There are about 13446 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Belgium. 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.
'Patient-reported outcomes' (PROMS) and 'patient-reported experiences' (PREMS) are increasingly important parameters in evaluating and adjusting clinical procedures and strategies in healthcare. Validated disease-specific PROMS related to bronchoscopic procedures are not available and examples in the medical literature are very scarce.
Patients who are eligible for cardiac rehabilitation but do not want to participate will be offered to participate in an interview (part A of the study) or a tablet questionnaire (part B of the study). Goal is to identify main barriers for conventional rehabilitation as well as to assess willingness to participate in cardiac telerehabilitation, main barriers and willingness-to-pay for cardiac telerehabilitation.
ELEVATE is a six-year project, conducted by an international research alliance led by Ghent University, aiming to develop a new test and approach for cervical cancer screening in hard-to-reach populations. In this final stage of the project, a hospital-based validation study is deployed in Belgium and Ecuador to clinically validate the new ELEVATE screening test based on self-samples and endocervical samples. The simultaneous detection of HPV DNA and the proteomic markers allows for the detection of those cervical HPV infections associated with progression towards cervical cancer. At each study site, 100 women between 30-65 years old, with a recent abnormal pap smear result will be recruited in the colposcopy waiting room. After registration and signing the informed consent form, each woman will be asked to fill out a short self-administered questionnaire for socio-demographic information. Each woman will provide a self-sample as well as an endocervical sample before the colposcopy examination. Both samples of all 200 women (i.e. participants from Belgium and Ecuador) will be tested with the new ELEVATE screening test, using 400 ELEVATE cartridges, as well as with standard tests. Besides analyzing all samples on the new ELEVATE screening test, the following standard tests will also be performed on all samples (at Ghent University - including the shipped samples of Ecuador): - AnyplexTM II HPV HR Detection (Segeene Inc., Korea): approved comparison test - ELISA protein detection: only available comparison test In order to generate HPV DNA results locally, that can be communicated to the participants in short time (versus waiting for AnyplexTM II HPV HR Detection test results after shipment to Belgium), in Ecuador the following additional standard test will be performed on the100 endocervical samples (before shipment to Belgium): • HPV DNA Mole Bioscience test Concordance between the test results of the ELEVATE screening test and standard lab tests on both type of samples will be defined, for HPV DNA as well as protein detection. Additionally, the sensitivity and specificity of the HPV DNA test and the protein test of the ELEVATE screening test will be defined, according to clinically relevant outcomes.
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an adjunctive treatment for refractory epilepsy. Although widely used, there is still a substantial number of patients with insufficient response. Light, and particularly blue light, can stimulate alertness, attention and cognition through modulation of anatomical targets which are common to the vagal afferent network. This project aims at understanding how exposure to blue enriched light may influence VNS effects in patients with refractory epilepsy by exploring the modulation of a series of biomarkers of VNS action. This could possibly lead to new therapeutic strategies to increase efficacy of VNS.
Research demonstrated that transplant recipients benefit from physical activity, but there is a gap in knowledge regarding the required intensity. In the PHOENIX-Liver study, researchers aim to investigate the adequate intensity of rehabilitation programs after liver transplantation. Patients will be randomized into one of the three PHOENIX-Liver training groups (low, moderate, moderate to high). The six months rehabilitation program is conducted from the patient's home but supervised by a PHOENIX-investigator. At baseline, after three months of rehabilitation and after six months of rehabilitation, a test moment takes place at which physical fitness, cardiovascular health, liver function, and body composition will be assessed. Questionnaires are taken monthly to survey well-being, safety, quality of life, physical activity, and cost-effectiveness. To gather information on the potential for implementation in a real-world setting, a 15-month-long physical activity phase will start after the intervention phase. This entails a maintenance physical activity program tailored to the patients' preferences. A follow-up at UZ Leuven is planned at three and at 15 months where the same clinical evaluations will be conducted as during the test moments of the intervention phase.
Pulmonary congestion secondary to volume overload or interstitial tissue inflammation is common in chronic hemodialysis patients. This pulmonary congestion occurs mainly during the period between dialysis sessions and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular event morbidity and mortality in this population. The evaluation of this pulmonary congestion and the estimation of the dry weight of hemodialysis patients according to conventional methods represent a real challenge for clinical nephrologists. Lung ultrasound is a new diagnostic approach validated in the assessment of pulmonary congestion. It would allow a better assessment of dry weight in chronic hemodialysis patients based on the results of preliminary studies, including our latest pilot study. However, there is little evidence comparing this novel approach to traditional approaches.
Prospective, interventional, open-label, non-controlled, monocentric study in Belgium of Luca, of up to 7 evaluable subjects, undergoing vitreoretinal surgery to treat intravitreal hemorrhage and macular pucker. Only one eye per subject can be enrolled.
Pressure ulcers are a global issue and substantial concern for healthcare systems. A review of the literature between January 2000 and December 2012 has revealed that prevalence rate of pressure ulcers in aged care facilities were between 4.1% and 32.2%, and the incidence rates ranged from 1.9% to 59%. Similarly, a systematic review reported that the prevalence of pressure ulcer varied between 0.3% and 46%, and the incidence of pressure ulcer ranged from 0.8% to 34%. Most epidemiological data were obtained from hospitals (38.7%) and institutional long-term care facilities (29.7%). The costs associated with pressure ulcers are considerable. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (2011), the US healthcare system has allocated approximately $ 9.1 - $ 11.6 billion annually for the health care cost of pressure ulcer. In addition to direct treatment-related costs, the development of pressure ulcer also results in litigation and government penalties, and affects hospital performance metrics. A systematic review has reported that the cost for treatment of pressure ulcer was higher than its prevention. That is, the cost per patient per day ranged from € 1.71 to € 470.49 (for treatment) and from € 2.65 to € 87.57 (for prevention) across all settings. This randomized controlled trial will be performed in a general hospital in a random sample of 308 patients (nursing wards geriatric n=3 and orthopedic (n=3)) who are at high risk of developing pressure ulcers. Patients will be included in the study for a period > 2 hospitalisation days. Skin assessment and risk factor registration will be done on a daily base by the ward nurses. Reliability checks and time measurements will be completed by the researcher.
The effect of LiteVax Adjuvant supplemented to licensed seasonal influenza vaccine on safety and immunogenicity will be investigated in both younger and older healthy participants. Local and systemic adverse events, and humoral and cellular immune responses will be determined at different time intervals after a single administration. Mode of action of LiteVax Adjuvant will examined by detailed genetic analysis and omics approaches such as transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.
The goal of this clinical trial is to implement lung cancer screening in a targeted high-risk population of heavy (ex-)smokers in Flanders (Belgium). This implementation study will investigate the participation rate of eligible high risk (ex-)smokers in the First Line Zone South East Region of Antwerp (ZORA) in a LDCT screening program, combined with smoking cessation.