There are about 3465 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Singapore. 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 goal of this clinical trial is to compare two different pain relief techniques (cooled radiofrequency ablation (CRFA) and hyaluronic acid (HA) injection) for patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) over a period of 6 months. The main questions it aims to answer are: - the extent of reduction of pain score and the proportion of subjects ("responders") whose knee pain is reduced by at least 50% from baseline up to 6 months after treatment in the two treatment groups. - the safety of the two treatment modalities. Participants will undergo a nerve block test to determine if they would experience pain relief from blocking of nerve signals. Responders will be randomised to receive one of the two treatments for their knee pain. Researchers will compare the pain intensity of CRFA and HA injection groups at baseline, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months post-treatment using validated questionnaires.
The main purpose of this study is to pioneer an easy risk stratification tools, which is developed using novel artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, that will be able to detect common and fatal heart diseases easily simply through a picture of the back of the eye, the retina. The retinal images will be analysed using a computer application with the risk stratification tool to predict health outcome of individual. The study also aims to correlate between clinical characteristics, lifestyle (eg. exercise, sleep, erectile dysfunction) and diet to retinal and coronary vasculature and clinical outcomes.
The study conducted on cancer patients is designed to test safety and efficacy of limb hypothermia in cancer patients using the new Paxman Limb Cryocompression System (PLCS). Ultimately this will lead to the development of a therapy regime that will help to prevent chemotherapy-induced neuropathy in cancer patients.
The new National One-Rehab framework mandates the use of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) as an outcome measure to track patients' rehabilitation progress. Anecdotally, we have encountered patients (especially elderly ≥ 65 years old) with difficulty understanding and completing such questionnaire accurately. We developed a pictorial functional scale (Functional Activity Scoring Tool, FAST) with reference to the successful application of the Wong-Baker FACES pain rating scale. Concurrently, we hope to validate PSFS and FAST against Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) which is validated in Singapore population. This study aims to investigate the reliability and validity of the PSFS and FAST in patients with knee osteoarthritis. We hypothesize that both the PSFS and FAST can be used to measure difficulty in performing activities of daily living in patients with knee osteoarthritis in a reliable and valid manner. The FAST and PSFS questionnaires will be administered to patients in SingHealth Polyclinics with knee osteoarthritis to explore the psychometric and clinimetric properties. Eligibility criteria were: age 45 and above, proficient in English, diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis. Patients were excluded if they have underlying medical or trauma conditions (i.e., trauma, fracture, infection, inflammatory disease, tumor), history of knee surgery within the last 3 months, or clinically recognizable cognitive impairment. Eligible patients will be informed about the purpose of the study and the confidentiality and anonymity of the process. After giving written consent they will complete a questionnaire on demographic and clinical characteristics and the sets of outcome measures (FAST, KOOS, PSFS). Participants will then return at two-to-three weeks later to complete the sets of outcome measures again and GROC, and to state their preferred outcome measures. Statistical analysis will be conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of PSFS and FAST against KOOS.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is amongst the leading reasons for people seeking medical attention in local primary care, accounting for 6-28% of principal diagnoses. Patient education is one of the important treatment strategies to ease pain, reduce suffering and disability. However, from our anecdotal experience, patients often report there is an inconsistency in the information being provided by healthcare professionals. This can be due to the existence of different MSK pain frameworks as the understanding of pain sciences evolves. Hence, there is a need for regular Continuous Medical Education (CME) to update and improve healthcare staff knowledge and skills on this aspect in Singapore. The conventional teaching method is typically used in SingHealth Polyclinics (SHP) CME sessions. It focuses on lecture-based instruction as the teaching centre, emphasizing the delivery of syllabus and concept. The conventional teaching method has been shown to be less effective than other teaching strategies (e.g. Case based learning) in practical application and critical thinking abilities. Mezirow proposed the use of Transformative Learning to enhance adult learning. We aim to conduct an RCT to investigate whether this teaching method is superior to the conventional teaching method in improving MSK pain knowledge, management advice, attitudes and beliefs of healthcare professionals in primary care. This randomised multi-centre, prospective study will be conducted across all SHP polyclinics. Healthcare professionals working in SHP will be invited to participate in the study. Participants in both the intervention and control groups will be asked to complete the questionnaires at 3 time-points: before and after the lecture, as well as 1 month later. The anonymised data collected will then be analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
The aim of this study is to compare the 1-year total body weight loss outcomes for Class 1 and Class 2 Obesity patients who have undergone endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) in contrast to medical treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues.
Preoperative anxiety and acute post-operative pain are common and have been associated with the development of chronic post-surgical pain and longer hospitalisation. Pharmacological interventions to combat anxiety and pain come with their attendant adverse effects. Therefore, non-pharmacological strategies- Virtual Reality (VR) has gained popularity to improve overall the perioperative experience for patients. Our overall aim is to develop and evaluate the use of a VR-based prototype to reduce pre-operative anxiety and post-operative acute pain intensity in our local patient population. Our primary aim is to reduce preoperative anxiety as measured by a reduction in Visual Analogue Score-Anxiety (VAS-A) by a mean of 2.5 points pre-post VR intervention. Our secondary aims are to reduce post-operative acute pain and to achieve more than 50% good to excellent self-reported satisfaction on our VR prototype.
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the largest and fast-growing causes of pain, impaired mobility, and poor quality of life in the elderly worldwide. Despite a significant increase in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) utilisation, in particular acupuncture, as first or second-line treatment among local KOA patients, there exists a lack of high-quality evidence on its efficacy and local practice guidelines for TCM use in KOA tailored to our specific population demographic. HarmoKNEE trial aims to address these gaps by evaluating the short and medium-term clinical and cost-effectiveness of TCM acupuncture with far-infrared heat therapy in addition to standard care, compared to standard care alone. Through a robust process and economic evaluation, the investigators aim to inform evidence-based practice for KOA patients in Singapore to facilitate the large-scale implementation of a comprehensive and holistic model of care which harmonises elements from Western medicine and TCM. The investigators hypothesize that acupuncture with heat therapy as an adjunct to standard care is clinically more effective than standard care alone. This will be a multi-centre pragmatic, parallel-arm, single-blinded, effectiveness-implementation hybrid randomised control trial. KOA patients will be randomised to either the control arm (standard care only) or intervention arm (biweekly sessions of acupuncture with heat therapy over 6 weeks, in addition to standard care). A mixed-method approach through an embedded process evaluation will facilitate large scale implementation. An economic evaluation will be performed to evaluate financial sustainability
During hospitalisations, older inpatients commonly face issues such as immobility, loss of independence, and functional decline. This leads them down the cascade of dependency with consequent increased risk of adverse outcomes, institutionalisation as well as higher post-acute care costs. The investigators hypothesize that by implementing a mobility intervention in the inpatient setting, patients would be able to maintain their function upon discharge and avoid the cascade of dependency. As such, the investigators aim to do this by implementing and evaluating a mobility intervention, while optimising reversible factors affecting mobility among inpatients admitted to a geriatric unit in Singapore. The investigators will also examine the cost impact of a mobility focused model of care and also adopt the effectiveness-implementation hybrid Type 2 design where both effectiveness and implementation spheres are tested simultaneously.
Aging, genetics and environmental factors contribute to multiple changes on the surface of the skin. These present with pigmentation, volume loss, loss of elasticity and loss of collagen. Altogether, areas of the face becomes "crepey", with resulting rhytids and an obvious appearance of thin and fragile skin. These are typically dermal manifestations of elastin and collagen loss resulting in a collective term of loss of "skin quality". Current treatments to improve these changes involve the use of skincare, chemical peels, as well as more invasive repeated treatments such as microneedling and laser resurfacing. These commonly require repeated treatments and several days of downtime. More recently, treatment with a hybrid preparation of high and low-molecular weight complexes that are thermally cross-linked (Profhilo) has been suggested to stimulate collagen and elastin formation, thereby resulting in improvement in skin quality.