This study is to assess the efficacy and safety of a four-week treatment with intranasal esketamine (56 mg) twice a week combined with opioid analgesic and adjuvant standard therapy in the management of adult patients with severe and opioid refractory chronic cancer pain.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
unlabeled nasal injectors, each device will deliver 28mg of esketamine in a 200 μL solution, so in order to achieve the 56mg dose two devices will be required. On each dosing day during the trial, participants will self-administer at 2 time points 1 spray of the nasal spray into each nostril. Each administration will be separated by 5 minutes. The participants will receive the intervention twice weekly for 4 consecutive weeks.
unlabeled nasal injectors, each device will deliver 28mg of placebo in a 200 μL solution, so in order to achieve the 56mg dose two devices will be required. On each dosing day during the trial, participants will self-administer at 2 time points 1 spray of the nasal spray into each nostril. Each administration will be separated by 5 minutes. The participants will receive the intervention twice weekly for 4 consecutive weeks.
University Hospital Basel, Klinik für Mund-, Kiefer- und Gesichtschirurgie
Basel, Switzerland
Change in the eleven point Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS)
Change in the eleven point Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS): assess pain intensity at enrollment and at each visit. Patients will be asked to rate their weekly pain on a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 equals "no pain" and 10 equals "the worst pain they can imagine. NPRS will be taken for both, during physical activity and at rest.
Time frame: 4 consecutive weeks (from Baseline to week 4)
Rescue morphine use
The use of morphine rescue (whether it will be reduced, no change, or increased). This will be monitored using either the Aircure artificial intelligence through a mobile application or personal diaries.
Time frame: 4 consecutive weeks (from Baseline to week 4)
Change in Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)
Patients' functional status and satisfaction will be measured by the change in Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). (0 = no pain; 10 = pain as bad as you can imagine); No scoring algorithm, but "worst pain" or the arithmetic mean of the four severity items can be used as measures of pain severity; the arithmetic mean of the seven interference items can be used as a measure of pain interference.
Time frame: 4 consecutive weeks (from Baseline to week 4)
Change in Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9)
Change in depression score using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) at enrollment and at each visit. It scores each of the nine depression criteria as "0" (not at all) to "3" (nearly every day).
Time frame: 4 consecutive weeks (from Baseline to week 4)
Change in Side Effect Rating Scale for Dissociative Anesthetics (SERSDA)
Change in Side Effect Rating Scale for Dissociative Anesthetics (SERSDA) at enrollment and at each visit. It assesses fatigue, dizziness, headache, nausea, changes in vision and mood changes (0 = side effects absent and 4 = adverse effect is bothersome).
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Time frame: 4 consecutive weeks (from Baseline to week 4)