Active clinical trials for "Joint Diseases"

Recent increased interest in tissue-sparing and minimally invasive arthroplasty has given rise to a sharp increase in the utilization of direct anterior total hip arthroplasty.

The primary objective of this study is to compare effect of combined block of ACB (adductor canal block) with IPACK (Interspace between the Popliteal Artery and the Capsule of the posterior Knee) block and/or Intra-articular block in immediate postoperative and early postop rehabilitation and pain management in patients undergoing primary TKA. The secondary objective is to review both in-hospital and post-discharge pain levels and narcotic usage of primary TKAs, with a minimum 6-week postoperative follow-up.

Purpose: 1) To investigate differences in pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and growth factors in the circulating blood (and cytokine levels only in saliva) of patients with chronic temporomandibular disorder (TMD) before and after acupuncture; 2) To determine differences in cytokine profiles between real and sham acupuncture in circulating blood of patients with chronic TMD; and 3) To explore correlations between these changes and clinical outcomes. Participants: Patients with chronic TMD pain recruited through the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) Orofacial Pain Clinic. Procedures (methods): Participants will complete a self-administered questionnaire assessing TMD-related comorbidity. During the initial visit, study examiners will record clinical characteristics of muscles and joints of the head, neck and body according to newly recommended diagnostic criteria (DC) for TMD. Clinical outcomes include a pain index (computed from numeric rating scales) of masseter, temporalis and the supplemental painful muscles, and patient-reported symptoms (using the Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile; MYMOP) and pain intensity (using the Pain Scale). Blood (5 cc) will be taken before and after acupuncture treatments. Participants will self-collect pre-treatment and post-treatment saliva samples. Patients will receive 4 acupuncture treatments, once per week for 4 weeks. The primary outcome measure is change in IL-8 levels in circulating blood and saliva after 4 weeks of real acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture. Secondary outcome measures include comparing changes in levels of nerve growth factor (NGF), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα),vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and IL-1α, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10, before and after real acupuncture at Week 1 compared with sham acupuncture and before and after real acupuncture at Week 4 compared with sham acupuncture. The exploratory outcome measure is correlation between changes in cytokine levels and clinical variables after 4 weeks of real acupuncture compared with 4 weeks of sham acupuncture.

1.0 BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES 1.1 Osteoarthritis is a continuous and entirely physiologic adaptive process that occurs in every joint. These include the replication of cells that produce matrix, enzymes, protease inhibitors, cytokines, and other peptides. Along with the synthesis of new tissue there is a release of breakdown products into the synovial fluid. Enzymes and phagocytes are required to clear these breakdown products. Normal tissue turnover involves synthesis and breakdown in well-regulated balance. In the degenerative state this balance is upset producing inflammation-derived alterations to the synovium, cartilage, capsule, tendons, and bone. Common causes of such alterations include increased loading, physical stress, and traumatic injury to the joint. 1.2 The rationale for the use of corticosteroids in temporomandibular joint therapy is that they inhibit prostaglandin synthesis and decrease the activity of collagenase and other enzymes that degrade the articular cartilage. Platelet rich plasma is a novel therapeutic agent that has several potential advantages over corticosteroids for the treatment of degenerative pathology of the temporomandibular joint. Platelet rich plasma has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-bacterial properties. It also restores intra-articular hyaluronic acid, increases glycosaminoglycan condrocyte synthesis, balances joint angiogenesis, and provides a scaffold for stem cell migration. Autologous platelet rich plasma injections for treatment of knee cartilage degenerative lesions and osteoarthritis have shown longer efficacy than hyaluronic acid injections in reducing pain and recovering articular function. Similarly, platelet rich plasma has shown to have better outcomes than corticosteroid injections in the management of lateral epicondylitis, and better outcomes than hyaluronic acid injections in the management of osteochondral lesions of the talus. 1.3 Current treatments for degeneration and osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint are focused primarily on palliation by reducing inflammation and inflammatory mediators. This study seeks to validate a therapeutic agent that has the potential to actively prevent the progression of degeneration in addition to reducing pain and inflammation

Background: Optimal pain control with limited muscle weakness is paramount for a swift initiation of physical therapy and ambulation. Fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) has been recommended since it offers the best pain control with low risk of motor block. Pericapsular nerve group block (PENG) with lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (LFCN) block has been proposed as an effective alternative to FICB that offers similar pain control with a considerably lower risk of motor block. This study aimed to compare the afore mentioned blocks and determine which one yielded the lowest NRS score.

The goal of this retrospective chart review is to evaluate if the implementation of lumbar plexus block placement for postoperative pain have improved conditions in the postoperative period for patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty when compared to the placement of epidurals for postoperative pain management.

For shoulder analgesia, both ISO block and low volume scalene (LVS) block (using 5 ml of local anesthetics) are suggested to have a low incidence of hemi-diaphragmatic pariesis (HDP). The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of HDP and the analgesic efficacy of the LVS block versus ISO block.

Haemophilia is a rare X chromosome-linked coagulation disorder resulting from a congenital deficiency or absence of circulating factor VIII (Haemophilia A) or factor IX (Haemophilia B).As a consequence, patients with haemophilia are unable to generate adequate thrombin resulting in abnormal bleeding. Approximately 80-90% of bleeding episodes occur in the musculoskeletal system, especially in the large synovial joints and muscles. Repeated haemarthrosis induce joint cartilage damage and irreversible degenerative joint disease. Regular intravenous administration of coagulation factor concentrates starting after the first joint bleed and/or before the age of 2 ('primary' prophylaxis) is now the evidence-based, first-choice treatment in children with severe haemophilia. This primary prophylaxis has radically decreased the incidence of arthropathy in patients with haemophilia. Despite the positive effect of primary prophylaxis on arthropathy at several joints, the ankle joint seems to be an exception to the rule, as patients with haemophilia treated with primary prophylaxis still experience ankle arthropathy. As such, the ankle now is the main affected joint in patients with haemophilia under the age of 20. This makes the scientific community facing a new challenge. Determining aetiologic/contributing factors associated to the ankle arthropathy pathophysiological cascade in children with haemophilia (CwH) is therefore a primary objective in the haemophilic research community nowadays. Loading of the ankle is crucial as the ankle plantar flexors provide the main propulsive power during gait, the tibiotalar joint caries a complex distribution of joint stresses as a consequence of talar morphology and kinematics and, from a biomechanical and biochemical viewpoint, differs significantly from other major lower limb joints. Previous biomechanical studies focused on kinematic and strength measures, however, they omitted to incorporate fundamental measures of joint loading (joint kinetics) and joint structural integrity (JSI, assessment of soft tissue and osteochondral integrity through MRI). This makes it impossible to draw firm conclusions on biomechanical contributing factors. Furthermore, few, low-quality studies focused on conservative treatment strategies (e.g. strength training, mobilisation, proprioceptive training) in patients with ankle arthropathy. In a minority of the cases, important adverse effects (joint bleeding during strength and proprioception training) have been reported. Because of the low quality of the intervention studies and the lack of biomechanical studies focusing on joint loading and joint integrity, it is impossible to pinpoint the aetiology of these side effects. One assumption might be that side effects originate from inappropriate conservative approaches as a consequence of lacking knowledge on joint loading and joint integrity. An innovative approach within the domain of ankle arthropathy in CwH is therefore to study foot and lower limb kinetics during gait. The quantification of foot joints kinetics encompasses considerable challenges and, until recently, only simplified single-segment foot models have been used. Those models typically underestimate the mechanical contribution of the different foot joints and, of equal importance, overestimate the kinetic contribution of the tibiotalar joint. To overcome the above mentioned shortcomings, a valid 3D Multisegment Foot Kinetic Model (3DMFKM) should be developed and introduced within the population of CwH. This is important as it allows to quantify increased loading at the tibiotalar joint (or other joints) that may help to explain this ankle arthropathy in these patients. This will have been missed by previous research due to the consideration of the foot as one entire segment. Providing a classification system based on these kinetic data would, in a second stage, be a pertinent and valuable approach as this provides a rationale for designing randomized controlled trials. In this perspective, it is also recommended to assess the relationship with other biomechanical and anatomical determinants, especially if one aims at developing optimal management and rehabilitation strategies.

To prove that total knee arthroplasty can be performed with little, if any need for opioids by using a combination of patient education, optimized pre-op and post-op pain and recovery protocols. The goal being opioid-free total knee arthroplasty.

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a surgical procedure applied as a common solution to overcome limitations produced by advanced stages of severe gonarthrosis. The procedure has high prevalence, high associated costs, and is considered to be cost-effective. Rehabilitation is essential to optimize outcomes. However, in clinical practice, the length of rehabilitation for each patient may be highly variable, and the programmed times may lack the necessary objectivity. Current limitation of resources and increasing prevalence make essential to generate strategies to optimize surgical results, so that the use of resources of the health system is efficient without detriment to the patient's benefit. For this purpose, objective and pragmatic information must be available, and should be based on scientific evidence in order to assist in making clinical decisions. Indeed, a number of demographic, biomedical and psychosocial factors have been identified as predictors of TKA results (i.e weight, age, expectations...). Some of them have been associated with the need for hospital resources after surgery. However, most researches base their predictions in retrospective studies, which are limited in the type of variables that can be used (clinic history), quality of registries, and limitations of retrospective designs. On the other hand, most of prospective researches base their predictions in a limited number of outcomes. To overcome this limitations, this project has been designed as a prospective observational study with two observations of each patient. The primary goal is to implement a multi-variable prediction model of TKA outcome, so that the procedure become optimal in two aspects : patient recovery (social and economic benefit) and use of health system resources (economic benefit). The implementation requires a processing of the information sampled through various algorithms and innovative data processing in this field, based on data mining and machine learning techniques. This will be used in search of the model with the greatest predictive capacity. As a secondary objective, information extracted from patients both in the final stages of the condition, and in the medium term after the intervention will allow to study the functional and psychosocial reality of the subjects with knee osteoarthritis.