Active clinical trials for "Intestinal Diseases"

Anemia is a clinical manifestation, which is commonly observed in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and it accounts for significant loss in the quality of life of these patients. The aim of the current study is to assess the effect of orally administered iron treatment, as well as its response predictors in patients with inflammatory bowel disease who are in remission and present anemia. The study will recruit 100 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and 100 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) diagnosed and regularly monitored in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at the University Hospital of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, for clinical, hematological, biochemical and immunological assessment. Blood samples will be collected (10 ml) and the following tests will be performed in all the anemia patients (in remission) at the beginning of the treatment and 8 weeks later: complete blood count, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) , transferrin saturation index, ferritin, serum iron, hepcidin, quantitative C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6)) and fecal calprotectin. In addition, quality of life, anxiety and depression and fatigue questionnaires will be applied to the patients (IBDQ, HAD and Chalder). The World Health Organization (WHO) criteria will be used to diagnose anemia, therefore, hemoglobin lower than 12 g/dl for women and 13g/dl for men will be considered anemia; hemoglobin lower than 10 g/dl will be considered severe anemia. Patients with mild and moderate anemia in remission will be initially treated with oral iron (oral liposomal iron) and the occurrence of possible symptoms related to oral iron intolerance will be assessed, as well as the patients' disease activity level and quality of life. The patients in follow-up will be subjected to new laboratory tests after the eighth oral iron treatment week. The results of the current study are expected to help assessing the oral iron efficacy and response predictors, as well as the side effects of the treatment and its impact on the quality of life of patients.

Young people with IBD face all the usual complexities of growing up, with the additional complications of having a chronic health condition, often recently diagnosed, which can have a detrimental impact on their mental health. This research seeks to examine the potential effectiveness of a two-stage intervention for young people with IBD via a pilot feasibility trial. First, a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) group with a "Mindfulness based compassionate living" (MBCL) group delivered soon afterwards. Both interventions will be delivered online. MBSR aims to increase peoples awareness of their tendency to get caught up in thoughts and help them live in the present moment. Once an individual has achieved greater awareness of their thought processes, MBCL then aims to help individuals to become kinder to themselves, and less critical. We know from interview studies with young people with IBD that they can be harsh on themselves about how they are coping, and being harsh and critical can impact wellbeing. By targeting mindfulness and self-compassion we hope to demonstrate a positive impact on wellbeing, by reducing stress, anxiety and depression and improving quality of life (primary outcome measures) for young people with IBD and equip them with a mindfulness practice to use in the future as they continue to manage their IBD.

This protocol offers diagnosis and standard medical treatment for various parasitic gastrointestinal infections. Gastrointestinal parasites are either worms (helminths) or one-celled animals called protozoans which live in the human intestines. Often, parasitic infections do not cause illness. In these cases, drug treatment is not indicated, because treatment can have adverse side effects. Patients will be examined for their immune responses, correlation between the number of parasites and disease, and other studies. Individuals with known or suspected parasitic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including amebiasis, giardiasis, hookworm, strongyloidiasis, trichuriasis, pinworm, tapeworm, trichinosis, clonorchis, opisthorchis, coccidiosis, paragonimiasis, and echinococcus may be eligible for this study. Patient evaluations may include blood and urine tests, stool examination, X-rays, ultrasound studies and, uncommonly, duodenal aspiration for examination of fluid from the duodenum (first part of the small intestine). Other tests may be required, depending on the parasite and disease. Direct examination of the tissues of the intestines may be required to rule out certain infections. Research procedures include collection of stool, blood and duodenal fluid when the diagnosis has been established and these procedures are not required for medical care. Patients with strongyloidiasis may also be given a diagnostic skin test similar to skin tests for tuberculosis and allergies. Research procedures on children will be limited to collection of stool, urine and blood. No more than 7 milliliters (1 1/2 teaspoons) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) body weight of blood will be collected in children over a 6-week period. In adults no more than 30 tablespoons of blood will be collected in a 6-week period. Parasites may fail to respond to treatment. In these cases, it may be necessary to grow the parasite in the laboratory in order to test treatments in the test tube. Patients who do not respond to standard medications and dosing may need different doses of drugs or drugs or combinations of drugs used in the United States for other medical problems. If these medications or doses are used, patients will be informed of their possible side effects.

People affected central nervous system (CNS) diseases often suffer from neurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD) that causes a reduction in the quality of life and participation in social life. Although some conservative approaches exist to treat NBD, none has shown to be effective in managing this complex condition. Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) has shown to be efficient in CNS diseases such as epilepsy and migraine. This randomised trial aims at evaluating the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) in supporting the management of NBD. The research will be conducted at the outpatient service of Neuro-Urology / Spinal Unit of the Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital of Torino. A sample of 62 participants will be divided into two groups: standard (nursing intervention) and experimental (nursing intervention and OMT). A neuro-urologist will determine the eligibility for the study. The outcomes will include self-reported and instrumental measures that will be evaluated in 3 times (before, at the end of the intervention and the follow- up three months). The protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital of Torino on 15.04.2019, protocol number 0040534. The standard intervention has been scheduled for 28.10.2019.

Inflammatory bowel disease often requires immunomodulators, such as methotrexate, to maintain disease remission. This medication is administered as one dose weekly. Methotrexate can cause folic acid deficiency, so the current recommendation is to give daily folic acid supplementation while on methotrexate. Standard of care is to administer folic acid supplements daily. Patient compliance with daily folic acid is often suboptimal. The rationale is that weekly folic acid supplementation is as efficacious as daily dosing, and less frequent dosing likely will help improve patient compliance. The optimal dosing schedule of folate supplementation in relation to methotrexate is not known and there are not many research studies that have studied changing dosing of folate supplementation. One particular research study examined the effect of different dosing of folic acid supplements in patients with rheumatoid arthritis taking methotrexate. The study showed that folic acid at two different doses per week (5 mg low dose vs 27.5 mg high dose) did not effect the efficacy of methotrexate therapy, and patients who were on either folic acid supplementation had lower toxicity scores compared to patients not on folic acid supplementation. This study shows that folic acid dosed once per week can be useful in preventing methotrexate toxicity for rheumatoid arthritis patients. There were no studies that could be found that have studied this correlation for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. Based on this current study, once weekly dosing of folic acid in IBD patients on methotrexate has the potential to be as efficacious as daily dosing.

This study will recruit persons with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. The investigators will contact people in an ongoing study (called IMAGINE) to recruit persons with high levels of stress, anxiety, or depression who are interested in a web-based program focused on skills in managing stress, anxiety and depression (a self-directed psychosocial intervention). The goal is to develop an internet-based psychosocial intervention to help persons with inflammatory bowel disease to cope with high levels of stress, anxiety or depression.

The investigators will compare two physician behaviors for managing pain in patients with IBD: proactive vs. reactive. Both the proactive and reactive behavior/strategies are standard of care at the institution in which the study will be performed. The PROACTIVE strategy is an IBD-specific analgesic orderset (built into our EMR and approved by the institution's Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee), the REACTIVE strategy is a traditional "reactive" analgesic prescribing (prescribing medications only when patients have pain). The PROACTIVE IBD-specific analgesic orderset consists of medications which have evidence for use in IBD-related pain. This orderset is an educational guide, it does not force any order. The reactive prescribing habits could contain an array of pain medications depending on what the provider wants to prescribe. Aims: Aim 1: To assess whether there is a difference in pain scores or functional activity among hospitalized patients with IBD between reactive vs proactive physician behaviors. Aim 2: To assess whether there is a difference in inpatient opioid-prescribing between reactive vs proactive physician behaviors. Aim 3: To assess whether there is a difference in health care utilization, including length-of-stay and 30-day readmission, between reactive vs proactive physician behaviors.

Anemia is the most common extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Although most cases of anemia in IBD are due to iron deficiency, many patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are not treated with iron supplementation. In addition, it has not been firmly established which iron supplementation modality provides the best results in terms of effectiveness and safety. In the present study the investigators will compare the effectiveness and efficacy of three iron supplementation modalities in IBD-associated IDA. There will be two arms of parenteral (iv) iron supplementation (ferric carboxymaltose and ferric gluconate) and one arm of oral supplementation (sucrosomial iron). Primary objective of the study is is to compare the efficacy of oral iron with that of the iv iron supplementation regimens. The primary outcome is measured as the percentage of patients responsive to iron supplementation. Response is defined by Hb normalization or by an Hb increase ≥2 g/dL by week 8 from start of therapy. As secondary objectives the influence of anemia and its treatment on fatigue, quality of life, hospitalizations, additional outpatient visits, number of endoscopic examinations; further treatments and relative side effects will be evaluated.

This clinical study is designed to evaluate the effect of two dietary patterns, Mediterranean diet and the specific carbohydrate diet on clinical, inflammatory and microbial parameters in patients after pouch surgery and to assess the effect of a personal tailored diet, based on microbial profile, on disease outcomes and generate a predictive model for future interventions.

Recently, Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (CLE) has been developed as a novel technique that actually enables in vivo microscopic analysis of the gastrointestinal tract, during ongoing endoscopy. The potential role of CLE has been explored in pathology of both upper and lower gastrointestinal tract, showing good accuracy for predicting the final histopathological diagnosis, based on immediate evaluation of tissue and vascular patterns. Because of its minute scanning area, this techology is best used in conjunction with other "red-flag" techniques to screen the mucosa for areas of interest, which can then be examined by CLE for a histological diagnosis. I-scan technology (Pentax, Tokyo, Japan) is a new image-enhanced endoscopic technique that can achieve a virtual chromoendoscopy, but until now there have been no studies to determine the role of this technology in the evaluation of activity in inflammatory bowel disease. The study protocol is based on comparing imaging findings of p-CLE in conjunction with I-scan endoscopy with activity score and histological diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. CLE might have an important role in IBD patients management, by assessing the inflammation, dysplasia or response to treatment.