View clinical trials related to Esophageal Diseases.
Filter by:Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the esophagus affecting children and adults. The most frequent symptoms are swallowing difficulties and thoracic pain. The disease has first been described in the 1980s and is found with rapidly increasing frequency mainly in industrialized countries. The factors that lead to EoE are until now incompletely understood, of importance, the disease is found more frequently in men and patients suffering from allergic diseases (e.g., Asthma). So far there exists no activity index to define the severity of EoE; such an index is urgently needed for future clinical trials to determine the efficacy of current and future therapies. The investigators' 3-year project, carried out in cooperation with international EoE experts, aims at the development of an activity index for adult and pediatric EoE patients that will be used in future clinical trials as well as observational studies.
The recently developed endoscopic Confocal probe microscopy system allows imaging of surface epithelium during ongoing endoscopy (upper and lower) with the potential of immediate diagnosis of various GI pre-malignant and malignant lesions. The purpose of this study is to determine if using this new Confocal probe system can find pre-cancerous abnormalities in the stomach and colon. Hypothesis: The confocal endomicroscopy images of colorectal lesions during the standard colonoscopies could help the classification in vivo of colorectal neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions. This could direct further endoscopic interventions such as targeted biopsies of early colorectal cancer lesions and the endoscopic resection of such lesions during screening colonoscopies. Primary Aim 1. To determine the key confocal image features of neoplastic and pre-neoplastic colorectal lesions including flat and raised adenomatous polyps, intraepithelial neoplasia and cancer as well as benign lesions such as hyperplastic polyps and normal colonic epithelium and to estimate which morphologic features best distinguish neoplastic and non-neoplastic tissues. Secondary Aims: 2. To determine the initial sensitivity and specificity of confocal microendoscopy imaging for classification of adenomatous from hyperplastic polyps of the colon. 3. In this exploratory phase of the study to develop a library of confocal microendoscopic imaging characteristics of other GI pathologies such as: 1. Barrett's esophagus in comparison to Barrett's esophagus with dysplasia, and normal squamous esophagus. 2. Other encountered inflammatory and neoplastic conditions within the GI tract in which biopsy or removal of tissue would routinely be indicated. The second phase of the study will focus on establishing the sensitivities, specificities, accuracy of confocal images of colorectal lesions and other GI pathologies as well as inter-observer agreement and learning curve in interpretation of confocal images.
Investigation evaluating the effect of coffee on gastro-esophageal reflux disease.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the early identification and more precise intervention of operating room (OR) patient fluid administration optimization using arterial pressure-based cardiac output (APCO) yields comparable patient outcome as fluid administration optimization using a global standard care method.
Determine the time to progression for the combination of erlotinib and bevacizumab in patients with previously treated metastatic cancer of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction
The purpose of this study is to identify markers in the blood and tissue that could indicate risk factors for the development and progression of esophagus cancer. This research aims to collect medical history, blood, and tissue samples from patients who present with an esophageal disorder. Identifying genetic and behavioral risk factors involved in the development of esophageal cancer might allow for early detection and prevention. Survival and an opportunity for a cure with esophageal cancer will depend greatly on the stage of diagnosis. Tumors can develop changes in their genetic (hereditary) make-up, and these changes can sometimes be seen in normal tissues before the development of cancer. These genetic (hereditary) changes can serve as tumor markers and can be detected using methods that study changes in genetic material like DNA and RNA. The analysis of proteins can provide additional information. By identifying changes in these molecules that are different or altered in cancer, the investigators can use methods and tests for the detection of these changes.
This study is designed pre-operative for patients with resectable, local-regional carcinoma of the esophagus.