Active clinical trials for "Congenital Abnormalities"

Before birth, the placenta (a structure with many blood vessels attached to the inside of your womb) and the umbilical cord (the umbilical cord is attached to the placenta) are sending oxygen and nutrients from the mother's blood through the umbilical cord to the baby. After a baby is born the cord is clamped and babies have to start breathing and support themselves. At the moment when a baby with congenital heart disease is born they will have their cord clamped immediately (this is called immediate cord clamping (ICC)). After ICC the clinical team will start to help a baby transition by carefully monitoring their oxygen saturation (give oxygen if needed), provide warmth, and dry and stimulate. Several animal studies have shown that clamping the cord right after birth might causes the baby to miss the benefits of receiving blood from the umbilical cord / placenta. Delayed Cord Clamping (DCC) is when the baby stays attached to the cord for a longer time. Studies show that DCC has many benefits especially for a newborn baby, such as higher iron storage, less need for blood transfusions, and improved circulation. This can be done while the baby is breathing on its own or while we help you baby breath (this is called resuscitation). This study aims to examine whether DCC while providing resuscitation in infants with CHD is helpful compared to immediate cord clamping. Prior to the birth of your baby, a sealed envelope will be opened and your baby will be randomly assigned to either the DCC with resuscitation group or the ICC group. 40 babies will be enrolled into this study, 20 in each group. In the DCC group, the umbilical cord will be clamped after 120 seconds during which time your baby will receive the care he/she requires by the NICU team. In the ICC group, the umbilical cord will be clamped immediately and he/she will be brought over the resuscitation bed to be cared for by the same team.

Introduction. Vertical jump is the main movement in volleyball, and the main etiological factor of patellar tendinopathy. The eccentric exercise has been proved as the most effective intervention in improving this factor. Aim. Annalise the effectiveness of the load control during the eccentric exercise to increase the cross-sectional area as well as the increase of the pain threshold of the patellar tendon, and the gain of the quadriceps maximum strength, in volleyball older players. Study design. Randomized clinical study, simple blind, multicentric and with a follow-up period. Methods. 40 volleyball players will be recruited, who will be randomized to the two groups: experimental (control of the load based on the RM during the eccentric exercise of quadriceps) and control (without load control). There will be an intervention of 4 weeks with 2 weekly seasons of 10 minutes each. The dependent variables will be: cross-sectional area (ultrasound evaluation), pain threshold in the patellar tendon (analog or digital algometer) and the maximum strength of the quadriceps (linear encoder or estimating the RM). In case of normality of the distribution of the sample, parametric tests will be used: student t-test of related samples (difference between evaluations in each rump) and repeated measures ANOVA (intra- and intergroup effect). Expected results. To observe an increase in the cross-sectional area, pain-threshold of patellar tendon and quadriceps maximum strength.

Tranexamic acid is a relatively safe medicine that is used to help the body develop clots and slow down bleeding after large surgeries. While it has already been shown to work well in adults and older children, there is no information on whether it works, and how it works in children younger than 6 months old. The goal of our study is to try and understand whether and how tranexamic acid works in children younger than 6 months old who are having open heart surgery. We plan to study tranexamic acid by testing its effect when compared with a placebo. The investigators will use a method called randomization - which means patients who agree to be in the study will be entered into a computer. The computer will randomly assign them to either receive the medicine or the placebo. We will then compare effects on the 2 groups of patients. Our goal is to have 50 patients in each group, or 100 patients total. We will not know whether patients receive tranexamic acid or placebo until we review the data collected at the end of the study. Tranexamic acid is usually given to patients in the operating room during open heart surgery. During open heart surgery patients require cardio-pulmonary bypass which is a machine that replaces the function of the heart and lungs for a short period of time. This allows surgeons to do surgery on the heart itself without having to worry about it moving during the operation. The bypass machine has lots of tubes to carry the blood around it. When blood comes into contact with the tubing it has a tendency to clot. To prevent this patients are given a blood thinner called heparin. Although heparin prevents clotting in the bypass machine, it can also increase the risk of bleeding when the surgery is over. To reduce this risk patients are given another medicine at the completion of surgery called protamine to try and reverse the effect of the blood thinner, heparin. Even so bleeding remains a significant problem, especially for babies after open heart surgery. Being on the bypass machine and having a lot of suture (stitches) lines increase that risk. In addition, the bypass machine affects the function of platelets, the main component of the body's clotting system. We often have to replenish blood products after surgery to try and stop the bleeding. Some centers, including we , have used the medicine tranexamic acid to try and help with bleeding after surgery. There have been other studies that show it helps with fibrinolysis, which is another important part of the body's clotting system. However, that part of the clotting system is not well developed in infants and therefore likely does not play an important role in preventing bleeding in that age group. As such, it may be that tranexamic acid impacts platelet function as well, and it is that effect that helps decrease post-operative bleeding in infants younger than 6 months. This has not been previously studied. In order to study the effect that tranexamic acid has on platelets the investigators are proposing the investigators' research trial. The investigators plan to randomize patients to either receive tranexamic acid or placebo in the operating room as described above. The investigators will then draw a small amount of blood from each patient (total of approximately 1 tablespoon) and send it to a special lab for testing of platelet function. The lab test will help us understand whether the platelets function better when patients receive tranexamic acid instead of placebo. The investigators will also be monitoring other outcomes related to platelet function. These will include how much bleeding patients have after surgery when they are in the intensive care unit, and how much blood products they require to treat that bleeding. The investigators will also monitor labs that are checked routinely in all patients after open heart surgery. The investigators will also track how long it takes each patient to get off the ventilator and how long they spend in the ICU after surgery. All of this data will help us understand whether tranexamic acid makes a positive impact on outcomes after open heart surgery in infants less than 6 months old. The current standard of care is quite variable within our institution as well as at other institutions. Some anesthesiologists use tranexamic acid while others elect not to. There is no definitive guideline to its current use. The dosing differs from center to center, and there are some centers that do not use it at all. The investigators' hope is that the results of this study will help us understand the role tranexamic acid plays in preserving the function of platelets after open heart surgery in young infants, and whether that impact translates into improved outcomes for those patients. Based on the results of our research we hope to develop definitive guidelines for the use of tranexamic acid in the population of infants <6 months old undergoing open heart surgery.

ClarityIQ is a novel X-ray imaging technology, that combines advanced real-time image noise reduction algorithms, with state-of-the-art hardware to reduce patient entrance dose significantly. This is realized by anatomy-specific optimization of the full acquisition chain (grid switch, beam filtering, pulse width, spot size, detector and image processing engine) for every clinical task individually. Furthermore, smaller focal spot sizes and shorter pulses are used, which are known to positively influence image quality . The final effect on the clinical image quality is investigated in this study.

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is a rare disease that affects 1 in 3500 newborn. This condition is detected consistently since the late 1970s in France, which has led to early care and a significant improvement in prognosis and intellectual stature of these children. However neurodevelopmental disorders persist in 10-15% of cases. More associated diseases have been reported in approximately 10% of cases. These observations are in most cases poorly understood. The family nature of the CH is now well recognized and a dozen genes involved up to now. However, in the majority of cases (HC not due to a disorder of the organification of iodine), few mutations have been found in the reported number of patients (5-10%), suggesting the involvement of other genes. Some of the genes have been implicated in particular specific syndromic forms but many pathological associations remain unexplained. Also, a more complete genetic elucidation of CH would enable a better understanding of its etiology and thus its risk of familial recurrence (frequently asked questions by parents of children with CH) and secondly the presence of associated pathologies. Main goal: to describe the population with CH (not due to a disorder of the organification of iodine) not only on clinical, biological and radiological (phenotypic analysis) but also on the genetic level to establish a genotype / phenotype correlation.

Develop and evaluate a peer navigator intervention to assist Korean women with a potential breast abnormality, who have missed their first follow-up appointment, to complete all diagnostic follow-up tests.

Brain vascular malformations, including arteriovenous malformations (AVM), cavernous malformations (CVM) and aneurysms, are a source of life-threatening risk of intracranial hemorrhage. The etiology and pathogenesis are unknown. There is no medical therapy presently available. Prevention of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the primary reason to treat brain vascular malformations. The goal of this study is to: begin pilot studies to lay the groundwork for future clinical trials to develop medical therapy to decrease ICH risk. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) regulate the extracellular matrix in association with various hemorrhagic brain disorders. MMP-9 has been most consistently associated with vascular wall instability and hemorrhagic brain disorders. Doxycycline, a non-specific MMP inhibitor, may enhance vascular stability, thus reducing the risk of spontaneous hemorrhage in brain vascular malformations by decreasing MMP-9 activity.

The purpose of this study is to look at the safety (what are the side effects) and efficacy (how well does it work) of Magnevist (the study drug) used for MRI of the aortic arch and cerebral branches. The results will be compared to the results of MRI taken without Magnevist, and with the results of your X-ray angiography.

The goal of this study is to assess performance of a new clinical decision support system named LabTest Checker in a cohort of adult patients reporting to the internal ward's emergency department. The main question it aims to answer is: • how accurate and safe is LabTest Checker. A set of blood laboratory tests will be ordered for each participant. Participants will use LabTest Checker to obtain an interpretation of their test results. The interpretation provided by LabTest Checker will then be compared with the interpretation given by an internal medicine specialist to assess the accuracy and safety of the tool.

Background: Repeated episodes of bleeding from gastrointestinal vascular malformations refractory to endoscopic or surgical therapy often pose a major therapeutic challenge. Methods: The investigators will perform a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study of thalidomide as a retreatment therapy for recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding due to vascular malformation. Patients with failure of first course treatment of thalidomide will be randomly grouped, prescribed a second four-month course regimen of 25 mg of thalidomide or placebo orally four times daily. All patients will be monitored for at least one year. The primary end point is defined as the patients whose rebleeds decrease from baseline by ≥ 50% at 12 months and the cessation of bleeding. Rebleeding is defined based on a positive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) (monoclonal colloidal gold color technology) at any visit after treatment. Secondary outcomes include the participants dependent on blood transfusions and changes from baseline in transfused packed red cell units, bleeding episodes, and hemoglobin levels at 12 months. Statistical significance is defined at P < 0.05.