ANZCTR search results

The study is investigating if treatment with a low level laser can help improve the signs and symptoms of capsular contracture: chest pain, chest tightness, limited arm movement and unsatisfactory appearance of the affected breast(s). Who is it for? Potential participants who have undergone mastectomy and breast reconstruction (with tissue expander/implant) will be identified from the databases of the RT and QoLID studies as well as from participating surgeons’ patient files. Study Details All participants will complete a pre-treatment questionnaire to determine if they have significant capsular contracture, those who do and have consented to participating in the trial will then be randomly assigned to a group (A or B). They will then undergo an initial clinical examination by a Clinician followed by 6x16min low level laser therapy sessions at weekly intervals. One of the groups will receive the laser therapy while the other group will be treated with a deactivated laser. Neither the clinician administering the treatment or the participant will know which group is receiving the active therapy. At the conclusion of the treatment participants will undergo clinical and aesthetic assessments as well as complete the initial questionnaire at the 1 and 6 month post treatment mark.

Patients undergoing day surgery procedures are usually discharged the same day. They are not assessed further unless they come back for follow up or they have some medical or surgical complications. The recovery from general anaesthesia can vary considerably between individuals. Due to paucity of randomized trials, it is unclear if the brief anaesthesia the patients receive for their surgery, can affect longer-term recovery (especially cognitive recovery). Midazolam, a short-acting benzodiazepine, enhances the action of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), thereby acting as a neural inhibitor. It increases binding of GABA to GABA-a receptors that are highly concentrated in hippocampus. It is widely used as anxiety relieving, sedative and as a premedicant. There are concerns about the residual effect of midazolam on the cognitive status of patients following its administration as a part of anaesthetic induction. In day surgery procedures, quality of recovery has profound implications for the individual patient and for the community, in terms of return to work and safe driving. An ideal anaesthetic for day surgery procedures should not affect the mental capabilities for a long period of time. Our objective is to identify if administering midazolam in addition to propofol affects the recovery of cognitive function in patients undergoing elective colonoscopy.

Fertility is a key aspect of quality of life detrimentally affected by cancer, resulting in significant reductions in well-being for people with cancer and their partners. However, health professionals rarely address this important health problem. This study will examine the experience and construction of fertility post-cancer, from the perspective of people with cancer, their partners, and health professionals, and elucidate pathways to difficulty or re-negotiation. Based on these findings, interventions will be developed, and evaluated in a randomised controlled trial.

Pulse oximetry is commonly used in the clinical setting to guide oxygen therapy . The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of agreement between pulse oximeter measured oxygen saturations and arterial blood gas measured oxygen saturations (the gold standard for oxygen saturation measurement) in Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Units.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart arrhythmia, affecting 1 in 4 adults worldwide, and at least 240,000 Australians. Prevalence rises with age from approximately 1% of the whole population to 5% in those over 65 years. People with AF are up to seven times more likely to have a stroke than the general population. Almost one in every three strokes is AF-related, and AF-related strokes are likely to be more severe, with a whole of life cost of each stroke estimated at $103,566. However, strokes in AF can be effectively prevented using oral anticoagulants. Many people in the general population are unaware that they have AF, with first diagnosis being made when they are admitted to hospital with a stroke or transient ischaemic attack. The diagnosis of unknown AF can be easily made using a 30 second ECG rhythm strip obtained with a TGA approved smartphone ECG (iECG). Using this device, unknown AF can be identified and treated, thus reducing the number of strokes due to AF. We have previously shown that community screening for AF to prevent stroke is likely to be cost-effective, but the magnitude of the benefit in terms of numbers of strokes prevented, is determined by the proportion of the population screened. The current study therefore explores screening for AF in primary care, by performing iECG screening during annual influenza vaccination currently administered to over 70% of patients aged 65 years and over in general practice. This opportunistic method of screening, through its reach, would approximate systematic population screening for AF. Screening will be performed in a small number of practices in this pilot study to optimize the process and inform any refinement of a larger scale study of implementation. The pilot will also ensure the tools are ready for the larger implementation study.

To investigate the effectiveness of the Edwards clearsight non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring in vascular patients compared to the gold standard of invasive intra-arterial monitoring. Both systems will be monitored simultaneously on the same patients, with the parameters of interest being the stroke volume variation, cardiac output, blood pressure and stroke volume. The study design will be an interventional clinical study. Participants from Princess Alexandra Hospital will be randomly selected from surgeries that include carotid endarterectomy, peripheral artery revascularisation, open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair and endoluminal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Participants will be monitored with both the Edwards clearsight system (non-invasive finger cuff) and Edwards Flotrac system (invasive intra-arterial) simultaneously and data for stroke volume variation, blood pressure, cardiac output and stroke volume will be collected from both monitoring systems. These parameters will compared and analysed

The health benefits of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from krill oil and fish oil are associated with the incorporation of EPA and DHA into the cell membrane which then alters the membrane structure and cell functions. Consequently they reduce plasma triglyceride level and inhibit inflammatory response. The bio-availability of these fatty acids from the two oils maybe different due to the binding of fatty acids in the oils. This study will evaluate the incorporation of EPA and DHA into the plasma and chylomicron after a single dose supplementation. In addition the effects on cardio-metabolic risk factors will also be investigated.

Our previous research demonstrated similarities between dexamphetamine effects in healthy volunteers in illusions involving visual and tactile stimuli and the experience of the same illusions in people with schizophrenia experiencing passivity symptoms. Passivity symptoms are the feeling of being controlled by an external force and not being the agent of one's own actions, thoughts or feelings, one of the first rank symptoms that also includes hearing voices talking "in one's head", the belief that thoughts are being inserted into or withdrawn from one’s conscious mind, or the belief that one’s thoughts are being broadcast to other people). To further elucidate the role of dopamine in these phenomena, we will determine if the effects of dexamphetamine are based on specific actions on the visual sensory system, the tactile sensory system, or the higher level integration of both. In addition, we will determine if the effects are specific to the integration of these two sensory systems, or if they generalise to other sensory systems, especially the auditory system, which prior research indicates is more affected than the visual system by both dexamphetamine and in schizophrenia. Prior research from our lab indicates that that there is a dopamine-dependent widening of the window of the time in which stimuli become associated, either in a way to bind them as a single perceptual experience, or in a way that is perceived as a causal relationship, that may provide a common mechanism to explain many of the symptoms and signs of schizophrenia, especially the first-rank symptoms including passivity symptoms. The broad purpose of this study is the elucidation of the role of the dopamine in abnormal perceptual experiences, by manipulating dopamine levels with dexamphetamine and measuring the consequence on the experience of illusions, especially under conditions in which we assess the temporal window of associability, as compared with other similar research in people with schizophrenia.

The study will compare different treatments for people with aphasia. Participants will randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups CIAT, M-MAT or Usual Care. Participants will attend baseline assessments, a two week treatment period, assessment immediately after treatment and further follow up assessment 12 weeks after completing the treatment. Participants randomised to the Usual Care group will be offered additional treatment at the end of the 12 week follow up period as part of an optional sub-study. In this sub-study participants will be re-randomised to receive either CIAT or M-MAT. They will attend treatment visits over five weeks with follow up assessments immediately after the treatment period and again at 12 weeks after completing the treatment. Study Hypothesis: Compared to usual care, both the study treatments (CIAT and M-MAT) will result in reduced aphasia severity .

Impaired arm and hand function is a common and often devastating problem for stroke survivors. Regaining lost movement in the arm/hand is more difficult to achieve than walking, with only 5% of people with hemiplegia regaining functional use of their hand. This devastating outcome could potentially be addressed, however we do not yet know how to best increase movement in the arm and hand after stroke for patients with spasticity. There is a lack of randomized controlled trials of botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) with a group who does not receive therapy in some dose, and so whether gains were achieved through BoNT-A or a combination of the BoNT-A and therapy cannot be determined from the studies to date.The research project is testing whether intense therapy given after botulinum toxin injections into the arm is more helpful than just the injections alone.