Active clinical trials for "Connective Tissue Diseases"

Introduction: The medical treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases has improved dramatically during the last decades primarily due to the introduction of biological disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs). However, bDMARD treatment failure occurs in 30-40% of patients due to lack of effectiveness or side effects. The tools to predict treatment outcomes in the individual patient are currently limited. The objective of the present study is to identify diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers, which can be used to 1) diagnose inflammatory rheumatic diseases early in the disease course with high specificity and sensitivity, 2) improve prognostication or 3) predict treatment effectiveness and tolerability for the individual patient. Methods and analysis: Observational and translational open cohort study with prospective collection of clinical data and biological materials in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases treated in routine care. Patients contribute one cross-sectional blood sample (i.e. whole blood, serum, EDTA-plasma and -buffy coat, and blood in PAXgene RNA tubes) and/or are enrolled for longitudinal follow-up upon start of new DMARD (blood sampling after 0/3/6/12/24/36/48/60 months' treatment). Demographics, disease characteristics, comorbidities and lifestyle factors are registered at inclusion; DMARD treatment and outcomes are collected repeatedly during follow-up. Currently (June 2017) >5,000 samples from ≈3,000 patients have been collected. Data will be analysed using appropriate statistical analyses. Ethics and dissemination: The protocol is approved by the Danish Ethics Committee and The Danish Data Protection Agency. All participants give written informed consent. Biomarkers will be evaluated and published according to REMARK, STROBE and STARD guidelines. Results will be published in peer-reviewed medical journals and presented at international conferences.

Autoimmune diseases are the consequence of an abnormality of the immune system, leading it to attack components of our own body. They have a wide variety of presentations. They preferentially affect women, and often at a young age. Systemic lupus erythematosus, for example, most often occurs between the ages of 15 and 40. Inflammatory rheumatism, such as spondyloarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, is less prevalent in women, but also affects young people, and is particularly common. Several disease-modifying treatments exist, depending on the severity and evolutivitý of the disease. Some are contraindicated or not recommended during pregnancy and therefore require supervision of pregnancy plans. In addition, some treatments have an immunosuppressive activitý, which implies an annual screening of cervical lesions by cervico-uterine smear. In this context, an adapted gynecological follow-up seems indispensable. The rheumatologist and the internist physician have a crucial role in advising and referring patients to their gynecological colleagues. Studying the qualitý of this gynecological follow-up in a cohort of patients with autoimmune disease or inflammatory rheumatism is of major interest.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a serious and often fatal complication of connective tissue diseases including systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. It has been reported primarily from European series that the prevalence of PAH in patients with connective tissue diseases particularly systemic sclerosis is as high as 15-20%. However, given the paucity of medical literature in the area from Chinese population, the prevalence of PAH amongst Chinese patients with these conditions is largely unknown. Even worse, PAH is often undiagnosed amongst patients with connective tissue diseases due to the lack of awareness and/or access to echocardiography, which is a non-invasive first-line screening tool for PAH. As a result, most patients at diagnosis of PAH are at a relatively late stage, rendering pharmacological treatment less effective. Here, the investigators propose a territory-wide pulmonary hypertension screening for patients with connective tissue disease in order to (1) detect pulmonary hypertension amongst patients with connective tissue disease through systematic screening, and (2) understand the prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in Chinese patients with connective tissue diseases.

The investigators plan to conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and the cost effectiveness of an on-line eLearning program (entitled Employment and Arthritis: Making it Work) designed to help people with inflammatory arthritis stay employed. The program also includes assessments with 1) an occupational therapist, and 2) a vocational rehabilitation counsellor at the end of the program to help participants identify and obtain necessary changes at work. People from three provinces will be recruited from collaborators' patient and program recipient lists. The study group will receive the program intervention and the control group will receive "usual care" and printed educational material. All participants will be followed for five years. The effectiveness of the program at improving at work productivity and reducing work cessation will be evaluated compared to a control group receiving printed material on employment and arthritis.

Data and specimens will be collected longitudinally from patients seen in the UVA Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) clinic in order to describe the phenotypic expression of various interstitial lung diseases. Samples will also be collected from a control group for comparison purposes. All data will be entered into a repository for future research purposes or screening for new studies that become available. This data will help identify trends and hopefully lead to a better understanding of the disease progression, treatment options, and outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a scleral buckling surgical procedure performed on fellow eyes of patients with genetically confirmed Stickler syndrome can prevent the occurrence retinal detachment and/or severe vision loss of the study eye.

The aim of this study is to identify correlations between changes from the baseline at Month 24 in Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) (% predicted and mL) and changes from the baseline at Month 24 in cough or dyspnoea scores [points] as measured in the living with pulmonary fibrosis questionnaire (L-PF) over 24 months of nintedanib treatment in patients with connective tissues disease-associated progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (CTD associated PF-ILD) under routine clinical practice conditions in Greece.

To facilitate clinical, basic science, and translational research projects involving the study of rheumatic diseases.

The RECONNECTIVE Registry is an observational single center study, focused on the subgroup of precapillary pulmonary hypertension related to connective tissue diseases. All patients will have hemodynamic confirmation by right heart catheterization and will be follow-up for at least 5 years from admission. All patients diagnosed with Group I Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) associated with Connective Tissue Diseases (CTD) and Group IV Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) with CTD will be included. The purpose of the registry is to learn and understand the clinical outcomes and natural history of the pulmonary arterial hypertension in this subgroup of patients to improve the medical care and treatment.

CoRDS, or the Coordination of Rare Diseases at Sanford, is based at Sanford Research in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It provides researchers with a centralized, international patient registry for all rare diseases. This program allows patients and researchers to connect as easily as possible to help advance treatments and cures for rare diseases. The CoRDS team works with patient advocacy groups, individuals and researchers to help in the advancement of research in over 7,000 rare diseases. The registry is free for patients to enroll and researchers to access. Visit sanfordresearch.org/CoRDS to enroll.