Engineering Pain Relief for Children

At Ohio State University, an eclectic team of biomedical engineers, physicians and basic scientists are fashioning a revolutionary approach to pain management. Fast, effective and technologically advanced, this pain therapy promises to dramatically improve the lives of children with cancer.

Director of Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Mauro Ferrari, lead this unique group of researchers, which included Costantino Benedetti, M.D., and Michael Sprintz, D.O. The investigation, funded by Hope Street Kids, completed its first phase, and the prototype of an innovative pain therapy delivery system. As a result, this project went on to be further developed and is now being used today to help minimize pain and unnecessary discomfort in administering quick pain relief.

"Most children with cancer live with a baseline of pain everyday," explains Dr. Ferrari. "Conventional opiate pain medication helps alleviate much of this pain. But frequently, children will suffer from breakthrough pain-sudden and severe [pain] that may last for minutes or hours."

During those difficult times, children need fast acting relief, delivered in a non-threatening way. "That means, no needles or IVs," Dr. Ferrari says.

The solution is a small patch, containing a commonly used and fast-acting pain drug, that is applied to the lining of a cheek inside the mouth. Unlike a pill that requires time to breakdown in the digestive system before entering the bloodstream, the patch delivers the medicine in seconds and can last for as long as needed (up to several hours).

The device has been developed using nanotechnology-the manipulation of microscopic particles. This patch contains nanoengineered materials that allow the pain medicine to be delivered only as long as the increased pain is present, thereby minimizing unwanted side effects.

"It can be used for a sudden burst of breakthrough pain or when a child has to have a painful procedure, such as a spinal tap," explains Dr. Sprintz. "It is so important to relieve this kind of suffering in children," he adds, "because the cancer experience colors their whole perception of the world, for the rest of their lives."

Safe, easy to administer and commercially viable, the patch may be the long-awaited answer to pediatric cancer pain relief.

Since receiving a grant from Hope Street Kids in the early years of his work concerning nanotechnology, Dr. Mauro Ferrari has gone on to become the world's leading authority in the field; he is considered to be the founder of the fields of biomedical micro- and nano-technology. He has founded four venture-backed biomedical start-up companies and currently holds positions at a host of medical institutions. Among those institutions are: the Brown Institute of Molecular Medicine, where Ferrari is a professor; the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas, where he serves as the chairman; and Rice University, where he is an adjunct professor. Additionally, Dr. Ferrari is the president of the Alliance for NanoHealth, a consortium of seven research institutions in the Houston-area that works to bring breakthroughs in nanotechnology into practice. He has also been the recipient of several awards, including the much-prized Presidential Young Investigator award presented by the National Science Foundation.

Back to Profiles List