View clinical trials related to Deglutition Disorders.
Filter by:The objective of this clinical study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the NewBreez intra-laryngeal implant in patients with dysfunctional larynx.
This study consists of a prospective clinical trial which aims to evaluate the impact of stent insertion for palliation of malignant dysphagia. The main goal being to examine the number of days required following stenting in order to have significant improvement in dysphagia and the length of time that this baseline is maintained. Approximately 100 patients will be prospectively enrolled in this study. Patients with end stage inoperable esophageal cancer deemed candidates for intraluminal esophageal palliative stent insertion will be prospectively enrolled into the study. Patients with esophageal obstruction or stricture due to other benign causes, tumors obstructing the cervical esophagus, as well as patients with airway-esophageal fistulas will be excluded from the study. The investigators plan to evaluate the efficacy of intra-esophageal stent insertion to improve malignant dysphagia as a main factor affecting the quality of life in these patients.
The goal of our study is to determine if stretching the esophagus with a rubber dilator helps patients with swallowing difficulties who have a normal appearing esophagus on upper endoscopy. In order to do this we will perform a randomized controlled study, where patients will undergo esophageal dilation (stretching) with different diameter dilators. We will measure change in symptom severity between baseline (prior to dilation) and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the procedure
According to the Canadian Cancer Society there are approximately 1700 new cases of esophageal cancer per year in Canada. As most of these patients are diagnosed in advanced stages of the disease, 1800 deaths are estimated from this cancer annually . Progressive dysphagia is the most common presenting symptom and impacts not only the patient's quality of life but the ability to tolerate life prolonging treatments such as systemic chemotherapy. Although there are several therapeutic modalities to alleviate malignant dysphagia including laser, photodynamic therapy and cryotherapy , the use of stents and radiotherapy are the most commonly employed. However, the optimal approach to effective, timely treatment of malignant dysphagia remains a challenge. The investigators conducted a preliminary retrospective review to investigate such palliation procedures and found that a multi-modality approach may yield the most favourable results . Therefore, our clinical trial will examine the effectiveness of adding a single dose of brachytherapy to patients with severe dysphagia who have already been treated with a endoscopically placed self-expanding metallic stent.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Amifostine may decrease the side effects caused by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. It is not yet known whether chemotherapy and radiation therapy are more effective with or without amifostine in treating head and neck cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase II trial is studying amifostine to see how well it works compared with standard care in reducing side effects in patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy for stage III or stage IV head and neck cancer.
The purpose of this study is to confirm the effectiveness and safety of a new medical device which sprays liquid nitrogen through an upper endoscope (cryotherapy) to treat Barrett's esophagus with high-grade dysplasia and early esophageal cancer. It is hypothesized that this treatment will remove the abnormal lining of the esophagus and allow the normal esophageal lining to return.