Thoracic-POISE trial is building momentum

By Julie Ennis, PhD, Research Fellow

The Thoracic Peri-Operative Integrative Surgical Care Evaluation (Thoracic POISE) study will investigate the use of integrative treatments for esophageal, gastric and lung cancer patients who will undergo surgery.

The Intervention Development Process for the Thoracic POISE study culminated in a full day meeting of the Intervention Development Committee (IDC) at the end of 2015. The Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre welcomed the IDC which consists of representatives from naturopathic medicine, surgery, oncology, radiology, anaesthesiology, pharmacy, physiotherapy, nursing, psychology, research and the patient community from Ottawa, Hamilton, Montreal, Kelowna, Vernon,  Scottsdale, AZ and Melbourne, Australia.

The goal of the meeting was to refine a pragmatic palette of interventions reflective of evidence based recommendations made by Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) who focus on cancer care. The interventions will also be administered during the trial by study NDs. Content experts presented on possible interventions within the domains of nutritional, physical, psychological and natural health products with a focus on evidence of efficacy and safety, feasibility and ability to be standardized. After a stimulating and collaborative discussion, the IDC agreed upon a set of interventions to be used in the pilot phase of the trial scheduled to begin this year.