There are about 3753 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Hong Kong. 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.
The BioFreedom BA9 (Stainless Steel) Drug Coated Stent is an approved stent that is already commercially available in Europe and Asia. The purpose of this registry is to assess the safety and efficacy of the BioFreedom stent for treatment of a specific group of patients; patients with a myocardial infarction (STEMI). The objective is to capture patients' outcomes and antithrombotic strategies data using one or several BioFreedom Stents in the routine treatment of these STEMI patients.
The health benefits of regular physical activity and a healthy diet are well established in literature. Regular physical activity and a healthy diet may reduce the risk of certain non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer, and contribute to mental health and emotional benefits, as well as social wellbeing. Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity and healthy diet, most of the Hong Kong people live a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle and do not meet the WHO's recommendation on physical activity for health and on fruit and vegetables intake. This study is to examine the physical activity and dietary attitudes and behavioural patterns of the Hong Kong community and provide a clear direction for future health education and awareness projects and campaigns aimed towards improving the general health of the Hong Kong community.
This proposed randomized controlled trial aims to study the long-term compliance of the LiFE program and its combined effects with a home safety visit on fall prevention in community-dwelling older fallers.
Objective: To examine the effects of a structured advance care planning (ACP) guide among patients with advanced illness in hospital care setting. Methods: This is a 24-month stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial to be conducted in the Department of Medicine in an acute hospital. Patients are eligible to the study if they are aged 18 or over, are communicable, and meet the indicators of health deterioration or advanced condition in the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT). Ward nurses will be trained to be interventionists to conduct ACP by means of a structured ACP guide. The guide is adapted from a culturally sensitive ACP programme developed in the local context with reference to the format of the Serious Illness Communication Guide, which is an evidence-based best practice in end-of-life care communication to support the ACP process. Main outcome measures: Data will be collected at baseline (T0), one week (T1), three months (T2) and six months (T3) after intervention. The primary study outcome is the documentation of ACP discussion in medical records and completion of advance directives. Secondary outcomes are communicating end-of-life care preferences with family carers, quality of life and concordance of care preferences and treatment provided.
Propofol is a commonly used intravenous anaesthetic drugs both for induction and maintenance of general anaesthesia. Advantages of total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) with propofol include reduced nausea and vomiting, reduced atmospheric pollution, and better wake up profile. But the need for a reliable intravenous access, specialized pumps, pain on injection and potential concerns regarding awareness are potential disadvantages of TIVA propofol. Results from clinical trials have not been consistent. Some randomized trials have shown improved analgesia with TIVA propofol, and some reported no significant difference. A meta-analysis found that propofol was associated with a statistically significant reduction pain scores 24 hours after surgery. However, the clinical effect size was small. Therefore, the usefulness of propofol as an analgesic adjunct is still inconclusive. Whether TIVA propofol is useful in providing significant postoperative analgesia may be influenced by the type of surgery and accompanying analgesic regime. This agrees with the concept of procedure specific analgesia. Liver surgery produces moderate to severe pain as a result of an upper abdominal incision. Pain control can be difficult due to concerns with epidural analgesia in patients with potential clotting abnormalities and the effect of analgesic metabolism as a in patients with liver dysfunction. Results from our retrospective study showed that TIVA propofol was associated with reduced pain scores with coughing on postoperative days 1 and 2, and also reduced opioid consumption when compared with sevoflurane after liver surgery. In this study, the investigators plan to conduct a randomized controlled trial to further determine whether TIVA propofol reduces acute postoperative pain and opioid consumption after hepatectomy.
Osteoarthritis of knees and hips is a common medical problem present in elderly, which poses significant impairment to their mobility, independence, and quality of life. Despite the availability of conservative treatment, such as simple analgesics and physiotherapy, total joint replacement is the only curative option for this disease entity. The latter, however, is not without risk. A study by Poulakka has demonstrated that patients with poor pain control in the postoperative period were three to ten times more likely to develop chronic pain, which may significantly impair the patients' functional status and quality of life. Optimal pain control is therefore essential in facilitating rehabilitation and in preventing long-term morbidities. Lidocaine [2-(diethylamino)-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)acetamide] is an amide local anaesthetic that is characteristically fast in onset and short in duration of action. As such, it has long been used for providing regional anaesthesia for operation, but with limited role in terms of post operative analgesia. Recently, intravenous infusion of lidocaine has been shown to be safe and effective in reducing post operative pain (resting and dynamic), opioid consumption, and chronic post-surgical pain. The mechanism of action involves both peripheral and central actions. In addition to blockade of the Voltage-gated Sodium Channel of the peripheral nerves, lidocaine also inhibits priming of the PolyMorphoNuclear granulocyte (PMN) by inducing a time-dependent inhibition of intracellular G-protein signalling molecule (Gq); thus reducing release of cytokines and Reactive Oxygen Species Centrally, lidocaine also causes blockade of NMDA receptors and Neurokinin Receptors of the Wide-Dynamic Range Neurons in the dorsal horn of spinal cord; thus reduces glutamate activity. We therefore hypothesize that the use of intravenous lidocaine may reduce acute pain and improve the range of knee flexion after total knee replacement. Currently, there is strong evidence supporting its use in laparoscopic and open abdominal surgeries. There is, however, a paucity of studies in orthopedic surgeries. To date, there is no randomized controlled trial that studied its effect in total knee replacement.
Colorectal neoplasm in Asia is now increasingly common and is rising in an alarming manner in Hong Kong. Population-based screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) should be implemented. With the establishment of the CUHK JC Bowel Cancer Education Centre in 2008, about 10,000 asymptomatic subjects aged 50-70 years have completed screening by either faeca immunochemical test (FIT)or colonoscopy till December 2012. From 2013 onwards, the centre invites subjects aged 40-70 years with risk factors for CRC to undergo screening by FIT on a yearly basis. If FIT result is positive, according to local practice, they will be offered a routine colonoscopy as they will be treated as symptomatic. Currently, about 2,500 subjects have received CRC screening in this new project. There will be 2,500 subjects more to be recruited to this till 31 December 2017. The investigators would like to carry out a prospective cohort study of these 2,500 subjects and also retrospectively review the cohort of 12,500 subjects who received CRC screening in the CUHK JC Bowel Cancer Education Centre. The present study aims to: 1. . Evaluate the knowledge, attitude, perception, practice, perceived obstacles and changes in choice of CRC screening among the screening participants; 2. . Assess the levels of compliance across time among those who joined the screening programme, according to different subject characteristics; 3. . Explore the diagnostic accuracy of faecal immunochemical tests among subjects with different characteristics; 4. . Evaluate the risk factors for colorectal neoplasia and if applicable, devise and validate a risk scoring system for prediction of neoplasia in different colon sites; 5. . Evaluate the association between bowel preparation, colonoscopy withdrawal time and adenoma detection rate among those who received colonoscopy; 6. . Validation of the existing risk scoring systems for colorectal neoplasia from the literature, based on findings from subjects who received colonoscopy. 7. . Explore potential associations among colorectal neoplasia detected in different colon sites.
REM sleep behavior disorder (typical or 'idiopathic' RBD, iRBD) is a novel and distinct parasomnia characterized by recurrent dream enactment behaviours and polysomnographic features of loss of normal REM-sleep related muscle atonia, with a male predominance commonly occurring at the age of 60's. A majority of the patients with iRBD will eventually develop α-synucleinopathy (e.g., Parkinson's disease). On the other hand, growing evidence reveals a specific group of psychiatric patients demonstrating comparable clinical RBD features (pRBD) (e.g., abnormal REM-related electromyographic (EMG) activities) as found in typical iRBD, but with less male predominance occurring at the age of mid 40's to early 50's. Although recent findings from both cross-sectional and prospective studies have suggested that pRBD is likely to be a persistent parasomnia with close association with clinical and neuroimaging biomarkers related to neurodegeneration, the nosology of the development of RBD symptoms among patients with psychiatric disorders, notably major depressive disorder, remains unclear as to whether they are simply antidepressants related, or represent a part of the early phase of α-synucleinopathy neurodegeneration. Family studies on iRBD have confirmed a significant familial aggregation of iRBD with a higher rate of RBD cases and presence of prodromal neurodegenerative biomarkers (e.g. tonic EMG activity during REM sleep, constipation, and motor function impairments) of α-synucleinopathy neurodegeneration among first-degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with iRBD. Thus, the investigators propose this family study to examine the following hypotheses: 1) FDRs of patients with pRBD have a higher rate of RBD symptoms and its core features when compared to FDRs of controls with and without psychiatric disorders; 2) FDRs of pRBD are more likely to exhibit the features associated with prodromal markers of α-synucleinopathy neurodegeneration when compared with FDRs of controls with and without psychiatric disorders; 3) FDRs of patients with pRBD have a higher rate of α-synucleinopathy neurodegeneration when compared with FDRs of controls with and without psychiatric disorders. A total of 176 FDRs from each group (e.g., pRBD cases, psychiatric controls, and healthy controls) will be recruited to undergo a face-to-face clinical interview and a series of assessments on prodromal markers of Parkinson's diseases (as according to the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society research criteria) respectively. All FDRs with possible RBD and a subset of FDRs without possible RBD will be invited to undergo one-night video-polysomnographic assessment to confirm the clinical diagnosis of RBD and to assess the abnormal REM-related EMG muscle activities.
To develop a viable and sustainable best practice model to promote elderly mental wellness and prevent elderly depression for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has initiated a pilot holistic support project entitled "JC JoyAge: Holistic Support Project for Elderly Mental Wellness". Commenced in October 2016, this 3-year project will deliver six programmes: (1) social services staff training; (2) peer supporters certificate training; (3) outreach and engagement activities for at-risk older adults; (4) standardized prevention and early intervention service; (5) community education programmes; and (6) public awareness and public education activities in four pilot districts in Hong Kong, namely Kwun Tong, Sham Shui Po, Kwai Chung, and Tseung Kwan O. The project aims specifically to: 1. Evaluate the effectiveness of a collaborative stepped care and peer support programme in engaging older people at-risk of or with depression; 2. Evaluate the efficacy of the programme in reducing symptoms/risks and promoting wellbeing in older people at-risk of or with depression; 3. Investigate the impact of the programme on care resources utilization in these older adults.
Depression and chronic medical conditions are common in older adults. Qigong is increasingly documented to have anti-depressive effects for older adults. Nevertheless, the scientific concepts behind qigong remain a mystery. To fill the knowledge gap, the neurobiological mechanism of the effects of qigong was explored. In addition, the benefits of qigong on subjective well-being, functional independence, sleep quality, mobility, and muscle strength were also tested. After random assignment, intervention group (n = 14) went through individual qigong exercise twice a week and for 12 weeks,whereas control group (n = 16) was involved in cognitive training activities with mobilization elements. The psychosocial, physical, and neurobiological outcomes of the two groups were compared.