View clinical trials related to Connective Tissue Diseases.
Filter by:The goal of this observational study is to examine clinical utility of 18F-FAPI-RGD PET/CT imaging in evaluating connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease. Participants will undergo clinical evaluation and 18F-FAPI-RGD PET/CT examination.
Autoimmune diseases are the consequence of an abnormality of the immune system, leading it to attack components of our own body. They have a wide variety of presentations. They preferentially affect women, and often at a young age. Systemic lupus erythematosus, for example, most often occurs between the ages of 15 and 40. Inflammatory rheumatism, such as spondyloarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, is less prevalent in women, but also affects young people, and is particularly common. Several disease-modifying treatments exist, depending on the severity and evolutivitý of the disease. Some are contraindicated or not recommended during pregnancy and therefore require supervision of pregnancy plans. In addition, some treatments have an immunosuppressive activitý, which implies an annual screening of cervical lesions by cervico-uterine smear. In this context, an adapted gynecological follow-up seems indispensable. The rheumatologist and the internist physician have a crucial role in advising and referring patients to their gynecological colleagues. Studying the qualitý of this gynecological follow-up in a cohort of patients with autoimmune disease or inflammatory rheumatism is of major interest.
Social determinants of health (SDoH), defined by the World Health Organization as "the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life" are estimated to be responsible for nearly 90 percent of a person's health outcomes. SDoH are key contributors to racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in care healthcare access and health outcomes. The goal of this clinical trial is to identify patients with inflammatory arthritis or with a systemic rheumatic condition with arthritis who may respond to the simplest and least expensive intervention to address their SDoH-related needs- a tailored list of resources, those who benefit from a community-based resource specialist to help address specific needs, and those who require a nurse-trained navigator to help both coordinate the services provided by the community-based specialist, and their medical and mental health care and needs. The main questions the clinical trial aims to answer are: 1. To test the efficacy of a rheumatology clinic-based nurse navigator and community resource specialist to reduce appointment no-shows and same-day cancellations in patients with systemic rheumatic conditions with arthritis. 2. To examine the cost-effectiveness of each of the different study interventions for individuals with systemic rheumatic conditions with arthritis with SDoH-related needs using questionnaires and cost-related care metrics. Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 arms. In Arm 1, patients will receive a cultivated list of resources related to the needs that patients indicate on the social determinants of health questionnaire. Arm 1 is the control arm which receives the current standard of care. In Arm 2, patients will receive the assistance of a community resource specialist (CRS) - an individual without formal medical training with community-based expertise. In Arm 3, patients will receive the assistance of a nurse patient navigator with additional systemic rheumatic condition-specific training who will work with the CRS. After 6 months, patients who do not respond to Arm 1 will move to Arm 2. Patients who do not respond to Arm 2, will move to Arm 3. Patients who do not respond to Arm 3 will remain in Arm 3. Patients who respond to any arm will graduate the program at 6 months. The patients who do not respond be in their new arm for 6 months. At 12 months, all patients remaining in the study will graduate.
The RECONNECTIVE Registry is an observational single center study, focused on the subgroup of precapillary pulmonary hypertension related to connective tissue diseases. All patients will have hemodynamic confirmation by right heart catheterization and will be follow-up for at least 5 years from admission. All patients diagnosed with Group I Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) associated with Connective Tissue Diseases (CTD) and Group IV Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) with CTD will be included. The purpose of the registry is to learn and understand the clinical outcomes and natural history of the pulmonary arterial hypertension in this subgroup of patients to improve the medical care and treatment.
The investigators' pre-clinical study confirms the positive effects of combined treatment (VT + HMB) on reducing fat-to-lean tissue ratio, intramuscular fat infiltration and increasing muscle strength in sarcopenia animal model. The results showed that fat mass could be decreased by ~32%, while histology Oil Red O staining indicated a decrease of fat by almost 60%; in contrast, lean muscle mass increased by ~14%. On muscle strength, combined treatment increased twitch force, tetanic force and grip strength by ~30-66%. These in vivo results are very encouraging and the investigators should explore its potential in clinical translation. As VT and HMB supplement have been commercially available and their compliance rates are satisfactory, they can be translated to clinical application easily. The investigators' next step is to confirm its clinical efficacy, so that sarcopenia becomes a new indication of VT and HMB. The hypothesis is that combined treatment of VT and HMB can retard the progression of sarcopenia in human, in terms of muscle mass, muscle strength and performance.
A single-center randomized controlled study will be used to observe the efficacy and safety of pirfenidone on CTD-ILD patients for 24 months. The main research endpoints is the lung function (FVC) at 6 months. The clinical dyspnea score, 6-minute walking distance, index of lung function and imaging indicators are evaluated, as well as primary disease activity and adverse reactions of therapy with glucocorticoid and immunosuppressants up to 24 months.
The aim of this study is to identify correlations between change from the baseline at Month 24 in Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) (% predicted and mL) and change from the baseline at Month 24 in cough or dyspnoea scores [points] as measured in the living with pulmonary fibrosis questionnaire (L-PF) over 24 months of nintedanib treatment in patients with connective tissues disease-associated progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (CTD associated PF-ILD) under routine clinical practice conditions in Greece.
The investigators propose to study the relationship between right ventricle (RV) steatosis and RV function, exercise capacity, and outcomes in humans with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and to identify potential drivers of lipid accumulation.
Comparing percutaneous needle fasciotomy +/- corticosteroid injection for Dupuytren's contracture affecting metacarpophalangeal joints. A clinician-initiated, multicenter, randomized controlled trial.
People living with Systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) face a new and urgent dilemma: immunosuppression increases risk for worse COVID-19 infection, yet an immune stimulation, such as vaccination, could re-activate their disease. Fear of vaccine-related disease reactivation is not of concern in other immunosuppressed groups (e.g. patients receiving chemotherapy or hemodialysis) but in SARDs, disease flare could lead to organ failure or even death. Specific research in this population is therefore critical. Moreover, among SARD patients, those on anti-CD-20 monoclonal antibody (mAb) (i.e. rituximab (anti-CD-20 mAb)), a medication used to treat inflammatory types of arthritis, have extremely low immunity post-COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. This study will test the hypothesis that a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is safe and enhances post-vaccine humoral and cellular responses in SARDs patients on anti-CD-20 mAb treatment. The magnitude of this response depends on the type of COVID-19 vaccine administered and is optimal when the booster dose is a vaccine from a different group than the one used for primary immunization (mix-and-match approach).