Pioneering cooling boots and mittens to help stop painful chemo side-effect - our clinical trial features in the Daily Mail's Good Health
Posted 12th December 2023
The specialist cancer hospital, which treats patients from across Cheshire and Merseyside, is trialling the system as part of a feasibility project which will cool a patient’s hands and feet to around 15 degrees Celsius using specially adapted gloves and boots, in order to avoid the onset of peripheral neuropathy – pain, numbness or tingling in the fingers and toes.
The Trust’s main aim is to see whether it’s feasible to offer this treatment to patients. It’s also hoped the system will prevent peripheral neuropathy which is a side effect of the chemotherapy drug, Oxaliplatin. Oxaliplatin can be used to treat several different cancers, but in this case, it is being used for bowel cancer patients to help prevent recurrence of their cancer.
One of the first patients to trial the system is 64-year-old Brian Conroy from Birchwood. Brian was diagnosed with bowel cancer in August 2023 and received surgery to remove the cancer six weeks later. The cancer was removed successfully and Brian is receiving a course of Oxaliplatin to help prevent the cancer from returning.
As a self-employed construction worker, Brian is keen to reduce the risk of peripheral neuropathy in his hands and feet so he can continue to work once he’s fully recovered.
Brian said: “Being told I had bowel cancer was a huge shock and it’s been a rough time since I was diagnosed.
“I’m keen to give the hand and foot cooling a go because I’m self-employed and work in the building trade. I want to make sure I can continue to use my hands and feet as normal once I’m fully recovered so I can get back to work as quickly as possible. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this project.”
The project was inspired by the personal experiences of University of Liverpool medical student Emily Kelly, 28, from Chester. Emily mentioned her mum Barbara’s experience of bowel cancer treatment to Dr Rick Walshaw, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, during a medical placement.
Dr Walshaw said: “Thank you to Emily for planting this seed of an idea for us at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – I’m always keen to encourage this sort of innovative thinking, particularly in our doctors of the future.
“Research by the Trust brought us to the Hilotherm system and the company are kindly loaning us two systems, free of charge, to see if this service is something that is feasible for us to offer all our bowel cancer patients receiving Oxaliplatin.
“My hope is that it is, and we can begin using the system on a more permanent basis with the aim of preventing these patients from suffering with peripheral neuropathy, which can be very debilitating.
“In the longer term, I would hope all types of cancer patients being treated with chemotherapy drugs that can cause similar side effects, will benefit from the cooling system.”
Jeanette Ribton is Bowel Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. She added: “The team and I are incredibly excited about this project and what it might mean for patients like Brian.
“Peripheral neuropathy can have serious consequences - in some cases the pain can be permanent and can continue even when treatment has long since finished. In some very rare cases, patients might be required to use crutches to help with their mobility and fine movements like doing up buttons becomes impossible.
“If this feasibility project is successful, this system could help prevent this side effect of treatment and allow people to go about living their lives as normally as possible after cancer.”
Read the full feature in the Daily Mail here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1285145...
