View clinical trials related to Wounds and Injuries.
Filter by:Paralysis of trunk muscles and the inability to sit upright is one of the major problems facing adults and children with spinal cord injury (SCI). Activity-based locomotor training has resulted in improved trunk control in children with spinal cord injury, though full recovery is not achieved in all children. Transcutaneous spinal stimulation' (TcStim), a stimulation applied over the skin to the sensory nerves and spinal cord, is a promising tool that may further enhance improvements to trunk control. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility (can we do it) and safety of Transcutaneous Stimulation (TcStim) in children with SCI to acutely improve sitting upright and when used with activity-based locomotor training (AB-LT). Thus, can we provide this therapy to children and do so safely examining a child's immediate response and cumulative response relative to safety and comfort. Eight participants in this study will sit as best they can with and without the stimulation (i.e. stimulation applied across the skin to the nerves entering the spinal cord and to the spinal cord) and their immediate response (safety, comfort, trunk position) recorded. Then, two participants will receive approximately 40 sessions of activity-based locomotor training in combination with the stimulation. Their cumulative response of stimulation (i.e. safety, comfort, feasibility) across time will be documented. Participation in this study may last up to 3 days for the 8 participants being observed for acute response to stimulation and up to 9 weeks for the participants being observed for cumulative response to training with stimulation. We will monitor the participants throughout the testing and training for their response to the stimulation (i.e. safety) and their comfort.
Modifications of the human gut microbiota have been associated with different pathological conditions such as obesity, inflammatory bowel diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. Recently the " Brain-Gut Axis ", a bidirectional communication axis between brain and gut, has been described. In recent animal studies, an acute brain injury was associated with rapid modifications of the gut microbiota. In humans, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability. The patterns of gut and oropharyngeal microbiota following TBI are unknown. The primary purpose of this study is to characterize gut and oropharyngeal microbiota of patients with severe TBI.
Returning to sport is one of the primary concerns of athletes following injury. Yet, after serious injury, up to 50% of athletes do not return to competitive sport. Psychological factors play an important role in the athlete's return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, and physical and psychological readiness to return to sport often do not coincide. There are currently no easily accessible programs for non-professional athletes to help address the psychological factors that impact on their return to sport after injury. The aim of this trial is to test whether a smartphone application (app) delivering cognitive-behavioural therapy to address psychological factors including fear, confidence and recovery expectations, is effective for improving the number of people who return sport following ACL reconstruction. We hypothesise that patients who use the app in addition to receiving usual rehabilitation care after ACL reconstruction will return to sport in greater numbers than patients who receive usual rehabilitation care only.
A registry study to evaluate the role of Avive® Soft Tissue Membrane in the management of nerve injury associated with acute trauma in the upper extremity.
This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and delayed-start phase II/III clinical study.
Participants will undergo daily gentamicin bladder instillations to determine if its use will reduce the rate of symptomatic urinary tract infections (UTIs) as well as the use of oral and intravenous antibiotics in adults with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) who have recurrent UTIs. Participants are randomized into one of three groups: 1) Gentamicin and saline instillation 2) Saline only instillation 3) Standard of care, no instillation.
ERAS IN TRAUMA Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) or enhanced recovery protocols (ERP) is a concept first described by Kehlet in the early 1990s .Since its introduction, ERAS protocols have been successfully used in elective gastrointestinal surgery (colorectal, hepatobiliary and gastric), and there has been widespread acceptance and implementation in other surgical disciplines including urology, vascular , thoracic surgery and orthopaedics. The approach employs a multimodal perioperative care pathway designed to attenuate the surgical stress response and accelerate postoperative recovery . These benefits should be easily transferrable to the trauma patient population, if not greater, since trauma patients are generally younger, fitter and metabolically stable. Trauma centres in developing countries constantly battle with reduced bed availability and restricted health care budgets. Optimization of health care practice is therefore urgent, particularly in trauma surgery. Penetrating abdominal trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in large urban trauma centres. It accounts for a significant number of hospital admissions and consumes a large portion of the health care budget. In the trauma patient, the aim is to maintain the 'pre- injury' physiological status. Improving patient outcomes with reduced morbidity and early hospital discharge reduces the cost of treating these patients . The small pilot study by Moydien et al., showed that ERPS can be successfully implemented with significant shorter hospital stays without any increase in postoperative complications in a select group of trauma patients undergoing emergency laparotomy for isolated penetrating abdominal trauma. Furthermore, the study showed that ERPS can also be applied to patients undergoing emergency surgery. Given the fact that penetrating abdominal trauma remains a substantial burden of disease, especially in developing countries such as South Africa, this proven approach to patient care in elective surgery can now be safely employed in the trauma and emergency setting. Penetrating abdominal trauma remains a substantial burden of disease, especially in developing countries such as South Africa, and especially the Western Cape, where we have seen an increase in the number of trauma patients being treated for penetrating injuries at our level 1 centre. This has in turn led to severe constraints on the available resources, with the trauma ward often at maximum capacity with delayed discharges due to poor ambulation, post operative complications, and delay in return to enteral feeding. Currently there is no randomized controlled study in the trauma literature, evaluating enhanced recovery after trauma procedures .It is our hypothesis to that implementing an "ERATS" protocol , will lead to a reduction in morbidity, reduction in hospital stay , with a subsequent decrease in costs. This will allow us to implement this as a new standard protocol , and thus change the current practice in stable penetrating trauma patients undergoing explorative laparotomy in our unit, nationally and worldwide.
In this study, investigators look at a different type of technology that might help to avoid having to perform CT scans in certain patients suspected of having a head injury. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) uses a specific light wavelength to determine if there is bleeding into the head as a result of trauma. Investigators will study NIRS, using a device called the Infrascanner model 2000, to determine if it is as good at detecting bleeding in the head as CT scan, which is the current gold standard. Investigators will try to determine if NIRS can rule in or rule out bleeding into the head, and perhaps this can help to avoid subjecting these youth to the potentially harmful effects of radiation. Investigators will also study how easy it is to use NIRS so that it might become a standard part of the workup for children with suspected head injury.
150 patients with clinically complete chronic spinal cord Injury will be included in a randomized, parallel, placebo controlled, multi-centric, phase III trial. Patients will be evaluated before starting the medication, and at the end of the treatment in the locomotor, sensory, grade of independence, sensitivity and control of bladder and anal sphincters, quality of life, and psychogenic erection in males. Patients will be divided randomly into two groups where one will receive placebo and the other one 4-Aminopyridine (4-AP) in a maximum of 30 weeks in increasing doses.
The purpose of this research study is to assess medication self-administration (MSA) and the impact of three different interventions on improving medication adherence. The findings for this study may help develop evidence-based reminder protocols to reduce medication self-administration errors after brain injury.