Mass General physicians develop pain management app for cancer patients

Two physicians at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital have developed an app called ePAL to help cancer patients manage their pain, ABC-affiliate TV station WCVB reports.

Mihir Kamdar, MD, associate director of the division of palliative care and interventional pain physician at Mass General, and Kamal Jethwani, MD, senior director of Pivot Labs at Boston-based Partners HealthCare, which owns Mass General, created the app.

The app lets patients rate pain on a scale from 1 to 10 and get help when needed. It asks them questions to determine whether they've taken their medication, whether they've taken enough medication and whether they're having symptoms preventing them from taking it, Dr. Jethwani said.

When a patient reports pain score above eight, the app alerts a clinician to a potentially serious issue. If the number is less than eight, the app offers tips and education for pain management.

Dr. Kamdar and Dr. Jethwani presented the findings of a small study that tested the app's effectiveness at a recent conference.

After eight weeks, they found patients using ePAL reported a 20 percent reduction in pain and had a 70 percent lower risk of pain-related hospital admissions.

The physicians aim to create a stronger version of the app that can be tested in other patient populations.

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