Active clinical trials for "Brain Ischemia"

A multicenter observational pilot study will be conducted to determine the natural history of infants with early diagnosis (≤ 6 hrs of age) of mild neonatal encephalopathy (NE) who are not qualified for therapeutic hypothermia. The intervention includes: neurologic examination by using modified Sarnat score at ≤ 6 hrs of age, 24 hrs and before discharge home, amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) at 6 ± 3 hrs of age, brain MRI at before discharge home to 30 days of age and follow-up at 18-22 months of age. Primary outcome is the percentage of mild NE infants with evidence of brain injury defined by the presence of at least 1 abnormality of brain MRI, aEEG or neurologic examination in the neonatal period. Secondary outcome is the percentage of brain MRI, aEEG and neurological exam abnormalities, seizure, length of hospital stay, need of gavage feeds or gastrostomy at discharge home, death and long-term outcome.

The purpose of this study is to measure cerebral oxygenation and cardiac output of total shoulder replacement patients undergoing general anesthesia (GA) and positive-pressure ventilation (PPV). We hypothesize that cerebral desaturation occurs frequently during GA with PPV, but is rare during GA and spontaneous ventilation. We also hypothesize that cardiac output usually is well maintained under GA in the sitting position when epinephrine is used, but that decreased cardiac output increases the risk of cerebral desaturation.

Neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a serious neurological condition characterised by acute or subacute brain injury arising from perinatal hypoxia. HIE is thought to affect approximately 0.2% of live births, and is associated with a high risk of mortality or long-term neurological disability. Accurate biomarkers for long-term neuro-developmental outcome following HIE are extremely important both for clinical management and the evaluation of therapeutic approaches. According to a recent meta-analysis, the ratio of the cerebral concentrations of lactate and N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), two neuro-metabolites detectable with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), currently represents the most accurate prognostic indicator of outcome following HIE. However, for various technical reasons standard MRS methods do not offer optimal sensitivity for detecting lactate, which may potentially be improved with a custom lactate editing MRS sequence. In addition, while perfusion has also been suggested as a potential biomarker for neuro-developmental outcome following HIE, due to a paucity of MR perfusion imaging studies in neonates, the prognostic accuracy of perfusion MR measures has not been evaluated in comparison with more established MR biomarkers. The aims of this study are: to evaluate the relative sensitivity of a custom lactate editing MRS pulse sequence (specialist software) relative to the standard point resolved (PRESS) MRS sequence for detecting lactate in neonates with suspected HIE. to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of MR perfusion measures in comparison to MRS measures as predictors of neuro-developmental outcome at 2 years.

Using patients receiving spinal anesthesia as a model to evaluate the treshold value of cerebral oximeter to detect the symptoms of cerebral ischemia

The purpose of this protocol is to enable access to intravenous infusions of banked autologous (a person's own) or sibling umbilical cord blood (CB) for children with various brain disorders. This is an expanded access protocol intended for patients who are unable to participate in a clinical trial involving their own or their sibling's cord blood. Children with cerebral palsy, congenital hydrocephalus, apraxia, stroke, hypoxic brain injury and related conditions will be eligible if they have normal immune function and do not qualify for, have previously participated in, or are unable to participate in an active cell therapy clinical trial at Duke Medicine. For the purpose of this protocol the term children refers to patients less than 26 years of age. The cord blood is thawed and then administered as an intravenous infusion. Recipients do not receive chemotherapy or immunosuppression. The mechanism of action is through paracrine signaling of cord blood monocytes inducing endogenous cells to repair existing damage.

Prospective evaluation of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) will be done by computed tomography angiography (CTA) and perfusion imaging (CTP) for any correlation between degree of vasospasm and perfusion deficit as well as evaluating the ability of CTP to predict delayed cerebral ischemia.

This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine if silent strokes occur during angioplasty of the blood vessels in the neck or skull. Neck and skull angioplasties are relatively new procedures whose possible complications are still under investigation. Patients 18 years of age or older who are admitted to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, for angioplasty of one or more of the blood vessels in the neck or skull may participate in this study. Participants must be able to undergo a brain MRI. Within 24 hours before their angioplasty, patients will provide a medical history and have a physical examination and brain MRI. The physical examination and MRI will be repeated within 24 hours after the angioplasty. MRI is a diagnostic test that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to show structural and chemical changes in tissues. This technique is more sensitive than X-rays in detecting some changes that occur in diseases of the brain. For the procedure, the patient lies on a table that slides into a metal cylinder (the scanner). The confined space may produce anxiety in some patients, and patients can talk to the technician at all times during the procedure. Earplugs are provided to muffle loud knocking and pulsing noises that occur while the scanner is taking pictures. During the study, the contrast material gadolinium may be injected into an arm vein. Gadolinium "brightens" the pictures, producing better images of brain blood flow. Patients will be contacted by telephone 30 days after the procedure to follow how they are doing and learn whether any complications resulted from the angioplasty.

The investigators propose to compare the proteomic analysis of umbilical venous blood from neonates with brain injury to gestational age matched noninjured controls. After delivery an umbilical arterial gas and a 10 ml umbilical venous sample are obtained, then the remainder of the cord blood is discarded. The investigators plan to use this cord blood that would otherwise be discarded to perform our proteomic analysis. The investigators will use up to 20 ml of cord blood per delivery. This will be a 5 year study during which time the investigators hope to analyze 450 infants at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Bayview Medical Center. The investigators will obtain an umbilical venous sample from infants born at < 34 weeks gestation. For infants born at > 34 weeks the investigators will obtain an umbilical venous sample for any infant suspected to be at risk for neurologic injury by having a diagnosis of chorioamnionitis during labor, nonreassuring fetal heart rate tracing at the time of delivery, or a 5 minute Apgar < 7. For the infants born at < 34 weeks the brain injured infants will be compared to gestational age matched controls without brain injury. For the infants born at > 34 weeks, each infant later confirmed to have neurologic morbidity will be compared to a gestational age matched noninjured control. The investigators hope to use proteomic analysis to determine if there are measurable differences in protein expression between the 2 groups.

PROPEA3 is a prospective observational study investigating the recovery of propofol-induced EEG slow-wave activity and its association with neurological outcome after cardiac arrest.

Determine whether the concentrations of UCH-L1 and GFAP measured in umbilical cord blood and in blood 0-6 hours postnatal accurately predict the extent of neurodevelopmental deficits and/or death at 18-20 months.