Active clinical trials for "Wounds and Injuries"

This IIa study with intraindividual comparison of treated versus untreated to assess the wound healing efficacy of Tyrosur® Gel after experimental impairment of the skin using an abrasive wound healing model.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and long term disability, particularly in young adults. Studies from Australia have shown that approximately half of those with severe traumatic brain injury will be severely disabled or dead 6 months post injury. Given the young age of many patients with severe TBI and the long term prevalence of major disability, the economic and more importantly the social cost to the community is very high. Pre-hospital and hospital management of patients with severe brain injury focuses on prevention of additional injury due primarily to lack of oxygen and insufficient blood pressure. This includes optimising sedation and ventilation, maintaining the fluid balance and draining Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) and performing surgery where appropriate. In recent years there has been a research focus on specific pharmacologic interventions, however, to date, there has been no treatment that has been associated with improvement of neurological outcomes. One treatment that shows promise is the application of hypothermia (cooling). This treatment is commonly used in Australia to decrease brain injury in patients with brain injury following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Cooling is thought to protect the brain using a number of mechanisms. There have been a number of animal studies that have looked at how cooling is protective and also some clinical research that suggests some benefit. However at the current time there is insufficient evidence to provide enough proof that cooling should be used routinely for patients with brain injury and like all treatments there can be some risks and side effects. The POLAR trial has been developed to investigate whether early cooling of patients with severe traumatic brain injury is associated with better outcomes. It is a randomised controlled trial, which is a type of trial that provides the highest quality of evidence. The null hypothesis is that there is no difference in the proportion of favourable neurological outcomes six months after severe traumatic brain injury in patients treated with early and sustained hypothermia, compared to standard normothermic management.

The purpose of this study is to compare how well two methods (VAC and G-SUC) of securing skin grafts using negative pressure wound therapy work. Negative pressure wound therapy is a commonly used method of applying suction on wounds to remove fluid from wound and to promote healing. The VAC system is widely used and consists of a foam dressing and a portable computerized suction pump. The G-SUC method uses commonly available dressing supplies attached to vacuum (suction) pump located on the wall above a hospital bed. The investigators have frequently used both methods over the past 10 years and have not observed any specific negative side effects of either.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability, with an estimated cost of 45 billion dollars a year in the United States alone. Every year, approximately 1.4 million sustain a TBI, of which 50,000 people die, and another 235,000 are hospitalized and survive the injury. As a result, 80,000-90,000 people experience permanent disability associated with TBI. This project is designed to determine whether a device designed to measure brain tissue oxygenation and thus detect brain ischemia while it is still potentially treatable shows promise in reducing the duration of brain ischemia, and to obtain information required to conduct a definitive clinical trial of efficacy. A recently approved device makes it feasible to directly and continuously monitor the partial pressure of oxygen in brain tissue (pBrO2). Several observational studies indicate that episodes of low pBrO2 are common and are associated with a poor outcome, and that medical interventions are effective in improving pBrO2 in clinical practice. However, as there have been no randomized controlled trials carried out to determine whether pBrO2 monitoring results in improved outcome after severe TBI, use of this technology has not so far been widely adopted in neurosurgical intensive care units (ICUs). This study is the first randomized, controlled clinical trial of pBrO2 monitoring, and is designed to obtain data required for a definitive phase III study, such as efficacy of physiologic maneuvers aimed at treating pBrO2, and feasibility of standardizing a complex intensive care unit management protocol across multiple clinical sites. Patients with severe TBI will be monitored with Intracranial pressure monitoring (ICP) and pBrO2 monitoring, and will be randomized to therapy based on ICP along (control group) or therapy based on ICP in addition to pBrO2 values (treatment group). 182 participants will be enrolled at four clinical sites, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center/Parkland Memorial Hospital, the University of Washington/Harborview Medical Center, the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania/Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Functional outcome will be assessed at 6-months after injury.

Intradialytic hypotension (IH) is a major complication during acute hemodialysis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dialysate temperature (DT) reduction with Na and ultrafiltration (UF) profiling on hemodynamics of critically ill acute kidney injury (AKI) patients submitted to sustained low-efficiency dialysis (SLED).

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a bioelectric wound dressing, a silver-coated dressing, or a silver-foam dressing are effective in the treatment of wounds resulting from curettage and electrodesiccation of skin lesions.

The purpose of the study is to assess and compare the safety and efficacy of the allogeneic-unrelated umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell product (Cartistem®) to that of a microfracture treatment in patients with articular cartilage defect or injury.

Atomoxetine is the only medication that is currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults. It has gained recent interest as an alternative medication for treating attentional problems related to traumatic brain injury (TBI), but it's effectiveness in this population has not been studied. There are a number of advantages of Atomoxetine over traditional neuro-stimulant medications currently used for attentional disorders after traumatic brain injury. This study will use a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design to investigate the efficacy of atomoxetine to improve attention, behavioral function, and depression in adults with TBI

Acute kidney injury (AKI) in the intensive care unit is common, devastating and costly. However, minimal evidence exists to guide the prescription of optimal renal replacement therapy (RRT). An important area of uncertainty surrounds the relative effects of convective versus diffusive modes of clearance. Although both clearance modes provide similar degrees of small molecule clearance, convective modes permit the enhanced clearance of larger-sized molecules which may mediate kidney and systemic toxicity in the setting of AKI. Continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRTs) are frequently applied in critically ill patients with AKI. Convective clearance, as applied through continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) and diffusive clearance, as applied through continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD), may be readily compared in the context of patients receiving CRRT. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of conducting a larger study that will determine whether convective clearance (hemofiltration) confers improved outcomes as compared to diffusive clearance (hemodialysis) in patients with AKI.

The primary goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility and clinical benefits of a new rapid treatment for secondary treatment for secondary brain injury called Discrete Cerebral Hypothermia System by CoolSystems, Inc., Berkley, CA. This device induced hypothermia in the adult brain without significant whole body hypothermia. Discrete Cerebral Hypothermia System holds a great potential for protecting the brain from the devastating secondary complications of trauma without the associated deleterious system effects.