All clinical trials

The treatment of acute pericarditis is empiric and is based on treatment with medications with anti-inflammatory properties such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and corticosteroids. However, this therapy is given as a relatively long course of therapy (≥ 3 weeks) and can be associated with substantial side effects. Dexamethasone is a potent corticosteroid that has not been investigated an alternative to conventional therapy in patients with acute pericarditis. Dexamethasone is an inexpensive drug and can be given in an oral tablet form. It has a quick onset of action, relatively long duration of action and is therefore often given in high doses for short periods. Dexamethasone has been shown to be a safe therapeutic option in ITP (Immune Thrombocytopenia), another disease in which steroids are an accepted treatment option. The abundant data on using dexamethasone in comparison to longer prednisone-based regimens has been evaluated in this disease and has shown to be effective and without the longer exposure time to steroids and potential side effects. This data shows that dexamethasone can be a safe therapeutic option. The investigators hypothesize that therapy with short term, high dose dexamethasone will offer better clinical responses to NSAID therapy in the treatment of acute pericarditis with less potential side effects compared to NSAID therapy. The Investigators aim to conduct a randomised, non-blinded trial assessing the use of dexamethasone as an alternative to NSAID for use in patients with acute pericarditis.

The feasibility and safety of laparoscopy are no longer to be demonstrated, especially in the field of gynecology, but this technique often causes post-operative pain. New techniques are being developed to overcome the inconvenience of laparoscopy, notably endoscopic transluminal surgery using a natural orifice (NOTES). It avoids incisions and therefore scarring, and could reduce post-operative pain. It is now developing in the field of transvaginal gynecology (vNOTES). This study is the first prospective randomized study comparing the vNOTES technique to laparoscopy with postoperative pain assessment for performing a salpingectomy. The hypothesis is that the use of vNOTES transvaginal endoscopic surgery would reduce the post-operative pain of patients compared to laparoscopy in the context of a salpingectomy.

Treating sleep apnea in adults caused by tonsillar hypertrophy with intracapsular tonsillectomy by coblation

The current study explores the development and use of a family engagement intervention for psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents with emerging psychosis symptoms. The program is designed to increase understanding of mental health symptoms and promote motivation for engagement in outpatient services. Findings from this study may inform ways to effectively educate and engage youth at clinical high risk for psychosis, and their families, in treatment that may be critical for improving future functioning and outcomes.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating disease affecting millions of Canadians. Exercise is a core treatment for knee OA, and is advocated by all clinical guidelines. However, the safety of recreational running in the presence of knee OA is unclear. There are no studies available to provide direct data to appropriately inform runners and clinicians whether running should be advocated for joint health. Our research study will address this gap.

Hypertrophic scar is an inevitable outcome of wound repair. It affects the appearance and some scar contracture often leads to joint dysfunction.Patients have low quality of life, long treatment cycle, heavy social burden and high medical costs.Skin grafting is currently the gold standard for scar repair.However, there are often insufficient skin sources, easy to scar recurrence, lack of skin accessory organs.The application of composite skin graft can reduce the recurrence rate of scar healing and relieve the deficiency of skin source.However, its survival rate is not high, and acellular allogeneic dermal scaffolds are expensive, heavy medical burden.Therefore, how to effectively repair the wound surface after surgical excision of scar is the main problem to be solved urgently. Dermal loss is the main cause of unsatisfactory scar repair and recurrence.The previous clinical study of the research group found that the application of autologous epidermal basal cells and autologous skin graft obtained in real time during the operation could effectively improve the survival rate of skin graft in the treatment of wound surface (Brit J Surg, 2015).Furthermore, it is suggested that the application of autologous scar dermal scaffolds can achieve the control of skin damage in the skin harvesting area and the orthotopic transplantation of autologous scar tissue dermal scaffolds, which can effectively reduce the economic burden of patients.Therefore, the researchers wondered whether the construction of tissue-engineered skin orthotopic transplantation with autologous epidermal basal cells and autologous scar dermal scaffold combined with autologous scar dermal scaffolds to repair the wound after scar resection could improve the survival rate of skin graft and reduce scar recurrence.To this end, we plan to carry out multi-center, prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trials, aiming at proposing more effective surgical treatment guidelines for the repair of hypertrophic scar, improving the survival rate of composite skin graft, and solving the current clinical problems of hypertrophic scar repair.

To validate the efficacy and safety of the cool-tip ablation method for breast tumors smaller than 2 cm.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects over 236 million people globally. A classic symptom of PAD is intermittent claudication (IC) which is associated with reductions in physical function. The evidence is irrefutable that supervised exercise programmes (SEP) improve pain free and maximal waking distance. However, adherence rates are poor with exercise-related pain cited as contributable factor. Exercise at mild claudication or pain- free exercise improves walking ability, however current guidelines recommend exercise should be performed to near maximal claudication to improve walking ability. Conflicting evidence exists and there is a lack of evidence that has directly compared the relative effects of exercise prescribed at different levels of claudication. Therefore, the primary objective is to directly compare the effects of exercise prescribed at different levels of claudication pain on functional outcomes

The primary objective of this trial is to assess the safety and feasibility of 5-FU when given concurrently with5 Gy x 5 fractions IMRT. The secondary endpoint is to assess disease local control and the response rate after short course radiotherapy concurrent with dose escalation infusion 5-fu followed by mFOLFOX and delayed surgery.

This is a Phase 1/2a, open-label, study to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of intratumoral T3011 given alone and in combination with intravenous pembrolizumab in partients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors.