There are about 13446 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Belgium. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans, and causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). . Since its emergence in December 2019, in Wuhan, China, SARS-CoV-2 has led to a global pandemic with almost 188 million cases and 4 million COVID-19 related deaths reported. Although initially considered as a predominantly acute respiratory illness, it soon became apparent that COVID-19 could also produce neurological manifestations and severe neurological complications. During the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection, about 36% of cases develop neurological symptoms of which 25% can be attributed to the direct involvement of the central nervous system. There are increasing reports of central and peripheral nervous system involvement. Acute neurological manifestations reported, include, but are not limited to: anosmia, dysgeusia, stroke, encephalomyelitis, meningo-encephalitis, posterior reversible encephalopathy, acute necrotizing encephalopathy, new onset seizures and Guillain-Barre syndrome. However, one of the most perplexing aspects of SARS-CoV-2 is that two to four months after their initial (mostly apparently mild) infection, some COVID-19 patients still present a constellation of more chronic neurological symptoms colloquially known as "long COVID-19" syndrome. In these patients, COVID-19 appears to affect long-term brain function and patients have functional complaints as dyspnea, hyposmia/anosmia, dysgeusia/ageusia, but also, and more importantly, memory and cognitive impairment, pain, deadening fatigue, and alterations in sleeping-pattern/insomnia, all of them correlated with typical 18F-FDG brain PET scan abnormalities. At the beginning of the pandemic, the medical world was not expecting the phenomenon of COVID-19 patients developing persistent neurologically symptoms. However, more than one year after the pandemic, multiple waves of the "long COVID-19" syndrome may be expected to occur worldwide. To face the long tail impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health and its social and economic consequences on our society, future research urgently needs to be dedicated to these "long COVID-19" patients in an attempt to determine, understand and manage their symptoms. A lot of "long COVID-19" patients are desperately searching for help. This project found his origin in the fact that suddenly many patients spontaneously presented with a similar constellation of persistent (chronic) symptoms, months after they had (mostly mild) COVID-19, with many of them being relatively young, without underlying health problems, but unable to work due to cognitive impairment. During the entire study, the opinion and feelings of these patients will be taken in account, all the more so because the majority of these patients were initially left behind. The primary objective of this study is to determine the different types of neurological dysfunction and clinical manifestations of the "long COVID-19" syndrome and to correlate them to abnormalities/signs on cerebral perfusion scintigraphy. Furthermore, the investigators aim to determine and validate a specific imaging biomarker of post-COVID-19 encephalopathy. The secondary objective of this study is to determine the best therapeutic modality to treat and improve prognosis of patients with "long COVID-19" syndrome with defined central nervous system impairment.
The use of the distal radial artery has recently emerged as a promising alternative access route to further reduce the risk of radial artery occlusion (RAO) and has been endorsed by recent International Consensus documents. The feasibility of a distal radial access (DRA) for coronary angiography and/or PCI has been demonstrated in several observational clinical registries and small-sized randomized clinical trials. In the recent prospective, multicenter, open label, randomized, controlled DIStal vs Conventional RADIAL access (DISCO RADIAL) trial, DRA was associated with low and similar rates of RAO at discharge when compared to conventional TRA among patients undergoing coronary angiography and/or PCI. There is however limited evidence on the feasibility and safety of 7F DRA for PCI. In a prospective, multicenter, observational study including 41 patients undergoing CTO PCI using a left DRA with a 7F GLIDESHEATH SLENDER® (Terumo Corp., Tokyo, Japan), technical success was achieved in 90.3% of patients and procedural success was achieved in 78.1% of patients. No post-procedural DRA RAO were detected by clinical assessment and Doppler ultrasound examination, and no radial artery occlusions at the site of the forearm were found. Doppler ultrasound imaging of the DRA at one month was available in 67.6% of patients, with only one case (4.3%) of DRA RAO. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that DRA using a 7F GLIDESHEATH SLENDER® (Terumo Corp., Tokyo, Japan) for CTO PCI is feasible and associated with a high procedural success rate and low vascular access-site complication rates. No randomized clinical trial to date has however compared the feasibility and safety of a 7F DRA versus 7F TRA for PCI of complex coronary lesions, such as chronic total occlusions (CTO), left main coronary artery disease, heavily calcified lesions, complex bifurcations, or other complex coronary lesions for whom the operator anticipates that a 7F guiding catheter is indicated.
This is the first clinical trial of IDRX-42. The study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, PK, and preliminary antitumor activity of IDRX-42 in adult participants with advanced (metastatic and/or surgically unresectable) GIST.
Background: Despite surgical reconstruction and rehabilitation, individuals after a primary anterior cruciate ligament injury have a significantly increased risk of relapse. The mechanisms for this increased risk may go beyond mere physiological and biomechanical changes of the reconstructed anterior cruciate ligament. The loss of ligamentous mechanoreceptors can affect sensory feedback and consequently result in a disrupted afferent input to the central nervous system. However, research on the neuroplasticity of the central nervous system after anterior cruciate ligament injury and more specifically on the cooperation between different brain areas (=functional connectivity) in motor execution and performance is limited. Research purpose: To investigate the changes in terms of functional connectivity in the brain after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury and associated reconstruction? Population: - Patients after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction - Healthy controls Protocol: First, all participants are required to complete several questionnaires regarding the level of anxiety and the functioning of the knee in daily activities and sports. In addition, during the baseline testing, participants will be required to perform an experiment while electrical brain activity is recorded by means of an electroencephalography (EEG) measurement. During this experiment, the participants will have to successively perform the following exercises: 10x knee extension from sitting (left and right), 10x bipodal squat from standing, 5x 30 seconds unipodal standing (left and right). The above protocol will be administered to the patient group for the first time 8 weeks after the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. When the patients do not need further rehabilitation, they will be invited a second time to execute the same protocol again. The control group will only have to carry out the above protocol once. Finally, for one year after the last test, the patient group will be contacted monthly to monitor return to sport and the occurrence of injuries.
The BEDICARE-HF study aims to go further in the research on digital support. The objectives of this study are to demonstrate the feasibility, acceptability, adoption, sustainability and safety of a of a smartphone-based digital support system in the Belgian healthcare system. It also aims to effectiveness, evaluate the cost of implementation of the system and demonstrate the cost-effectiveness. The study is multi-center, involving the principal investigator, Dr. Pouleur at Cliniques University Clinics Brussels, and co-investigators from 10 hospitals across Belgium. These physicians will enroll 15 patients on Comunicare's online platform. The patients will then have access to the Comunicare application for 6 months, where they will be asked to answer questionnaires and take their vital parameters. They will also have access to documentation on their pathology and will be able to perform videoconferences with their doctor/nurse via the platform. Eligible patients are patients discharged from hospital for cardiac decompensation. At the time of inclusion, patients must be in NYHA (New-York Heart association) class II, III, or IV, with an LVEF (ejection fraction ejection fraction) of ≤50%. The BEDICARE-HF project is based on the standard of care that an HF (heart fealure) patient would receive without being part of any study. No other invasive interventions are additionally planned by the project. The patient data collected by the recruiting physician is secured by Comunicare. These fully anonymized data will be sent to Jessa at the end of the study for statistical and economic economic analysis of the results. The BEDICARE-HF study will therefore investigate the implementation of a digital support intervention for HF supported by smartphone in a European legislative framework. This study will allow further in the evaluation of digital support for HF and to evaluate a low-cost smartphone solution. The results of this study will demonstrate whether and how a smartphone-based digital support system improves self-care capabilities, clinical management, and health outcomes of patients with HF. They will provide important information on the implementation of a implementation of a digital support system in a specific healthcare setting.
COPERNIC is an international, multicentre, single-arm study. Chemo-refractory mCRC subjects who meet all eligibility criteria will be treated with standard systemic chemotherapy (the decision about the treatment regimen being made by the treating physician) and undergo tumour assessment by standard imaging (either CT scan or MRI scan) at baseline and every 8 or 12 weeks until evidence of tumour progression. Response to treatment will be assessed by the local investigators according to the RECIST criteria version 1.1. Blinded, independent central review of the imaging scan will be carried out, this having no impact on treatment decisions thatwhich will remain the prerogative of the treating physician. Serial blood samples from study subjects will be collected at pre-defined time points for ctDNA testing. Also, archived tumour tissue from each subject will be collected. Prospective and retrospective ctDNA analyses on blood samples will be carried out, and dynamics of ctDNA will be correlated with treatment outcomes prognosis.
Validation of in-ear device to measure acute mental stress in comparison with a Polar H10 chest band. Stress is measured on the basis of heart rate variability.
This project aims to study systemic sclerosis and find a serum marker of its cutaneous involvement. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare immune disease that is part of connectivitis and is characterized by fibrosis and vasculopathy. Multiple visceral lesions involving these two processes make up the severity of this disease. Its dermatological involvement is a fundamental clinical element. Systemic sclerosis is mainly divided into two subtypes, depending on the extent of dermatological involvement: limited and diffuse systemic sclerosis. These also differ in certain autoantibody profiles and clinical features. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to determine certain criteria, markers, making it possible to distinguish at an early stage the presence of limited or diffuse systemic sclerosis. The latter being characterized by more severe organic and cutaneous involvement and excess mortality. This would allow for more aggressive management from the outset at an early onset of the disease. In general, it is known that this pathology is characterized by dysfunction of endothelial cells (EC) and fibroblasts as well as autoimmunity. Many mediators contribute to the fibroblast activation observed in SSc. However, transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) is considered to be the central regulatory factor of fibrosis processes. It is also known that endothelial cells interact with mast cells through the production of Stem Cell Factor (SCF) to induce their proliferation and differentiation. The damaged skin tissues in systemic sclerosis are infiltrated in particular by mast cell cells which produce TGFβ. The team of Kihira et al (1998) demonstrated the presence of a high level of SCF in the serum of patients with systemic sclerosis. Few studies explore this possible production pathway of TGFβ in systemic sclerosis via SCF assay. This study will allow the investigators to: - study this possible route of fibrosis through the dosage of SCF in the serum of patients suffering from systemic sclerosis - describe SCF as a possible biomarker of skin involvement by hypothesizing that the dosage of SCF will be higher in patients with diffuse scleroderma compared to those with limited scleroderma
Rationale: Currently, the healthcare sector is under tremendous financial pressure, and many acknowledge that a dramatic shift is required as the current system is not sustainable. Furthermore, the quality of care that is delivered varies strongly. Several solutions have been proposed of which the conceptual framework known as value-based healthcare (VBHC) is further explored in this study for psoriasis. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease which is associated with high treatment costs. Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of using the VBHC framework for the management of psoriasis. Study design: The IRIS (value In psoRiasIS) study will be a prospective clinical trial in which new patients attending the psoriasis clinic (PsoPlus) of the Ghent University Hospital will be followed up during a period of 1 year. Study population: The study population consists of psoriasis patients attending the PsoPlus for the first time. Main study parameters/endpoints: The main outcome is to determine the value created for new psoriasis patients in PsoPlus over a period of 1 year. Thus, the main study parameters pertain to clinically and patient reported outcomes as well as the full cost for treating patients under the year of review, including referrals to other departments. Secondary outcomes are related to comorbidity control, individual outcomes and determining cost drivers. In addition, a bundled payment scheme should be determined as well as potential improvements in the treatment process.
The purpose of this study is to assess the safety, reactogenicity, and immune response induced by the GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA (GSK) Vaccines Institute for Global Health (GVGH) invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella-typhoid conjugate (iNTS-TCV) candidate vaccine to be administered for the first time in humans. The study intervention will be evaluated in European adults in Stage 1 (a 2-step staggered design) followed by African adults in Stage 2.