Active clinical trials for "Brain Edema"

This is a phase II, multicenter, open-label, imaging study of hCRF in the reduction of PBE in patients with primary malignant or metastatic brain tumors. Approximately 30 to 60 patients will be assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups and receive study drug for up to 28 days

RATIONALE: Giving the herb Boswellia serrata after surgery and radiation therapy may slow the growth of any remaining tumor cells. It is not yet known whether giving Boswellia serrata together with standard treatment is more effective than standard treatment alone in treating high-grade gliomas. PURPOSE: This randomized phase II trial is the study of a combination of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) herbal supplement intervention as an adjuvant to standard treatment of patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent high-grade gliomas (HGG). The central hypothesis of this application is that a herbal preparation that inhibits 5-LO activity, will produce measurable biologically meaningful decrease in 5-LO eicosanoid production and brain edema that will be associated with improved survival and quality of life in patients with HGG.

This study is being conducted to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Xerecept® in children with central nervous system tumors and to identify appropriate doses of Xerecept® to be used in subsequent pediatric clinical trials.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of acquired disability in youth and a source of significant morbidity and family burden. Novel behavior problems are among the most common and problematic consequences, yet many youth fail to receive needed psychological services due to lack of identification and access. Linking youth with TBI to effective treatments could improve functional outcomes, reduce family burden, and increase treatment satisfaction. The investigators overarching aim is to compare the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of three formats of family problem solving therapy (F-PST) for improving functional outcomes of complicated mild to severe adolescent TBI: therapist-guided, face-to-face; therapist-guided online; and self-guided, online F-PST.

The purpose of this trial is to compare two different rates of fluid administration during diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) treatment in children to determine which fluid administration rate is more beneficial for brain metabolism and for preventing or decreasing brain swelling during DKA.

The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing four different intravenous (IV) fluid treatment protocols for pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Two rates of rehydration will be compared; a more rapid rate and a slower rate. Within each of these two basic rehydration protocols, the investigators will vary the type of rehydration fluid used (0.9% saline or 0.45% saline). The investigators will compare the different treatments by conducting assessments of neurological injury, by measuring the frequency of significant cerebral edema, and by measuring long-term neurocognitive function. These studies will allow us to determine whether variations in IV fluid treatment protocols affect acute neurological outcomes of DKA. Additionally, they will provide important data regarding the impact of DKA and DKA treatment on long-term neurocognitive function in children. In this way, the investigators hope to identify a more ideal fluid management strategy for children with DKA. Previous studies have suggested that DKA may cause blood flow to the brain to be reduced and that brain injury might result from this reduction in blood flow and/or the effects of re-establishment of normal blood flow during DKA treatment with insulin and iv fluids. The investigators hypothesize that more rapidly re-establishing normal blood flow to the brain during DKA, by giving fluids more rapidly and using fluids with a higher sodium (salt) content, will help to minimize brain injury caused by DKA.

The purpose of this study is to learn if using the World Wide Web to train teens and their families in problem-solving, communication skills, and stress management strategies can help them to cope better following traumatic brain injury (TBI). To answer this question, we will look at changes from before the intervention to after the intervention on questionnaire measures of problem-solving skills, communication, social competence, adjustment, and family stress and burden. We hypothesize that families receiving the TOPS intervention will have better parent-child communication and problem-solving skills at follow-up than those receiving the IRC intervention. Additionally, families receiving the TOPS intervention will have lower levels of parental distress, fewer child behavior problems and better child functioning than those receiving the IRC intervention. Lastly, treatment effects will be moderated by SES and life stresses, such that families with greater social disadvantage will benefit more from the TOPS intervention.

Stroke is the 4th leading cause of death in United States with an estimated 1 death every 4 minutes. On average, someone suffers from stroke in United States every 40th second. Stroke recurs in 1 out of 4 stroke patients. About 87% of the strokes are as a result of ischemic insult. The total economic burden from stroke accounts to 38.6 billion dollars per year. Stroke is also one of the leading causes of long term disability. Current stroke therapies concentrate mainly on acute revascularization, sub-acute rehabilitation and secondary prevention. Neuroprotection is not the mainstay of treatment modality as there are no effective regimen which has satisfied stroke clinicians and researchers. Many neuroprotection agents have shown excellent pre-clinical results but have failed in clinical translation. Thus we need to find new treatments in order to decrease the mortality and morbidity caused by stroke. The investigators hypothesize that adopting a narrower therapeutic window, with treatment initiation in the first six hours, may demonstrate a positive or significant short and long term neuroprotective effect from NMDA/Glutaminergic or histaminergic antagonism when compared with standard of care.

The goal of this study is to preliminarily determine/estimate feasibility and whether frequent and early conivaptan use, at a dose currently determined to be safe (i.e., 40mg/day), is safe and well-tolerated in patients with cerebral edema from intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and pressure (ICP). A further goal is to preliminarily estimate whether conivaptan at this same dose can reduce cerebral edema (CE) in these same patients. This study is also an essential first step in understanding the role of conivaptan in CE management. Hypothesis: The frequent and early use of conivaptan at 40mg/day will be safe and well-tolerated, and also reduce cerebral edema, in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage and pressure.

This is a prospective, randomized controlled trial to determine if using FloTrac/EV1000 system in neurosurgical patients undergoing craniotomies for aneurysm repair or tumor resection complicated by cerebral edema, or complex spinal surgery including multi-level scoliosis correction, is a more effective way of monitoring fluid.