Active clinical trials for "Wounds and Injuries"

Chronic wounds cause significant morbidity and cost our healthcare system millions of dollars each year.Their healing is slowed by biofilms, communities of bacteria surrounded by a protective layer that stops the immune system and antibiotics from getting close enough to kill them. The investigators will develop a new strategy to destroy biofilms using a protein made from bacteria that live on our skin.The Staphylococcus epidermidis Esp protein will be used to destroy Staphylococcus aureus biofilms, the most common bacterium in chronic wounds. The investigators hypothesize that the use of the Esp protein will breakdown S. aureus biofilms, decrease bacterial colonization of chronic wounds and improve healing times.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical and economic effectiveness of MIST Therapy vs NPWT vs MIST Therapy in conjunction with NPWT in the treatment of full thickness wounds presenting in the LTACH and SNF settings.

Background and Rationale: The most commonly seen disabilities in stroke patients are shoulder injuries such as shoulder pain, glenohumeral subluxation, spasticity of shoulder muscles, soft-tissue trauma, rotator cuff tears, and shoulder-hand syndrome. Taping is widely used in the field of rehabilitation as both means of treatment and prevention of sports related injuries. Scarce information is available regarding the use of shoulder taping in preventing shoulder injuries in stroke patients. Aims: To find out the effectiveness of taping technique with conventional treatment versus sham taping and conventional treatment in prevention of shoulder injuries in patients with acute stroke. Hypothesis: Taping technique with conventional treatment will be superior to conventional treatment alone in preventing shoulder injuries in patients with acute stroke. Methods Research setting: Stroke unit, department of Neurology, Christian Medical College (CMC) Ludhiana, Punjab, India and College of Physiotherapy, CMC Ludhiana. Study design: prospective, randomized, outcome blinded trial (PROBE design). Study period: Prospective for 18 months from May 2009 All stroke patients with upper limb weakness within 48 hours after the ictus and with Brunnstrom's stage of recovery 1 and 2 will be included in the study. Patients will be randomized into two groups using lottery method. The treatment arm group(Group I) include shoulder taping with conventional techniques that is(positioning, handling technique and passive range of motion exercises) and the control arm (Group II) include sham taping with conventional techniques with sham taping. A total of 80 patients in each group will be included. The plastic micropore and elastic adhesive tape will be used for taping the affected shoulder. The sham taping will be done using the same tapes but without stretching the concerned muscles and joints. The tapes will be changed every 3 days and will remain for 14 days. The outcome measures are as follows; Primary: Pain: Visual Analog Scale and Activities of daily living: Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI); Secondary: Range of motion: using a Goniometer. The outcome will be assessed by an independent physiotherapist who will be blinded to the clinical details. Patients will be followed-up at 14 days and 30 days. Statistical analyses will be done using SPSS software version 16.

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of design improvements of the Spiracur SNaP Wound Care System. This study prospectively evaluates the safety and efficacy of current and new design iterations of components of the FDA-cleared Spiracur SNaP Wound Care System in order to optimize safety, efficacy, and system performance.

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning(RIPC) and remote ischemic postconditioning(RIPoC) seems to have a protective effect during ischemic period. Using cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB) during open heart surgery reduces pulmonary blood flow and may cause ischemic damage to lung tissue. The investigators anticipate that RIPC and RIPoC may reduce lung injury after CPB.

The trial is a randomized, controlled trial. Adult patients undergoing orthopaedic surgical procedures would be randomized to one of two groups for surgical wound closure, skin sutures or skin staples. The primary outcome measures would be surgical site infection indicated by the use of oral or intravenous antibiotics for suspected wound infection and/or re-operation at the same site. Patients would be followed up as per their usual post-operative course for a total of three months in the trauma and spine population and six months in the total joint arthroplasty population. It is hypothesized that wounds closed with sutures and staples will have similar infection rates as defined by the use of antibiotics or reoperation.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether N-acetylcysteine given intravenously 1 day pre-operatively is effective in preventing inflammation in the lungs, as measured by tests on blood, breath and lung specimens, in patients undergoing surgery to remove a portion of lung.

The purpose of this study is to assess whether a large clinical trial testing the effect of RIPC on neurologic outcome in patients undergoing elective cervical decompression surge is warranted.

Pressure ulcers (PrUs) are the most frequent significant medical complication after spinal cord injury (SCI). PrU prevalence, morbidity, mortality, and recurrence rates are high, and most persons with SCI will have at least one serious PrU during their lifetime. VA costs of treating the almost 3,500 unique Veterans with SCI and a severe ulcer at an SCI Center in FY10 was just under $400 million.

Primary objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of a fall prevention exercise program in preventing falls resulting in fractures and other physical traumas. Secondary objectives: to better understand the mechanisms by which physical exercise prevents falls and ensuing injuries (improvement in physical functional abilities, global physical activity level, general physical and psychological wellbeing and self-confidence). to determine the individual factors associated with long-term adherence to the exercise program.