ANZCTR search results

Many small babies <30 weeks gestational age have a very immature respiratory system and require respiratory support for a limited period of time until they mature and can breath by themselves. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is one such method by which support can be given to these immature babies to allow them to breath without being put on a ventilator or breathing machine. When these babies have matured a little the CPAP is weaned in order to allow the babies to breath without support. This trial will look at 3 methods of weaning CPAP to see which method is most efficient in allowing the babies to breath on their own. The trial has started at Westmead Hospital and we hope to include other Hospitals to increase our numbers in the trial.

To study the pharmacokinetics of DG17 absorption. DG17 is a novel protease inhibitor for the treatment of HIV.

The study hypothesis is that inhibition of cholesterol absorption complements the effects of weight loss on lipid and lipoprotein transport in obese subjects. Specifically , the study aims to elucidate the mechanisms of action of a new therapeutic regimen (weight loss plus ezetimibe) for regulating lipid and lipoprotein transport in these subjects.

The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of two commonly used clinical exercise interventions for patients with chronic low pain; Swiss ball exercise and floor-based exercise. We hypothesise that there will be no difference between the two exercise programs in terms of improving trunk muscle endurance and lumbopelvic posture.

This study is being conducted in order to see if JetSkins™ reduce ankle swelling associated with flying. There have been other studies on garments very similar to JetSkins™ (compression garments) that show you can significantly reduce swelling in your ankles if you wear these garments during long haul flights (over 5 hours).

Hypothesis: Zinc deficiency potentiates airway inflammation in asthma. This study is to determine if oral zinc supplementation will improve asthma control to enable a reduction in the maintenance dose of inhaled steroids. Blinding is for subjects & assessors.

Patients undergoing major abdominal surgery require intensive postoperative pain relief for many days. Good pain relief improves recovery and poor pain relief hinders recovery. The conventional choices of pain relief are powerful intravenous drugs or an epidural infusion of local anaesthetic with some morphine like drug (opioid) added. Despite extensive experience with these two techniques it remain unclear in which patients the epidural technique is indicated. In Southern Health and selected other hospitals in Australia a third technique has been in use for 15 years – a continous spinal infusion of pain relieving drugs using a spinal catheter (the ‘intrathecal technique’) . A recent quality assurance audit at Monash medical centre showed that the intrathecal technique was superior to the other two techniques. Patients receiving this had better pain relief than alternative techniques. Unfortunately this work was an unblinded audit comparing 3 groups of patients among whom major differences existed in surgical length, type of surgery and age. This limits what can be concluded from the results. In the proposed project the intention is to recruit patients aged over 50 that are scheduled for gut surgery into a study comparing epidural and intrathecal analgesia postoperatively. The aim is to improve pain relief and quality of recovery after surgery. Other factors that will be studied include length of stay, need for additional pain relieving drugs and time till oral intake. The participants, assessor and data analyst will be blinded to the treatment groups. The hospital staff will not be blinded.

The aim of this study is to see if a new dosing regimen of enoxaparin (an anticoagulant used in the treatment of heart attacks, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism) if safer than the current method of dosing (designed by the drug company). Patients will agree on being part of the study and then treated using one of the two methods (they will be unaware which group they will be in). The number of bleeding events and large bruises will be recorded for every patient. The two methods of dosing can then be compared at the end of the study to see which one has caused the least bleeding/bruising events). It is hope that the new dosing method will result in less events.

The purpose of this project is to help determine the most effective way to treat the acute pain associated with passage of a kidney stone. Standard treatment for renal colic involves the use of intravenous morphine titrated to effect. This study will involve comparison of intravenous morphine with ketorolac. This agent is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug which will be given intravenously. In this study, patients will be given morphine, ketorolac or a combination of both of these medications. The hypothesis that is being tested is that ketorolac provides superior pain relief to morphine in acute renal colic. This is a double blinded study - both the treating doctors and the patients will be blinded to the interventions administered

The project aims to assess the relationship between initial MRI findings in road trauma patients with non-fracture related neck pain, and physical and functional outcomes at 12 months post injury.