View clinical trials related to Multiple System Atrophy.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to learn more about the regulation of the veins of the abdomen by the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system, and how this may affect high blood pressure. Normally, the autonomic nervous system controls how much blood flows in the veins. In people with high blood pressure, however, the autonomic nervous system is changed. This change may affect the way blood flows in the veins of the abdomen which may play a role in their high blood pressure. About 32 participants will be screened for the study. The investigators estimate 16 will be eligible to participate in all of the study days.
This multiple-center, 3-part, single-blind dose escalation (Part A), randomized, double-blind (Part B), and open-label multiple dose extension (Part C) study will be conducted in male and female subjects with neurogenic orthostatic hypotension to evaluate the effect of TD-9855 in improving symptoms of orthostatic intolerance.
- To determine whether retinal abnormalities, as measured by high definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) and visual electrophysiology techniques can be used as a clinical biomarker to monitor disease progression overtime in patients with Parkinson disease. - To establish whether these measures can be used to identify patients with PD in the premotor phase. - To define the rate of progression of retinal abnormalities in PD (both in the motor and premotor stages) for potential use as a clinical outcome measure
Pharmacologic approaches to increase levels or actions of the vasodilatory peptide angiotensin-(1-7) are currently in development for the treatment of hypertension based on findings from animal models. There are limited and contradictory clinical studies, however, and it is not clear if this peptide regulates blood pressure in humans. The purpose of this study is to better understand the cardiovascular effects angiotensin-(1-7) in human hypertension, and to examine interactions of this peptide with the autonomic nervous system. The investigators propose that the difficulties in showing angiotensin-(1-7) cardiovascular effects in previous clinical studies relates to the buffering capacity of the baroreceptor reflex to prevent changes in blood pressure. Autonomic failure provides the ideal patient population to test this hypothesis. These patients have loss of baroreflex buffering and have low levels of angiotensin-(1-7) in blood. The investigators will test if angiotensin-(1-7) infusion can lower blood pressure in patients with autonomic failure, and will determine the hemodynamic and hormonal mechanisms involved in this effect.
Parkinsonian syndrome is clinically characterized by the presence of resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia and postural instability. Parkinsonian disorders include Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal dementia (CBD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and vascular parkinsonism (VP). Each of these diseases has a singular physiopathological origin, course and prognosis. Numerous imaging studies consequently aimed at finding markers to early make the distinction between the different types of parkinsonism, in order to identify patients who could benefit from dopaminergic agonist therapy. Excessive iron deposition in the subcortical and brainstem nuclei has been described in numerous neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's disease. Increased iron levels are more frequent in area that are rich in dopaminergic neurons and have been implicated in the development of movement disorders, the distribution of areas with increased iron deposition however varying according to parkinsonism types. Iron deposition quantification could thus potentially help in differentiating parkinsonism types and could improve therapy guidance. Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) locally estimates the magnetic susceptibility of brain tissues based on gradient-echo signal phase. The local susceptibility being sensitive to the presence of paramagnetic susbtances, QSM allows the non-invasive evaluation of iron distribution and quantification in the brain with high image quality (Liu et al., 2013). However, since iron deposition followed an exponential curve during normal aging in most of the basal ganglia the potential of QSM to distinguish between healthy and parkinsonian subjects in elderly remains unclear. The aim of this study was thus to determine susceptibility values in the basal ganglia of elderly patients with parkinsonian syndromes, to compare these values to healthy aged-matched controls and between parkinsonian syndrome types. Secondly, investigators aimed to evaluate microstructural changes in the basal ganglia using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the same population and to determine whether susceptibility and DTI parameter changes are correlated. Finally investigators sought to assess the relation between susceptibility/DTI parameter values in the basal ganglia and behavioral measures of motor and cognitive abilities.
Compression garments have been shown to be effective in the treatment of orthostatic hypotension in autonomic failure patients. The purpose of this study is to determine the hemodynamic mechanisms by which abdominal compression (up to 40 mm Hg) improve the standing blood pressure and orthostatic tolerance in these patients, and to compare them with those of the standard of care midodrine. The investigators will test the hypothesis that abdominal compression will blunt the exaggerated fall in stroke volume and the increase in abdominal vascular volume during head up tilt.
Based on previous promising results, the next step for the validation of a multimodal MRI method in diagnosis and follow up of patients reached by parkinsonian syndromes is (i) to test whether the multimodal neuroimaging is able to discriminate at the individual level, patients with multiple system atrophy parkinsonism (MSA) and patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) (ii) to determine whether the method is sensitive to measure changes over time for the two diseases, according to imaging, neuropsychological and other clinical data. Patients will be compared with healthy controls.
Patients with autonomic failure are characterized by disabling orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure on standing), and at least half of them also have high blood pressure while lying down (supine hypertension). Exposure to heat, such as in hot environments, often worsens their orthostatic hypotension. The causes of this are not fully understood. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether applying local heat over the abdomen of patients with autonomic failure and supine hypertension would decrease their high blood pressure while lying down. This will help us better understand the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, and may be of use in the treatment of supine hypertension.
AZD3241 myeloperoxidase (MPO) inhibitor trial is assessing safety and tolerability, randomized trial, in patients with Multiple System Atrophy.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be safely delivered to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA). Funding Source - FDA OOPD.