There are about 21062 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Italy. 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.
Cerebral Cavernous Malformation (CCM) is a cerebrovascular disease which can be either congenital in origin or sporadic and is characterized by the presence of isolated or multiple CCM lesions, causing recurrent headache, seizures, focal neurological deficits and hemorrhages. Inasmuch, to date, the only curative treatment available is limited to surgical lesion eradication or stereotactic radiosurgery. It is therefore necessary to find an effective medical treatment that may limit disease progression and decrease the burden of adverse clinical events. The non-selective betablocker propranolol has been found to be effective in the treatment of infantile cutaneous hemangioma, and anecdotal reports have been published on its efficacy in CCM. The safety profile of propranolol has been documented in millions of patients of all ages. The primary objective of this exploratory trial is to test whether a chronic treatment with propranolol will reduce the burden of cerebrovascular lesions, of clinical events and symptoms in patients with familial CCM.
Background: Achalasia is a primary rare esophageal motor disorder of the esophagus (annual incidence of 1:100,000 persons). Recently, a new endoscopic technique, Per-Oral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM), has been introduced with excellent success rates. Several studies have evaluated complications of POEM but there is a lack of knowledge on the potential risk of bacteremia or microbial translocation during the endoscopic intervention and, also, there aren't evidences regarding the use of antibiotics before/after POEM. Microbial translocation (MT) is the passage of both viable and nonviable microbes across the anatomically intact GI barrier to the mesenteric lymph nodes, and possibly other tissues. Gram-negative bacteria contain lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) coating their thin peptidoglycan cell wall. The presence of LPS, an endotoxin, in the plasma has been correlated to sepsis and septic shock through the activation of the inflammatory host defence via binding to soluble CD14 (sCD14) which initiates downstream cytokines (like IL-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α)) and, also, through the production of sCD14 and LPS-binding protein (LBP) by the innate immune system. Objectives: Considering POEM a clean-contaminated procedure, it should be assessed whether the post-POEM fever or systemic inflammation is a cytokinin-mediated or an infection-related fever. Thus, aim of the study is to evaluate the presence of inflammation mediators, bacteremia and microbial translocation post POEM, to guide future antibiotic prophylaxis/therapy in patients undergoing this procedure. Methods: All patients who will undergo POEM at _Investigator's Department from June 2017 to June 2019 will be enrolled in a prospective, interventional randomized clinical trial (RCT). Patients will be randomized in two groups. The Group A, prophylaxis group, will receive antibiotics (Cefazolin 2 gr i.v.) only before procedure whereas Group B, short therapy group, will receive antibiotics before POEM (Cefazolin 2 gr i.v.), continued for the first 24 hours and then per os (Amoxicilline/Clavulanic Acid 3 gr/die) for 3 days. For each patient we will be evaluated: dosage of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, sCD4, LPB, LPS and blood cultures. Expected results: we expect that the prophylaxis group vs short therapy group, has a prevalence of fever and/or systemic inflammation not higher than 10% difference of the fever related to the procedure.
Cow's milk (CM) allergy is the most frequent food allergy in the first years of life, with prevalence rates estimated in the range of 2-3%. The elimination of CM is the mainstay of treatment, but accidental exposure to CM proteins is not uncommon, with a considerable risk of severe allergic reactions. Recent evidence suggests that early oral exposure in young children may protect to the development of allergy. On the same way, strategies have been developed for the use of oral exposure as immunotherapy for the treatment of children with established food allergy even if available data on the use of oral immunotherapy in infants with food allergy are very limited. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of an oral immunotherapy protocol, started in the first year of life, in children with CM allergy.
HHT or Rendu-Osler-Weber disease is a genetic disease with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern, characterized by widespread telangiectases that can involve several organs including the intestinal tract and the liver. Liver involvement by HHT is characterized by widespread diffuse liver vascular malformations that give origin to arteriovenous, arterioportal and portovenous shunts. The prevalence of hepatic involvement in HHT can reach 78%. Less commonly, patients may also develop porto-systemic encephalopathy (PSE). However, there are no studies on the possibility that patients with HHT might develop mHE, a highly plausible hypothesis considering the presence of diffuse macroscopic and microscopic porto-systemic shunt in this pathological condition.
The study will analyze differentially regulated genes involved in oxidative stress and toxicology in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients who underwent arthroplasty under three different anesthetic methods. The investigator hypothesized that anesthesia procedures trigger toxicity, thus inducing changes in the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) profile. The results may provide a more profound understanding of the molecular mechanism of anesthesia and in overcoming the adverse effects arising from their use.
The prompt treatment of pain due to minor trauma is often an unmet need in both Emergency Room Department and Ambulance Rescue. Most of the available drugs are intravenously administered and such route of administration may account for delay in the pain relief onset. Methoxyflurane is an halogenated anesthetic, self-administered by the patient at sub-anesthetic dose through an easy to handle inhaler (Penthrox®). The efficacy and safety of Penthrox® in the treatment of acute traumatic pain will be investigated in an out-of-hospital and in hospital emergency medical care setting.
This study will evaluate if clazosentan (on top of normal routine medical care) can reduce the risk of developing complications related to cerebral vasospasm and permanent brain damage as compared to normal routine medical care alone.
The purpose of this study is to compare four different connective tissue graft harvesting technique in terms of graft quality and patient post-operative morbidity
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) belongs to long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) category and is a major building block for neuronal and retinal membranes, playing a crucial role in brain and visual development within the first months of life. Due to the lack of enzymes for the synthesis of its precursors, neonates strictly rely on dietary intakes of DHA. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a small crustacean rich in phospholipid-bound DHA, which is highly bioavailable, but whether it is effective in increasing DHA excretion in breast milk (BM) has not been investigated yet. This study aims to evaluate whether maternal supplementation with krill oil during breastfeeding increases DHA contents in breast milk BM. Mothers of infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will be enrolled in this open, randomized, controlled study and randomly allocated in 2 groups. Group 1 will receive an oral krill oil-based supplement providing 250 mg/day of DHA and 70 mg/day of EPA for 30 days, whereas group 2 serves as control. BM samples from both groups will be collected at baseline (T0) and day 30 (T1) and will undergo a qualitative analysis of LCPUFAs composition by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.
Platelet count alterations (thrombocytopenia and thrombocytosis) are a common condition in patients hospitalised for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), both at disease onset and in the following recovery phase.1-3 Different factors can explain this phenomenon. Thrombocytopenia could be either due to neurohormonal activation and the inflammatory process following myocardial necrosis leading to increased macrophage activation with increased clearance of platelets, or to an immuno-modulated mechanism caused by the administration of antiaggregant/anticoagulant drugs (heparin, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, P2Y12 inhibitors). Even the invasive treatment of coronaropathy during hospitalization, with angioplasty and stent implantation procedures and/or the eventual implantation of temporary mechanical blood circulation assistant devices [aortic counterpulsation, Impella, ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation)], could further favour the phenomenon.4 Vice versa, thrombocytosis occurring during ACS has a reactive origin, caused by increased IL-6 production which, in turn, leads to an increase in thrombopoietin formation in the liver, causing a consequent stimulatory activity on megakaryocytes.2 Different studies have demonstrated a significant correlation between platelets count disorders and patient outcome (survival during hospitalization and in the immediate follow-up).5-11 This association has, however, often been considered an epiphenomenon of the underlying pathology. Platelets count alterations are, indeed, usually consensual to other hemogram alterations (anaemia and neutropenia), an indication of a coexisting medullar insufficiency (thrombocytopenia) or other heterogenous diseases such as cancer, iron deficiency or immuno-modulated diseases, usually associated with an increase in comorbidity indexes.12 Those alterations, moreover, can usually influence changes to the therapeutic approach (reduction/suspension of recommended standard therapies) and further condition the prognosis.13 Since a few years, the investigators have been established a cardiac-haematological collaboration aiming at finding early alterations in platelets count or, more generally, in cell blood count (CBC), collegially evaluating those alterations with a cardiologist and a haematologist (even in mild cases) and scheduling, on the basis of the aforementioned evaluations, a more precise and tailored therapeutic approach toward the specific patient needs in order to minimize the downgrading of potentially life-saving therapies.14 Until now, however, no precise evaluation of the impact that this strategy had in influencing the therapeutic approach and in improving patient outcome in our population has been performed. A retrospective evaluation of consecutive ACS patients, their clinical, biohumoral and procedural characteristics and the adopted pharmacological treatments is, therefore, an important epidemiologic tool for the characterization of this phenomenon and for identifying potential associations which could suggest possible future therapeutic developments.