ANZCTR search results

The overall aim of the current study is to examine the brain correlates of emotion recognition in patients with Body Dysmorphic Disorder using a double-blind placebo controlled intranasal oxytocin design and two MRI techniques involving fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is one of the most common medical problems among women, though it also affects men with a lower incidence . It is defined as pain in the pelvis that lasts more than six months and affects the patient’s quality of life. There are many potential sources of pelvic pain. Pelvic pain may involve the urinary, reproductive, gastrointestinal, neurological, psychological and musculoskeletal systems. Patients with chronic pelvic pain typically receive multidisciplinary care, including medication (antimicrobials, anti-inflammatories, opioids, muscle relaxants, etc), psychotherapy, physical therapy, and interventional treatments (surgery for distension and ablative procedures). A significant proportion of these patients fail however to derive adequate benefits from these therapies and these CPP patients are often left with few options. Traditional spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a widely accepted cost-effective therapy for patients with chronic pain, especially in patients with post- surgery back and leg pain. SCS has been used successfully to treat intractable CPP patients. A newer treatment, High-Frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation at 10 kHz (HF10TM SCS) using the Senza system (Nevro Corp, USA) has established itself as a key treatment in treating patients with chronic back pain: data from European and Australian pain centers has shown that HF10 SCS is safe and effective at reducing pain, improving function and sleep, and reducing opioid in patients with predominant back pain. The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using HF10-SCS to provide pain relief and quality of life improvements to CPP patients.

Iron deficiency - the world’s commonest nutritional disorder affects over 2 billion people (WHO 2008), with women and children at greatest risk. This study aims to evaluate, in a randomised controlled trial (RCT), oral bovine lactoferrin (bLF) vs iron sulphate (FeSO4) in iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy (IDAP). This study will comparerandomised groups on the following co-primary endpoints: 1) Fetal growth (birth weight for gestational age) 2) Whether oral bLF therapy reduces the proportion of women with IDAP who receive intravenous iron infusion according to standard protocol OR who do not respond to treatment and remain anaemic at any time between 34 weeks gestation and delivery.

Diabetes is a disorder of blood sugar and requires treatment for high blood sugar levels using drugs such as insulin. However, treatments like insulin can cause excessively low blood sugar levels (hypoglycaemia). If unrecognised and untreated hypoglycaemia can induce a coma. To protect against hypoglycaemia certain physiological responses occur. These include release of hormones that break down stores of sugar within the body and emptying the stomach quicker so that nutrient can be absorbed more rapidly. Both physiological responses will increase blood sugar levels. Recent evidence suggests that episodes of low blood sugar levels impair the hormonal response to subsequent episodes of hypoglycaemia, but the effect of these antecedent episodes of hypoglycaemia on gastric emptying rate during subsequent hypoglycaemia is unknown. This study aims to investigate whether there are changes in gastric emptying following repeated hypoglycaemic episodes. In addition this study will assess changes in glucose absorption, autonomic nerve function, secretion of catecholamine, glucagon and pancreatic polypeptide and cardiac function. Null hypothesis: Recurrent hypoglycaemia does not effect hypoglycaemia-induced acceleration of gastric emptying.

The four major pregnancy complications, preeclampsia, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction and gestational diabetes mellitus, afflict 25% of first pregnancies and are life-threatening to the mother and/or her baby in more than 6% of pregnancies. Although many aetiological risk factors have been identified, at present we cannot effectively predict which women will develop pregnancy complications. Our previous research has identified a combination of potential clinical and lifestyle factors and genetic and biochemical biomarkers that predict the risk of these pregnancy complications at 15 weeks of gestation. We aim to validate our algorithms in a new cohort of participants and expect to be able to predict the risk of development of pregnancy complications as early as at the 12th week of gestation. Those found to be at increased risk can be managed with a combination of preventive strategies and early targeted interventions that would reduce the risk of developing these complications.

Patients who have knee joint replacement operations can be in a lot of pain afterwards. The doctor will often use a special local anaesthetic injection called a nerve block to try to reduce this pain. These injections use an ultrasound machine to find the nerves. By injecting local anaesthetic right next to these nerves, patients can have less pain after the operation compared to patients who only have local anaesthetic injected into the surgical wound. The main side effect of some of the nerve blocks is leg weakness. It is important that a patient can get up and walk as soon as possible after a knee operation. Too much leg weakness can stop this from happening or lead to a patient falling over and injuring themselves. A nerve block called an “adductor canal block” is currently being used in patients having knee operations. This nerve block can result in a similar amount of pain relief as other nerve blocks but causes much less leg weakness. It can be given either as a one-off injection or by placing a very fine tube, a catheter, next to the nerve and giving a continuous drip of local anaesthetic. Although one-off injections are easier and quicker to perform, the pain relief effects do not last as long as the catheter method. When performing a nerve block, a steroid medication called dexamethasone can be mixed with the local anaesthetic solution to make the pain relief effects last longer. Studies have shown that dexamethasone makes the nerve blocks used in shoulder and arm surgery last longer. Whether dexamethasone would have the same effect on an adductor canal block is not known as it has not been studied before. If dexamethasone was shown to make an adductor canal block last longer, it could be used in knee surgery patients to keep them comfortable for a longer time after their operation. Intravenous dexamethasone (given via a drip in a vein) is widely used for the management of nausea and vomiting associated with general anaesthesia, although it is officially off-license for use via a drip. We intend to do a small pilot study to find out whether dexamethasone has an effect on how long an adductor canal block lasts. This will involve doing an adductor canal block, with or without dexamethasone, on patients already having knee joint replacement surgery. If we can show that using dexamethasone in adductor canal blocks can make the block last longer, we will then plan to do a larger study comparing the one-off adductor canal block with dexamethasone against the adductor canal block catheter.

This study aims to investigate the effects of ankle mobilisations on ankle dorsiflexion ROM and its relationship to hip adduction and knee valgus in a single leg squat. Participants will be assessed before and after 6 treatment sessions over a 3 week period. Our primary aim is to determine the effect of ankle mobilisations on ankle dorsiflexion and knee valgus angle during squatting. A secondary aim is to determine whether a change in dorsiflexion range of motion following the first treatment predicts a change in dorsiflexion range of motion following the final treatment session.

We believe that the combination of midazolam and droperidol will be superior in efficacy and safety to droperidol alone or olanzapine alone for patients with acute agitation

The overarching aim of this study is to decrease the incidence of depressive symptoms for people with aphasia and their caregivers. The specific aims are to determine whether a tailored, early intervention program (Aphasia ASK) leads to better mood and overall quality of life outcomes than an attention control (a secondary stroke prevention intervention) at 12 months post-stroke in both patients with aphasia and their caregivers.

This study investigates the feasibility and safety of inspiratory muscle training for patients with early spinal cord injury. Patients with spinal cord injury are at high risk of respiratory complications. Inspiratory muscle training is a technique that can be used to improve the respiratory function of patients with spinal cord injury but, to date, research published about its feasibility, safety and effectiveness has only included patients who are some weeks or month post-injury. The purpose of this interventional study is to investigate the feasibility and safety of inspiratory muscle training for patients with acute spinal cord injury. The specific aims are to document, in patients with acute spinal cord injury: the feasibility of inspiratory muscle training by recording the number of physiotherapy sessions where the criteria to participate in inspiratory muscle training are met and the number of physiotherapy sessions where the criteria to participate in inspiratory muscle training are not met (and reasons why); the safety of inspiratory muscle training by recording parameters such as haemodynamic stability, oxygenation, breathlessness and respiratory complications; the effect of inspiratory muscle training on lung function parameters such as inspiratory strength and lung volumes.