Michael Ferraro
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Doctoral Candidate
Trial Manager
02 9399 1049
Michael Ferraro is a clinical researcher and trial manager for the MEMOIR clinical trial. He is member of the Centre for Pain IMPACT, led by Professor James McAuley. Michael’s research is centred around the identification, development and evaluation of treatments for chronic pain. He is also interested in prognosis research and the use of prognostic models, which combine multiple patient characteristics to provide individualised risk predictions.
Michael frequently reviews for prestigious specialty pain journals and his research has been presented at premier conferences both nationally and internationally.
In the MEMOIR trial, Michael will be investigating the efficacy and effectiveness of two novel treatments for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
You can follow Michael’s research below and here: Google Scholar and ORCID.
Projects Michael Ferraro is currently involved with
CURRENT PROJECTS
MEMOIR – a clinical trial for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
To learn more about MEMOIR please visit our new website memoir.neura.edu.au
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MEMOIR – a clinical trial for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Medicines for Back Pain
Medicines are the most common treatment for back pain. The aim of this program of research is to improve our understanding of the clinical effects of medicines.
Studies currently in progress:
- Scoping review of paracetamol, NSAIDs and opioid analgesics for chronic low back pain (led by Matthew K Bagg). The objective of this study is to identify and describe the characteristics of available clinical trials of commonly used analgesic medicines for chronic low back pain. This information will inform the design and conduct of other studies in the research program.
- Paracetamol, NSAIDs and opioid analgesics for chronic low back pain: a network meta-analysis (led by Matthew K Bagg). The objective of this study is to produce information about the clinical effects of available analgesic medicines for chronic low back pain. This information will be available in a Cochrane review to assist clinical prescription of medicines. The protocol is published and available here.
- Prescribing practices of medicines for adults with low back pain: a systematic review (led by Michael Wewege). The objective of this study is to determine how different medicines are prescribed to adults with low back pain and how this differs across countries. The protocol for this study is being developed.
- Analgesic medicines for adults with low back pain: a network meta-analysis (led by Michael Wewege). The objective of this study is to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of a range of analgesic medicines for adults across different classifications of low back pain. The protocol for this study has been submitted for publication.
- Muscle relaxant medicines for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis (led by Aidan Cashin and Thiago Folly). The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness and tolerability of muscle relaxant medicines for adults with low back pain. The protocol is available here.
- Novel biologic medicines for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis (led by Rodrigo Rizzo). The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness and tolerability of novel biologic medicines for adults with low back pain. The protocol is available here.
Completed studies:
- Evaluation of the impact of unpublished data from clinical trial registries on the effects of medicines for low back pain (led by Matthew Bagg). The objective of this study was to evaluate whether there is a difference between clinical trial data that are published and those that are not published. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.
- Antidepressant medicines for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis (led by Michael Ferraro). The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness and tolerability of antidepressant medicines for adults with low back pain. The findings have been submitted for publication. The protocol is available here.
Medicines for Back Pain – Publications:
- Bagg MK, McLachlan AJ, Maher CG, Kamper SJ, Williams CM, Henschke N, Wand BM, Moseley GL, Hübscher M, O’Connell NE, van Tulder MW, Nikolakopoulou A, McAuley JH. (2018). Paracetamol, NSAIDS and opioid analgesics for chronic low back pain: a network meta-analysis [Protocol]. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 6. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013045. PMCID: PMC6513465
- Bagg MK, O’Hagan E, Zahara P, Wand BM, Hübscher M, Moseley GL, McAuley JH. (2020). Reviews may overestimate the effectiveness of medicines for back pain: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. doi: 10.1016/ j.jclinepi.2019.12.006. PMID: 31816418
Medicines for Back Pain – Registrations of Study Protocols:
- Folly T, Bagg MK, Wewege M, Ferraro MC, Schabrun S, Gustin SM, Day R, McAuley JH. (2019) UMbRELLA: Understanding efficacy and safety of Muscle RELaxant medicines for Low back pain – systematic Literature review and meta-Analysis (protocol).Open Science Framework, available at: https://osf.io/xuw5h
- Rizzo RN, Bagg MK, Ferraro MC, Wewege M, Cashin A, Leake HB, O’Hagan E, Jones M, McAuley JH. (2020). Efficacy and safety of medicines targeting neurotrophic factors in the management of low back pain: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. Open Science Framework, available at: https://osf.io/zax6d
- Ferraro MC, Bagg MK, McAuley JH. (2019). RADICAL: Systematic Review of Anti-Depressant Medicines if Considered Analgesics for Low Back Pain (protocol). Open Science Framework, available at: https://osf.io/cedm3
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Medicines for Back Pain
RESEARCH TEAM
YANNICK GILANYI Honours Student : y.gilanyi@neura.edu.au
BRISHNA SHAH Honours Student : b.shah@neura.edu.au
JACK DEVONSHIRE Research Assistant : j.devonshire@neura.edu.au
HARRISON HANSFORD Doctoral Candidate : h.hansford@neura.edu.au
THIAGO FOLLY Research Assistant
ANIKA HAIGH Research Assistant : a.haigh@neura.edu.au
PAULINE ZAHARA Clinical Trial Manager
DR IAN SKINNER Postdoctoral Research Fellow
PUBLICATIONS
Efficacy and Safety of Medicines Targeting Neurotrophic Factors in the Management of Low Back Pain: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Rizzo RRN, Ferraro MC, Wewege MA, Cashin AG, Leake HB, O'Hagan ET, Jones MD, Gustin SM, McAuley JH
The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of medicines targeting neurotrophins in patients with LBP and sciatica. This systematic review and meta-analysis will assess the evidence for the efficacy and safety of NGF inhibitors for pain in patients with nonspecific LBP and sciatica. The inclusion of new studies and unpublished data may improve the precision of the effect estimates and guide regulatory actions of the medications for LBP and sciatica.
Analgesic medicines for adults with low back pain: protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Wewege MA, Bagg MK, Jones MD, McAuley JH,
Efficacy, acceptability, and safety of antidepressants for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Ferraro MC, Bagg MK, Wewege MA, Cashin AG, Leake HB, Rizzo RRN, Jones MD, Gustin SM, Day R, Loo CK, McAuley JH
Treatment of LBP with antidepressants is associated with small reductions in pain intensity and increased odds of stopping treatment for any reason, compared to placebo. The effect on pain is not clinically important. The effect on acceptability warrants consideration. These findings provide Level I evidence to guide clinicians in their use of antidepressants to treat LBP.