Active clinical trials for "Digestive System Diseases"

This protocol seeks to assist biorepositories/biobanks in distributing their stored specimens and data to researchers that will actually utilize them to advance medicine and technology.

The purpose of this study is to establish the surgical risk factors and differences between different diseases in elderly patients submitted to elective surgery in our institution.

This is an Expanded Access to Investigational Drug program available through the FDA. Some specific conditions to qualify for this program includes gastroesophageal reflux disease with upper GI symptoms, gastroparesis, and chronic constipation. Patients failing standard therapies for these conditions may be eligible to receive domperidone. This program facilitates availability of investigational drugs, (such as domperidone) to patients with serious diseases or conditions when there is no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy to diagnose, monitor or treat the patients's disease or condition. Authorization must be obtained from FDA prior to the importation, interstate shipment and administration of domperidone.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (categorised into Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC)) are chronic gut disorders with debilitating symptoms that profoundly impact quality of life, healthcare systems and the economy through lost work days. IBS is common with a prevalence of up to 22%, whereas IBD has a prevalence of 0.3% for CD and 0.5% for UC in Europe. Despite a suggested immunological and genetic aspect of IBD, the causes of IBS and IBD are unknown, however, both have been linked to yeasts in the gut. Due to their lower abundance (constituting only around 0.1% of the total microorganisms in the gut) yeasts have been less studied than bacteria. More recently, significantly altered diversity and composition of yeasts have been identified in IBS and IBD but further investigation is required to fully develop the role of yeasts in the gut. This observational study will assess yeasts and their function in the gut, comparing diseased subjects with healthy controls. The overall aim is to determine if yeasts could be targeted as a potential therapeutic for IBS and IBD to provide relief to sufferers as well as reducing the burden on healthcare systems.

The MERCURY Study demonstrated the accuracy, feasibility and reproducibility of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to stage rectal cancer in a prospective, multidisciplinary, multi-centre study. However, there were differences in patient outcome, dependent upon the position of the tumour in the rectum and its height above the anal verge. Whilst the outcome was excellent for patients who underwent an anterior resection, the outcome, based upon margin involvement and quality of the specimen, was poor for patients who underwent an abdomino-perineal excision for low rectal cancer. It is proposed that accurate MRI staging pre-operatively will allow the correct patients to receive neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT), and also pre-warn the surgeons if the resection margins appear threatened so that the operation can be modified to take this into account. The primary aims of the Low Rectal Cancer Study (MERCURY II) are to assess the rate of CRM positivity rate in low rectal cancer and to assess the difference in global quality of life at two years post surgery in patients according to plane of surgery with or without sphincter preservation.

Researchers at Seattle Children's Research Institute want to find ways to understand gastrointestinal disease such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Graft-Versus-Host-Disease (GVHD). We want to compare healthy cells from the gastrointestinal tract to cells from people with gastrointestinal diseases. The investigators are looking for healthy participants 18-25 with no gastrointestinal symptoms to volunteer to have an upper and lower endoscopy and to collect blood and stool samples. The investigators hope the information gathered in this study will help to better predict and treat these diseases in the future. Participants who join the study will complete the following activities: 1 hour appointment at Seattle Children's Hospital to determine eligibility Blood Draw Upper and Lower Endoscopy with tissue biopsies Stool Sample collection Participants will get $600 to thank them for their time. Participants may be eligible for this study if they meet the following requirements: 18 -25 years of age Do not have any abdominal symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea or abdominal pain) Are not on any medications (vitamins and birth control are OK) Have a BMI (body mass index) between 20-25 kg/m^2 Please note: Interested participants will have a 30 minute phone call with the study team and subsequent 1 hour appointment at Seattle Children's to determine if they meet all of the eligibility criteria.

To analyze the classification characteristics of gastrointestinal symptoms, the quality of life, the degree of anxiety and depression, and the satisfaction with the treatment of Chinese medicine in patients with FGIDs in Chinese Grade-A Tertiary Hospitals. The characteristics of TCM（Traditional Chinese Medicine） syndromes and symptoms of the above-mentioned FGIDs will be analyzed, and the characteristics of TCM syndromes of FGIDs and their possible relationship with FGIDs subtypes will be analyzed.

Currently available investigating modalities like CT scans, MRI etc although have a high accuracy in staging of gastrointestinal(GI) tract malignancies, are not correct in all cases . The aim of this study is to assess the role of intraoperative ultrasound as a modality to increase the staging accuracy of GI tract malignancies

This study is to examine the gut problems in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) and is conducted by the Department of Psychiatry of Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital. Children with ADHD who attend our department will be recruited with their parents/guardians' consent. Only the primary caregiver will be invited for an interview to assess the recruited children's gut problems, autistic features, emotional problems, diet pattern and medical history. The data will be compared with normal children who are recruited as control in local primary schools. The aim of this study is to know whether children with ADHD have higher chance of gut problems, and to assess other factors associated with the linkage.

This study evaluates a range of endoscopic image enhancement techniques for assessing conditions involving the gastrointestinal tract. This study aims to determine: (i) the accuracy of different techniques to diagnose or grade severity of several gastrointestinal conditions (ii) if image-enhancement techniques could potentially replace investigations currently used in daily practice (e.g. biopsy) with a view to reduce costs and shorten the interval to initiate treatment