Churack Chair Newsletter #7, September 2019

Welcome to the seventh edition of the Churack Chair Newsletter - a newsletter which provides supporters and friends of the Churack Chair of Chronic Pain Education and Research with the latest updates on how the Chair is reducing the impact of chronic pain in our community through research and the education of medical students in the area of chronic pain management.

As always, we express our gratitude for your ongoing support, dedication and interest. We look forward to sharing ongoing updates and the Chair’s next milestones.

2019 and beyond

The Churack Chair continues to promote research and education into pain and related issues

Our relationship with Professor Peter Drummond’s team at The Centre for Research on Chronic Pain and Inflammatory Diseases at Murdoch University is generating significant research into the causes of chronic pain.

Dr Natalie Morellini, our inaugural Churack Pain Research Fellow at UNDA and Murdoch, has published numerous papers on topics related to neuropathic pain, CRPS, sciatica and burns pain (read more below).

Natalie is one of the first basic sciences (laboratory) researchers in the School of Medicine at UNDA and we have received enormous support from the School of Medicine (Fremantle) and Dean, Professor Gervase Chaney, regarding her position.

“The Churack Chair is currently supporting three PhD and two Masters Candidates in projects ranging from acupuncture, pain in the emergency department, migraine, spinal pain and pain education of medical students. The Churack educational website is being updated and is a popular resource for students and healthcare professionals alike.

So it remains full steam ahead at the Churack Chair and we sincerely thank you for your vital ongoing support." Professor Eric Visser

The John Boyd Craig Prize, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) Research Award for 2019

In May, Professor Visser was invited to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to receive the John Boyd Craig Prize, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) Research Award for 2019 ($45,498) on behalf of the team, to help fund Dr Morellini’s research.

We continue to receive outstanding support from ANZCA and its Faculty of Pain Medicine through research awards and grants, which is most appreciated.

The Churack Chair has also received a Spinnaker Foundation Research Grant for 2019 ($15,000) and we continue to make grant submissions to help fund our research.

Professor Visser reports that he was also grateful to be invited as an associate investigator with lead researchers Professor James McAuley (Neuro Research Australia) and Professor Benedict Wand (UNDA Physiotherapy) who were awarded a prestigious Medical Research Foundation rare diseases grant for one million dollars to investigate neuropathic pain.

Lectures and Seminars around the State

Professor Visser continues to give numerous lectures and seminars around the State and write educational publications. In June he visited Broome to provide educational presentations at the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service and Southern Cross Care and the ANZCA regional scientific meeting. Professor Visser will be providing telehealth sessions for patients in the Kimberly with chronic pain as an outreach project for the Chair and the School of Medicine (Fremantle).

Churack Family visit to Murdoch University

In March, Professor Drummond and the Murdoch team hosted Mr Geoff Churack AM, Mrs Moira Churack, their family and friends at his laboratory to discuss their latest research and thank the Churack family for their outstanding support. The Churacks were presented with a Commemorative Edition of the Lab Rat Gazette which provided not only a detailed perspective on the evolution of the team’s work but acknowledged the progress was, in part, thanks to the Churack’s visionary support.

Appointments recognise service to School of Medicine, Fremantle

Professor Peter Drummond and Associate Professor Philip Finch will be re-appointed as adjunct members of Notre Dame’s School of Medicine (Fremantle) later this year in recognition of their service to the School and the Churack Chair.

Latest Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) Venture

Professor Drummond writes that the photo below “is our latest venture to assess olfactory sensitivity in each nostril in people with CRPS”.

Professor Visser continues to work at St John of God Subiaco Hospital as part of his Churack Chair commitment and is in the process of arranging for UNDA medical students to join the pain team on ward rounds in 2020.

The Churack Chair is grateful to receive continued, outstanding support from St John of God Subiaco Hospital. Research at the hospital includes post-operative pain management, and a proposed acute spinal pain service in cooperation with General Practitioners, spinal specialists and a multidisciplinary team, with a strong focus on back pain education for GPs, students and patients.

Acupuncture to take sting out of ED pain

The West Australian, 11 July 2019, page 3.
Article written by Regina Titelius

Acupuncture is being tested at a Perth hospital emergency department as an alternative to pain killers including powerful narcotics. The trial, which started in January at St John of God Murdoch Hospital, involves patients being offered the choice of “battlefield acupuncture” – a form of acupuncture often used by the American military to alleviate pain in the field.

SJOG Murdoch ED physician adjunct professor Andrew Jan was hopeful the trial would help reduce reliance on strong and addictive painkillers. Professor Jan said battlefield acupuncture – small pointed needles which are injected in key points of the ear and could be left for up to three days – couple provide “a viable alternative” to pharmaceutical pain relief or used in conjunction with medications.

He said about 75 per cent of ED patients experienced some form of pain and would normally be given a painkiller, which can vary from paracetamol and anti-inflammatories to power opioids such as oxycodone.

Professor Jan said the trial, which started in January and would later finish its testing stage later this month, would determine if acupuncture improved pain relief in the first couple of hours and reduced the use of stronger painkillers.

He said there was no intention to replace all pain management with acupuncture. “It’s not for everyone,” he said. “But in our recent survey about 70 per cent of people were willing to use it as an adjunct.”

  • Research papers

    Key research papers generated via the Churack Chair:

    Shipton EE, Bate F, Garrick R, Steketee C, Visser EJ. Pain medicine content, teaching and assessment in medical school curricula in Australia and New Zealand. BMC medical education. 2018 Dec;18(1):110.

    Shipton EE. Oral Presentation at the annual Australian Pain Society Scientific meeting held in Sydney, Australia in April 2018.

    Shipton EE. Poster presentation of review of pain medicine education internationally at the IASP 17th World Congress on Pain held in Boston, USA in September 2018.  Submitted a paper on a review of published literature on tools to assess knowledge, attitudes and skills of medical students with regard to pain medicine to Pain Reports.

    Morellini N, Finch PM, Goebel A, Drummond PD. Dermal nerve fibre and mast cell density, and proximity of mast cells to nerve fibres in the skin of patients with complex regional pain syndrome. Pain. 2018 Jun 12. PubMed PMID: 29905655.

    Drummond PD, Morellini N, Finch PM, Birklein F, Knudsen LF. Complex regional pain syndrome: intradermal injection of phenylephrine evokes pain and hyperalgesia in a subgroup of patients with upregulated alpha1-adrenoceptors on dermal nerves. Pain. 2018 Jul 2. PubMed PMID: 29994991.

    Jan AL, Rogers I, Visser EJ. Acupuncture for analgesia in the emergency department: a multicentre, randomised, equivalence and non-inferiority trial. The Medical Journal of Australia. 2018 Mar 5;208(4):188-9.

    Jan AL, Aldridge ES, Rogers IR, Visser EJ, Bulsara MK, Niemtzow RC. Does ear acupuncture have a role for pain relief in the emergency setting? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medical acupuncture. 2017 Oct 1;29(5):276-89.

    Jan AL, Aldridge ES, Rogers IR, Visser EJ, Bulsara MK, Niemtzow RC. Does acupuncture have a role in providing analgesia in the emergency setting? A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Emergency Medicine Australasia. 2017 Oct;29(5):490-8.

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