returning at some point in the future to monitor other studies underway at the hospital.
Snyder said not all the patients fully grasp the importance of the research work or that participating in a clinical trial could benefit them in their cancer treatment. Snyder said when patients learn they have cancer, they have a lot of information to absorb and being told about research studies can lead to information overload for people who are already having to take in a lot of info.
Snyder said it helps when patients have a lot of family support, especially if there is a health care person in the family, to help patients understand the potential long-term benefits of getting involved with a clinical trial.
Snyder said she tries to put herself in a patient’s shoes, so she can understand how overwhelming it might be when they are being told of the many things they could do or should do.
She said one of the key benefits is that when a patient is selected to be part of a clinical trial, their level of care goes up. It usually results in one-on-one direct nursing care, Snyder said.
“So we’re with them all of the time, bringing them to where they need to be, so that they’re not feeling overwhelmed or lost at any time, that everything’s pretty seamless for them in that sense,” said Snyder.
Thursday’s public event at Science North takes place from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. that will highlight how innovations from the research and academic teams create meaningful impacts on the health of Northeastern Ontarians, said the HSNRI news release.
Len Gillis covers health care as well as the mining industry for Sudbury.com.
This post was originally published on here
