You can narrow down the results using the filters
-
Nutritional late effects of childhood cancer
This study will look at the body composition, bone health, quality of life, physical activity and dietary intake of childhood cancer survivors (CCS) and determine whether the use of a nutritional screening tool is indicative of nutritional status and body composition. Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are aged between 5 and 25 years, were treated at the Royal Children’s Hospital for cancer and are at least 2 years post active treatment. Study details All participants will undergo body composition and bone health examinations using techniques such as total body potassium counting, air displacement plethysmography, and dual x-ray absorptiometry. Participants will also complete questionnaires on quality of life, physical activity and dietary intake. Only one visit of approximately 1.5 hours will be required to undertake the measurement. The proposed research project will ultimately allow childhood cancer survivors to have the best chance of nutritional health, growth, quality of life and optimal health in the long term. This work has immediate clinical relevance, with expected outcomes to guide clinical practice.
-
Benefits of home-based multidisciplinary rehabilitation in non small cell lung cancer
The goal of this innovative trial is to test a multidisciplinary home based package of exercise, patient self-management and motivational strategies aimed at improving functional exercise capacity in people with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are aged 18 years or above, have a confirmed diagnosis of inoperable NSCLC, are scheduled to receive treatment other than surgery (radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy), and do not regularly partake in exercise. Study details Participants in this study will be randomly (by chance) allocated to one of two groups. Participants in one group will receive the intervention package, which comprises 1) a home-based, eight week exercise program including resistance exercises and a walking program and 2) disease self-management education including symptom management and promotion of exercise adherence using behaviour modification strategies with phone follow up. Participants in this group will receive a 1 hour initial home visit from a physiotherapist together with weekly telephone follow-up calls from both the physiotherapist and nurse and up to 2 further physiotherapy home visits if needed. Participants in the second group will receive usual care, which includes 2 booklets: on lung cancer diagnosis and treatment and exercise for people living with cancer produced by Cancer Council Victoria. All participants will undergo assessments of functional exercise capacity, and complete a number of questionnaires at baseline, 9 weeks and 6 months in order to assess quality of life, survival and resource use. This research is clinically based, relevant and aimed at improving the quality of survival of people with NSCLC. The research is designed to be clinically feasible and cost-effective and has the capacity to be widely disseminated and adopted into practice guidelines in this large and vulnerable group.
-
A phase II study evaluating a decision aid for women considering neoadjuvant systemic therapy for operable invasive breast cancer (ANZ 1301 DOMINO)
This study aims to find out if a Decision Aid developed to give women information about neoadjuvant treatment for breast cancer is useful in helping them to make a decision about their treatment. Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are 18 years or over, have operable invasive breast cancer and are considering whether or not to have neoadjuvant treatment for breast cancer. You will need to have access to the internet and a computer or laptop to read the Decision Aid and complete the questionnaires. Trial Details Most of this study will be carried out online. If you tell your study doctor that you are interested in the study, you will receive an email with a link to further information about the study and to Consent to participate. You can also consent to participate in a telephone interview, which will take place after participants have accessed the Decision Aid. If you consent to the study, you will complete a questionnaire (which will take about 15-20 minutes to do). Once this questionnaire is completed, you will be able to access the Decision Aid; it can be viewed online or can be downloaded and printed. After you see your study doctor and make your decision about your treatment, you will receive another email with a link to another questionnaire (15-20 minutes). This will ask you how useful the Decision Aid is and how you feel about your decision about your treatment. Another email with a link to more questions (15-20 minutes) will be sent to you after you finish the first part of your treatment (surgery for adjuvant treatment or chemotherapy for neoadjuvant treatment). A last email will be sent to you with a link to a questionnaire (15-20 minutes) 12 months after you originally registered for the study.
-
Investigation of a new implantable cardiac event recorder (BioMonitor 2) in patients with suspected cardiac arrhythmias
BioMonitor 2 Pilot Study aims to collect first implantation experience with a new generation of implantable cardiac event recorder.
-
Outcomes and predictors of efficacy of palliative radiotherapy in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma
The primary objective of this study is to demonstrate and prospectively quantify the palliative benefit of external beam radiotherapy to symptomatic mass in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) in terms of patient rated benefits. Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are aged 18 years or above, have been diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma and will undergo palliative radiotherapy. Study details All participants will receive the following scans in addition to their usual care: 2 F18-FDG PET-CT scans, 1 F18-FMISO PET-CT scan and 2 contrast-enhanced thoracic CT scans. The F18-FDG PET scans will require fasting for 6 hrs prior to the scan, a blood glucose level and an oxygen measurement will also be recorded. Prior to each scan a intravenous cannula will be inserted in to your arm and a 10ml blood sample will be collected for analysis of special biomarkers in a lab. The F18-FDG tracer will be injected into the IV cannula and you will be asked to rest for 60 minutes (for tracer uptake) prior to scanning. The scan should take approx 30 minutes to complete. One F18-FDG PET-CT scan will be performed within 2 weeks of the start of radiotherapy and one will be required 6 weeks after radiotherapy. One F18-FMISO PET-CT scan will be performed within 2 weeks prior to the start of radiotherapy (and within 1 week of the pre-radiotherapy FDG PET-CT scan). You will not need to fast for this scan. An IV cannula will be inserted and the tracer will be injected, you will need to wait for 120 minutes before the PET-CT scan is started. The scan should take approx 30 minutes. One contrast enhanced thoracic CT scan will be performed within 2 weeks prior to the start of radiotherapy and another will be performed 6 weeks after completion of radiotherapy to assess the response to the treatment. Participants will be followed up 3 weeks post radiotherapy, 6 weeks post-radiotherapy and then every 8 weeks to determine the symptomatic response to radiotherapy. Follow up will occur as part of your normal outpatient visits and will involve completion of pain scores and quality of life and medication questionnaires. You will attend follow-up appointments every 8 weeks until you require additional treatment (such as increased pain medication or chemotherapy) or until 6 months after the last study participant has been recruited (whichever is earliest). Using an integrated approach (including innovative imaging techniques that target different tumour characteristics (F-MISO PET, FDG PET), biomarkers and plausible and established clinical markers) this study will also examine the role of hypoxia as imaged by F-MISO PET in radio resistance of symptomatic mass lesions in MPM and identify other clinical and biological predictors of response to radiotherapy. We hypothesise that greater lesion hypoxia, anaemia, and systemic hypoxaemia will be associated with lower radiological response rates and both poorer and shorter duration of symptom control
-
Changing the home environment to support healthy physical activity and dietary patterns for children: a random controlled trial.
This project is utilising a randomised controlled study to determine whether a novel home-based intervention focusing on altering the home environment results in short-term improvements in dietary, physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns of children with obesity aged 4 -11 years. Eighty-four children, referred for management of obesity to Flinders Medical Centre (FMC), will be recruited over a two year period. Children will be randomised to receive a home-based lifestyle support intervention in addition to usual care by a paediatrician or to the control group (paediatrician care alone). Outcomes which will be assessed at six months after the intervention will include improvements in physical activity and dietary patterns of children. These outcomes will be assessed using both direct (accelerometer data) and indirect (questionnaire data) methods. The study hypothesis is that obese children enrolled in this study will have better dietary patterns, physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns at 6 months from initial assessment compared to a control group of obese children receiving standard care
-
hPOD - Hypoglycaemia Prevention in newborns with Oral Dextrose
Hypoglycaemia is the commonest metabolic condition of the newborn. It affects up to 15% of babies, and the incidence is increasing as risk factors such as maternal diabetes and preterm birth are becoming more common. Neonatal hypoglycaemia frequently leads to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission and may cause long-term brain damage. There currently are no evidence-based strategies to prevent hypoglycaemia and its adverse consequences. The purpose of this trial is to determine whether prophylactic dextrose gel prevents admission to NICU.
-
Minding Young Minds: The impact of interventions targeting perfectionism and self-compassion on psychological health and body image among pre-adolescent children
The purpose of the current study is to investigate the capacity of two interventions (perfectionism and self-compassion) to support students’ mental health, including reduction in depression, anxiety, identity and body image issues.
-
Assessment of a single intravenous iron infusion versus standard care in the management of Post-OPerative Iron (POPi) deficiency anaemia patients undergoing elective surgery at the Launceston General Hospital
Since 2007, we have conducted several studies assessing preoperative anaemia in different settings including elective surgery. We noted that there was an inherent delay in the management of preoperative anaemia with most of these patients proceeding with the planned surgery without having their iron deficiency anaemia addressed. Despite the improvement in preoperative management, it has been found that there are a significant, although unknown number of patients who have postoperative iron deficiency anaemia. Furthermore, there is lack of data regarding prevalence of postoperative iron deficiency anaemia or amount of blood transfusions in patients who undergo elective surgery. Hence the importance of this trial to study all of these factors in Tasmanian patients attending the Launceston General Hospital in order to provide a pragmatic solution to this problem of postoperative anaemia. This study is aiming to recruit patients with iron defciency anaemia and to then randomise them between administration of a single intravenous iron carboxymaltose and standard care. Participants will be followed up by the research assistant from the time of recruitment/randomisation until 3 months post-operatively. This allows for the completion of a questionnaire regarding their wellbeing at the time, outcome of trial medications, and blood tests as required. In summary, this study is dealing with an important problem, post-operative anaemia after surgery patients, an issue that to date has not been addressed by our health system, and which is usually significantly increased in this group of patients. This trial is focusing on treating postoperative anaemia adequately to minimize risk factors of anaemia and to avoid blood transfusion and hence its subsequent complications/hazards. Another possible benefit of this trial is that it will help to relieve the current shortage of blood supply from the Red Cross. We also aim to minimize the patient’s stay in hospital and improve their quality of life. Iron infusion would be performed in the LGH utilising the currently available facilities. The newly available iron infusion (15 min) is part of standard therapy and is routinely performed in this area without adding extra load to the system.
-
A randomized, double-blinded study investigating the safety and efficacy of daily low-dose oral fluconazole versus weekly fluconazole in the treatment of chronic vulvovaginal candidiasis
Patients with a diagnosis of chronic vulvovaginal candidiasis will be identified through the vulval dermatology clinic at Royal North Shore Hospital. Those who fulfill all inclusion criteria and no exclusion criteria will be invited to take part in the study. Once informed consent has been obtained, a visual analogue scale (VAS) of the patient’s CVVC will be performed, as well as a low vaginal swab and baseline blood tests (full blood count, electrolytes/urea/creatinine, liver function tests). Patients will also be asked to complete a Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire. If the blood tests return within normal limits, the patient may commence the study. Patients will be randomized into one of two groups: Group A will take one 50mg fluconazole capsule daily, and Group B will take one 150mg capsule weekly with placebo capsules on the other days. Patients will return after 6 weeks and the VAS and DLQI will be repeated. After another 6 weeks, the VAS, DLQI and the blood tests will be repeated. Those who have had significant improvement may continue in the open-label extension and be treated with one 50mg tablet twice per week. Those who have not improved will undergo further investigation within the vulval dermatology clinic. At each visit, patients will be asked about any potential side-effects or adverse events.