There are about 9403 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Switzerland. 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.
WHO: 32 participants with executive deficits related to a stroke, able to engage in moderate physical activity. WHY: Around one third of stroke patients suffer from cognitive deficits in the long term, which have a detrimental impact on everyday personal and professional life. The purpose of this study is to evaluate two sets of computerized exercises combining cognitive and physical effort to see if they can improve executive function. WHAT: Study participants first undergo cognitive and physical assessments. Additional questionnaires will assess mood, everyday life cognition, function and quality. This will be followed by a 6 week training period with 3 training sessions a week. The effect of the cognitive and physical training will be measured in a post-training evaluation session. Six months after completion of the training, the study will evaluate cognitive and physical abilities of participants to study long-term effects of the respective training program. WHERE: Both the evaluation and the training sessions will be conducted on the premises of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudoise (Pavillon 4, Avenue de Beaumont, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland)
Cholecystectomy is one the most frequent laparoscopic procedures worldwide. It is a safe and effective operation but intraoperative bile duct injury remains a relevant complication with serious consequences for the patient. Most of the complications occur due to a lack of knowledge of the anatomy or misidentification of the cystic duct. Thus, the study of the anatomy is a cornerstone of a successful procedure and the preoperative magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is a way to preoperatively determine relevant structures to avoid intraoperative incidents. This trial has been designed to assess the effect of preoperative virtual reality training based on MRCP on intraoperative performance and outcome.
Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a distinct disease entity with an estimated prevalence of 0.3-0.7% and more common in women (3:1 ratio). It can be diagnosed according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2015 consensus definition using 3 major criteria and one of 2 minor criteria. Diagnosis requires that the patient have the following three symptoms: 1. A substantial reduction or impairment in the ability to engage in pre-illness levels of occupational, educational, social, or personal activities that persists for more than 6 months and is accompanied by fatigue, which is often profound, is of new or definite onset (not lifelong), is not the result of ongoing excessive exertion, and is not substantially alleviated by rest, 2. Post-exertional malaise,* and 3. Unrefreshing sleep* At least one of the two following manifestations is also required: 1. Cognitive impairment* or 2. Orthostatic intolerance Note* Frequency and severity of symptoms should be assessed. The diagnosis of ME/CFS should be questioned if patients do not have these symptoms at least half of the time with moderate, substantial, or severe intensity. Currently, individually tailored therapy with emphasis on cognitive behavioral therapy and graduated activity therapy is considered the therapy of first choice, although their effectiveness has been critically questioned in recent years. There are often frustrating treatment courses, a larger proportion of partial remissions, a significantly smaller proportion of full remissions and return to work. The study aims to evaluate patients of the outpatient service for chronic fatigue at the Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, in the context of a group therapy for the treatment of CFS/ME in respect to the response to different, non-drug based therapeutic procedures and to gain knowledge about the effects of the therapy. The study is a clinical comparative study of therapeutic procedures/interventions without the use of drugs or a medical product. The interventions are Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Micro Breaks in Everyday Life (MBEL) adapted to CFS/ME. The collection of biological samples (saliva, blood) and health-related personal data (actigraphy, psychometric data from questionnaires) is associated with minimal risks and burdens.
Metastatic disease to the bone is a common cause of pain. External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is the standard palliative treatment BUT pain improvement is observed in 60% to 80%. Combination of hyperthermia (HT) with radiation is strongly compelling. MR is providing accurate, tissue-independent thermometry for intra-procedural guidance of thermal therapy. In this project we aim to combine in an adjuvant setting mild hyperthermia to EBRT for sustained relief of pain in patients with symptomatic bone metastases.
In a randomized, cross-over study, 20 healthy volunteers will receive a block and replace therapy that mimics physiological GC rhythm (metyrapone plus hydrocortisone) or placebo. Participants will undergo two identical overfeeding periods with each treatment. With the block and replace therapy, food-induced GC peak will be suppressed. Metabolic and autonomic parameters will be compared to reveal, whether GCs mediate the physiological adaptions to excessive food intake. Understanding acute effects of GCs upon food intake is critical, since repetitive disruptions of GC secretion may become harmful in chronic conditions.
The aim of this project is to assess patients' opinions, attitudes, and ideas regarding the administration of OLPs in clinical practice, although they might never have had contact to placebos. A qualitative approach is used and online focus group discussions (FGD) with patients with different clinical conditions, entailing chronic back pain, Parkinson's disease, chronic migraine, chemotherapy induced emesis, and menopausal complaints are conducted.
This Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) funded project and the linked European project aim - to improve magnetic resonance (MR) methods, specifically MR spectroscopy and metabolic imaging (making them more sensitive and accurate - also less dependent on motion), - to extend them (making previously unobservable metabolites visible) and also - to make them more stable (suitable for routine clinical use). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is closely related to the widely used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Both methods are based on the same physical effect and are performed on the same equipment. However, while MRI mainly images the anatomy inside the body, MRS gives us information about the metabolism of the tissue. The main goal of this study is to develop and improve methods of MRS to better measure the concentrations of endogenous substances without actual intervention. MRS methodology development is performed in 4 steps: 1. A new method is developed and optimized theoretically and in sample preparations (solutions of chemicals). 2. The new methodology is evaluated in single healthy volunteers and optimized step by step for the conditions of use in the human body. 3. The methodology in evaluated in small groups of healthy volunteers (measurement accuracy and range of variation in healthy volunteers). 4. Feasibility is studied in different situations with possibly different metabolic situations (e.g. awake versus asleep or before and after muscular exertion). For this purpose, about 100 subjects will be measured for different subprojects. Thus, among other things, one determines the measurement accuracy and also normal values in healthy subjects for the assessment of diseases in future studies.
The treatment of leg veins and varicosis with sclerotherapy is one of the most frequently performed medical intervention in the western world. The most common local side effects of this treatment are hyperpigmentations caused by hemosiderin deposition in the skin as well as post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Although skin hyperpigmentation after sclerotherapy is a common over several months up to years lasting side-effect with a strong aesthetic impact, scanty data exist about treatment options. Quality-Switched (QS) lasers are efficient in the removal of exogenous and endogenous pigments, such as tattoos as well as epidermal and dermal melanin deposits. The laser light is absorbed by pigment particles, leading to a fragmentation of these particles by a photothermal and photoacoustic effect. Smaller particles can be then phagocyted by macrophages, and transported via the lymphatic system into the lymph nodes. Furthermore, the positive effect of QS lasers in the management of cutaneous siderosis in stasis dermatitis and after sclerotherapy has been described in several cases. Triple cream including hydroquinone, tretinoin and a topical corticosteroid (eg dexamethasone), is the first line therapy in the treatment of post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. This randomized controlled study aims to evaluate the efficiency of two well-known depigmentation methods (QS laser and triple cream) for treatment of post sclerotherapy hyperpigmentation, compared with a control group performing no treatment.
The present project exploits brain imaging and neuroscience robotics to investigate the role of quantifiable visual input on the relationship between visuo-tactile integration and body ownership (the feeling that "this" body belongs to "me").
The observational study aims to investigate the effect of two factors that influence the ease with which aphasic and healthy participants name visual stimuli. The main factors investigated here are the image type of the visual stimulus (drawing or photographic image) and the response variety (standard language vs dialect). The hypothesis is formulated as follows: The image type of the visual stimulus (drawing or photographic image) and the response variety (standard language or dialect) will have an effect on naming correctness and/or naming latencies in people with aphasia within the picture naming test. The experiment was as follows: Persons with aphasia and healthy participants were presented with objects and verbs depicted as photographs or illustrations on a tablet. All participants were asked to name the depicted term in two different language varieties as correctly and as fast as possible. Answers were recorded synchronously. No feedback should be given to the participants (=no therapy). The results of picture naming were not analyzed patient-specifically in relation to their condition or therapy. Naming performance was collected as a momentary data set in order to investigate the speed of naming in general. The ethic committee Northwestern and Central Switzerland approved the study to be observational as no effect of intervention(s) on biomedical or other health related outcomes were evaluated, but only the influence of type of the visual stimulus and the response variety on correctness and naming latencies in the two participant groups.