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Lei Sima, MD, of the National Pain Management and Research Center, China, is the recipient of the 2009 Pain Management Merit Award. She will present the results of her award-winning research, “Efficacy of electroacupuncture for bone metastatic cancer patients with neuropathic pain: A randomized controlled trial,” (Abstract 9534) during tomorrow’s Patient Care Poster Discussion at 2:00 PM-6:00 PM in Room W340A.
Dr. Sima practiced anesthesiology for 5 years before embarking on an oncology career. “When I saw millions of people suffering from severe cancer pain, I decided to be a clinical oncologist to relieve pain instead of delivering anesthesia only in the operating room,” she said in an interview with ASCO Daily News. “As a deputy of the Palliative Care Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, I have devoted myself to cancer pain control and quality-of-life preservation. The heartfelt thanks from my patients and their families are the most rewarding aspect [of my career].”
The greatest challenge of providing adequate pain relief for patients in China, Dr. Sima said, is a lack of knowledge about best practices and global standards of pain control. China has the lowest morphine consumption and highest pethidine use in the world, which is the opposite of World Health Organization guidance. “People still have the wrong idea on cancer pain management — they would rather bear severe pain instead of seeing a doctor, or get irregular pethidine instead of a controlled-release drug. There is a long and difficult task ahead to promote the right idea of analgesic principles,” she said.
Dr. Sima’s research examines pain caused by bone metastases, a common cause of cancer- related pain because metastatic cancer invades bone in 60% to 84% of cases, she noted. Cancer-induced bone pain has been shown to correlate with increased morbidity, reduced performance status, increased anxiety and depression, and reduced quality of life. Typical treatment is multimodal and includes systemic analgesics (e.g., opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), bisphosphonates, antitumor chemotherapy, radiotherapy, local surgery, and anesthetic techniques. Dr. Sima’s study focuses specifically on the use of electroacupuncture to manage cancer-induced bone pain.
“Acupuncture is a component of the health care system in China that can be traced back at least 2,500 years. It has been formally practiced in Western countries, especially in chronic pain disease, since the consent of the National Institutes of Health in 1998,” Dr. Sima said. “Electroacupuncture is more advanced than traditional acupuncture because it combines electric current with acupuncture to achieve a strong analgesic effect. I think it will be a hot topic in the oncology–neuroscience field in the coming years.”
Although it is unlikely that electroacupuncture will completely replace opioid medications for pain management, Dr. Sima noted that “as a non-medicine analgesic supplement, it has unique advantages of fewer side effects and better economy,” and that the technique has an important place in the palliative care arsenal.
One hundred Merit Awards are presented annually to oncology fellows who are first authors of outstanding Meeting abstracts. The Pain Management Merit Award is a distinction granted to the fellow who submits the highest-ranking abstract in the category of pain management. Abstracts eligible for Merit Award consideration are evaluated during the normal abstract review period by the Scientific Program Committee, and the Patient Care Subcommittee chooses the top abstract on pain research. The monetary awards are provided by The ASCO Cancer Foundation®, and the award recognition supports further research in clinical oncology.
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has recognized the value of Dr. Sima’s previous research by awarding her a Translational Research Units Fellowship.
Of the Pain Management Merit Award, Dr. Sima said, “It is really a great honor for me to receive the award because ASCO is one of the most authoritative oncology organizations in the world. I said to myself, ‘It is the right decision to be an oncologist. I can do so many significant things in my life.’ The honor will urge me to spare no efforts on cancer pain management.”
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