Active clinical trials for "Sclerosis"

Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is currently the imaging gold standard to detect active inflammatory lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The sensitivity of enhanced MRI to detect active lesions may vary according to the acquisition strategy used (e.g., delay between injection and image acquisition, contrast dose, field strength, and frequency of MRI sampling). Selection of the most appropriate T1-weighted sequence after contrast injection may also influence sensitivity. Several clinical studies performed at 1.5 Tesla have shown that conventional 2D spin-echo (SE) sequences perform better than gradient recalled-echo (GRE) sequences for depicting active MS lesions after gadolinium injection. As relates to MS, 3.0 Tesla systems offer some advantages over lower field strengths, such as higher detection rates for T2 and gadolinium-enhancing brain lesions, an important capability for diagnosing and monitoring MS patients. Recent studies have shown that at 3 Tesla, 3D GRE or 3D fast SE sequences provide higher detection rates for gadolinium-enhancing MS lesions, especially smaller ones, than standard 2D SE, and better suppress artefacts related to vascular pulsation. However, the comparison of the performance of 3D GRE versus 3D SE sequences has not been investigated yet. Objectives To compare the sensitivity of enhancing multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions in gadolinium-enhanced 3D T1-weighted gradient-echo (GRE) and turbo-spin-echo (TSE) sequences.

Two hundred and forty patients with multiple sclerosis who met the study criteria will be enrolled in this randomized double blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. They will randomly assigned to placebo or vitamin D treatment group. The total time of study is 52 weeks and the vitamin D group will be treated by weekly 50000 International unit(IU) vitamin D, while the other group will receive weekly placebo. The annual relapse rate and EDSS will be compared at baseline, month 6 and 12.

This is a multicentric and prospective study for the validation of a diagnostic method in multiple sclerosis. Our hypothesis is that there is a characteristic profile of tears that can be recognized in order to help in the diagnosis of this pathology and that could possibly replace the lumbar punction which is an invasive method. Semi-automatic and automatic techniques of isoelectric focusing will be developed for analyzing data from tears. These results will help in the identification of markers of this disease.

Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) typically endure a progressive paralysis due to the continued loss of motoneurons that leads them to death in less than 5 years. No treatment has changed its natural history. Intrathecal injection of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells can secret trophic factors that keep the motorneurons functional. The investigators have designed a phase I/II clinical trial to check the feasibility of this approach in humans.

The purpose of this study is to study the transporters of serotonin and dopamine in ALS patients in relation with the clinical phenotype, i.e., patients without stiffness, patients with pyramidal stiffness, patients with mixed (pyramidal and extra pyramidal) stiffness. For such a goal the investigators will use SPECT to compare the binding of two specific tracers in ALS patients and in matched healthy controls.

Patients with marked bladder dysfunction as a result of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis are being recruited to receive AIMSPRO or placebo by subcutaneous injection, in this double-blind crossover study.

This study is designed to compare injection site reactions with or without the use of alcohol wipes prior to performing the patients' daily Copaxone® injection.

Dyspnea in systemic sclerosis (ScS) constitute a major factor of functional disability. Intensity of dyspnea is sometimes discordant with objectives data from cardiopulmonary involvements, suggesting unknown additional factors. Diffuse fibrosing myopathy of bad prognosis have been reported in ScS.To now, muscular respiratory involvement has not been evaluated in ScS. Therefore, ScS patients (with or without dyspnea) could have underlying respiratory muscular involvement not detected by current standard of care with pulmonary function tests (PFT). This project is the first, to the best of our knowledge, to assess frequency of respiratory muscular involvement in ScS and to evaluate a screening strategy of this involvement.

It is important to increase the independence of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients in activities of daily living. Almost all activities of daily living require managing many activities at the same time. For example, walking or standing while talking on the phone. There is a need for easily applicable, reliable and valid scales to evaluate dual-task performance in MS patients. Therefore, the aim of this study is to establish the Turkish cultural adaptation, validity and reliability of the Dual-Task Questionnaire scale in MS patients. This study included a total of 50 patients with MS [age (18-65) years]. Dual-task Questionnaire (DTQ), Timed Up and Go test (TUG) with dual-task and Nine Hole Peg test (9-HPT) with dual-task were applied to the patients. The second evaluation (retest) was carried out by the same physiotherapist one week following the first evaluation (test) in order to measure test-retest reliability.

Chronic progressive multiple sclerosis patients will be randomised to home-based arm ergometry training for 12 weeks or a waitlist control group which will have access to the treatment after 12 weeks when primary endpoint assessment has been obtained. Assessments include clinical outcomes and questionnaires as well MRI imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation paradigms. Primary endpoint will be the 6 minute walking test at week 12.