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.
Every day many patients affected by chronic life-limiting illnesses are admitted into Internal Medicine wards, coming from the Emergency Department. Many studies suggest that providing palliative care to these patients may improve their end-of-life care while reducing costs by minimizing futile treatments and unwanted intensive care unit admissions. Consequently, there is a strong need for acute care hospitals to more vigorously identify patients entering the final phase of their lives as well as their specific care needs. In a previous study the investigators screened for need of palliative care patients affected by progressive chronic diseases by means of a tool, based on the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation, and Intensive Care - SIAARTI - position paper reporting criteria for patients with end-stage chronic organ failures, and on the specific clinical indicators elaborated by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for patients with locally advanced/metastatic cancer. In a further pilot study, the investigators compared the outcomes of PC patients depending on whether the palliative care team evaluated such patients only if requested by the physician staff or routinely, irrespectively of a specific request, finding a significant increase of discharges after the activation of an appropriate PC service or scheduled PC ambulatory visit. In the present study the investigators enroll chronically ill patients admitted to an Internal Medicine Unit from the Emergency Department, to be screened for palliative care need, using the previously cited SIAARTI/NCCN screening tool (Extended Screening Tool - EST), or using a Simplified Screening Tool (SST), derived from the first instrument, which preliminary showed a superimposable efficacy. This latter tool has advantages related to much more shortness and therefore simplicity in the administration to a seriously ill patient and is much less time consuming, allowing the physician to use it routinely. The aim of the study is to verify the accuracy of the SST in identifying chronically ill patients in need of a PC approach, in comparison to the SIAARTI/NCCN tool (EST). If the SST would show good accuracy, an easily manageable tool for the assessment of PC needs in chronically ill patients would be available for the daily routine.
Kidney transplantation is a replacement treatment for chronic renal failure that improves quality of life. However, it can be experienced as traumatic in relation to the changes it entails in terms of lifestyle, redefinition of one's body and social and family role. A negative personal experience could affect adherence to the treatment, a protective factor in reducing the risk of organ rejection and mortality. Some studies have shown the effectiveness of expressive writing in reducing the symptoms and management of the disease in patients undergoing surgery or suffering from cancer. It is hypothesized that this technique allows the processing of traumatic events linked to the disease, favoring an improvement in the expression and emotional regulation skills. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a psychological intervention focused on expressive writing on the post-operative course in patients underwent to kidney transplantation. Thirty-five patients were recruited at the kidney transplant center of the Policlinico Umberto I, Rome. The sample was divided into 2 groups: the psychological intervention focused on expressive writing group and the control group which carried out a neutral writing task. Each patient filled some self-report questionnaires and carried out blood analysis, before the operation, the day of discharge and at 3 month follow-up. The psychological intervention group was expected to have a greater improvement in the emotional skills, adherence and renal function, and a lower level of healthcare costs compared to the control group.
The study is intended to understand the benefit of Long Term Home care Therapy with nasal High flow in Bronchiectasis patients at home. Primary end point is to evaluate daily life compared to usual care and secondary is to evaluate the changes in lung function
In tetraplegic patients with complete cervical spinal cord injury, respiratory complications are very frequent, especially in the sub-acute phase: the lungs often become obstructed due to the accumulation of secretions and the contemporary inefficiency of the cough mechanism. The present pilot study aims, in the context of a rehabilitative Critical Care Unit, at evaluating a not yet published method, called "T-PEP" and based on the principle of Positive Expiratory Pressure, applicable to tracheotomised and mechanically ventilated patients. This method, conceptually simple and low cost, is compared with a known method based on the principle of Percussive Intrapulmonary Ventilation (IPV). Safety and efficacy issues are covered.
The Neuroguard IEP System is a 3-in-1 carotid stent delivery system consisting of an angioplasty balloon, an integrated embolic protection device and a nitinol self-expanding stent loaded over the balloon and constrained by an outer sheath. The PERFORMANCE I study is a multi-center, prospective, single arm open label study to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the Neuroguard IEP System for the treatment of carotid artery stenosis. The primary endpoint will be the proportion of patients with Major Adverse Events (MAE) reported within 30 days from the index procedure. The primary objective of the PERFORMANCE I study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the Neuroguard IEP Carotid Stent System when used in patients with clinically significant carotid artery stenosis requiring revascularization.
In this observational study researcher want to learn more about the effectiveness of drug VITRAKVI (generic name: larotrectinib) and how well the drug is tolerated during routine use in patients with TRK fusion cancer which is locally advanced or spread from the place where it started to other places in the body. TRK fusion cancer is a term used to describe a variety of common and rare cancers that are caused by a change to the NTRK (Neurotrophic Tyrosine Kinase) gene called a fusion. During this fusion, an NTRK gene joins together, or fuses, with a different gene. This joining results in the activation of certain proteins (TRK fusion proteins), which can cause cancer cells to multiply and form a tumor. VITRAKVI is an approved drug that blocks the action of the NTRK gene fusion. This study will enroll adult and paediatric patients suffering from a solid tumor with NTRK gene fusion for whom the decision to treat their disease with VITRAKVI has been made by their treating physicians. During the study, patients' medical information such as treatment information with VITRAKVI, other medication or treatments, changes in disease status and other health signs and symptoms will be collected within the normal medical care by the treating doctor. Participants will be observed over a period from 24 to 60 months.
To assess the feasibility of coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) and fractional flow reserve derived from CTA (FFRCT) to replace invasive coronary angiography (ICA) as a surgical guidance method for planning and execution of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) in patients with 3-vessel disease with or without left main disease. The FASTTRACK CABG study is an investigator-initiated single-arm, multicentre, prospective, proof-of-concept, and first-in-man study with feasibility and safety analysis. Surgical revascularization strategy and treatment planning will be solely based on coronary CTA and FFRCT without knowledge of the anatomy defined otherwise by ICA that will be viewed and analyzed only by the conventional heart team. Clinical follow-up visit including coronary CTA will be performed 30 days after CABG in order to assess graft patency and adequacy of the revascularization with respect to the surgical planning based on non-invasive imaging with functional assessment and compared to ICA. Primary feasibility endpoint is CABG planning and execution solely based on coronary CTA in 114 patients. Primary safety endpoint based on 30-day coronary CTA is graft assessment either at the ostium, in the shaft or at the anastomoses of each individual graft either single or sequential. The FASTTRACK CABG study is the first study to assess safety and feasibility of planning and execution of surgical revascularization in patients with complex coronary artery disease, solely based on coronary CTA combined with FFRCT.
End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a growing global health problem, strictly connected with progressive ageing population and longer survival of patients living on renal replacement therapy. The majority of ESRD patients is on hemodialysis (HD) treatment. A successful HD procedure requires a functional vascular access (VA) to provide safe and long-lasting way to connect patient circulation to the artificial kidney. To date, VA dysfunction is the major cause of morbidity and hospitalisation in HD patients, and the major limitation of HD treatment. The current recommendation for VA is the native artero-venous fistula (AVF), surgically created in the forearm, but is still affected by high non-maturation and early failure rates. The most common cause of AVF early-failure is vascular stenosis due to neointimal hyperplasia (NH). Despite the exact mechanisms underlying stenosis development remain tentative, there is general consensus that hemodynamic conditions play a key role in the formation of NH. Previous computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigations inside patient-specific AVF models conducted by our group revealed transitional laminar-to-turbulent flow in the juxta-anastomotic vein. Various vascular access devices have been designed to incorporate features to regularize the hemodynamics and favour spiral flow development in the venous segment of the AVF. The VasQ external support device (Laminate Medical Technologies, Israel) is a novel Nitinol implant, externally surrounding and supporting the vein and "hugging" the artery near the junction site, without being in contact with the blood flow. VasQ attempts at constraining and shaping geometrical parameters of the AVF, as well as reinforcing the vulnerable perianastomotic vein against high pressure, wall tension and flow levels. A prospective single-centre study demonstrated the safety of the VasQ external support device, but the effect of its use on hemodynamic conditions and the advantages in terms of flow regularization in patient-specific AVFs still need to be investigated. A detailed analysis of the local blood flow field in patient-specific AVFs can be obtained coupling non contrast-enhanced MRI (NCE-MRI) and high-resolution CFD simulations, using a NCE-MRI protocol recently optimized by our group. Our MRI sequence has the advantage of providing high-quality images in a short acquisition time of 5-10 minutes compared to other MRI protocols that require more than 45 minutes for a single acquisition. Combined with high-resolution CFD, our MRI-to-CFD pipeline allowed us to characterize morphological and hemodynamic changes in the AVF of one patient at two timepoints, immediately after AVF surgery and at AVF maturation. Therefore, it seems to be a promising approach to perform morphological and hemodynamic analysis also in AVF created using the VasQ device and can be used to elucidate the effects of VasQ device on hemodynamic conditions, as compared to hemodynamic conditions present in AVFs created using conventional surgery without the use of any device.
The overall objective is to compare hand casting to standing hydrostatic pressure casting using a water cylinder in persons with lower limb amputation. Our overall hypothesis is that standing hydrostatic pressure casting with a water cylinder will lead to more consistent and efficient residual limb shape capture and improved initial socket fit and comfort compared to hand casting.
Cardiogenic shock is a condition of low cardiac output that represents the end of a progressive deterioration of cardiac function. The main cause is ischemic heart disease but there are several causes of non-ischemic nature including sepsis. Sepsis is characterized by a picture of organ dysfunction caused by an altered response of the body to an infection. Its most serious form is septic shock, defined as a picture of sepsis in which the underlying abnormalities in the cardiovascular system and cellular metabolism are such as to increase mortality. An organ failure correlates directly with the function of others and this interdependence is especially evident when a cardiovascular failure is established. 3 Cardiac dysfunction in sepsis can be defined as that of a syndrome characterized by low cardiac output not related to myocardial ischemia. The use of levosimendan in cardiogenic shock during sepsis was first described in a 2005 case report. Since then there have been small studies and other case reports that have shown improvements in right and left ventricular contractility, ventricular coupling, cardiopulmonary performance, global oxygen transport, renal and splanchnic perfusion when compared to dobutamine and placebo. Other beneficial effects of this drug have emerged, including an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiapoptotic action with a possible protection from ischemia-reperfusion damage. The present study aims to evaluate the correct use of levosimendan, after the occurrence of cardiogenic shock on a low cardiac index has been ascertained, with the aim of weaning from inotropic drugs in infusion.