ANZCTR search results

We will test to see if the addition of sterile water injections for the relief of back pain in labour to standard pharmacological (nitrous oxide gas, narcotics, epidural) and non-pharmaclogical analgesic options ( shower, water immersion, massage, heat, aromatherapy, TENS) will affect birth outcomes, specifically the rates of caesarean section.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of percutaneous catheter-based direct intramyocardial injection of autologous bone marrow cells, a new therapeutic strategy, in patients with severe CAD experiencing symptoms of angina and chronic ischaemic heart failure, where all conventional medical treatment options have been exhausted. Our recent randomised, placebo controlled trial (Angiogenesis - Protect CAD) demonstrated the beneficial effects of bone marrow cell therapy over placebo saline injection on symptoms, functional capacity and LVEF in patients with chronic myocardial ischaemia who failed conventional medical treatment and revascularisation procedures. However, the clinical implications of this treatment for severe CAD needs to be demonstrated in a larger population with more definitive primary endpoints. Positive evidence to support the use of this therapeutic approach may have a profound impact on the health and well being of chronically ill CAD patients, by providing a catheter-based treatment that is cost-effective and utilises easily reproducible techniques for the harvesting and injection of bone marrow. Furthermore, the patients's own bone marrow may be considered as a readily available resource which overcomes issues associated with immunological rejection response.

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of critical illness on blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract during feeding and the absorption of sugar in older patients. We hypothesize that the change in blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract during feeding and the absorption of sugar in ICU patients will be less than that of healthy volunteers. This may indicate a possible mechanism for malabsorption during critical illness or alternatively, when to start feeding critically ill patients via the gastrointestinal route.

Infants of women with diabetes in pregnancy have an increased risk of low blood sugar and other complications after birth and of developing diabetes and being obese later in life. Many maternity providers encourage these women to express breast milk before birth to have it available if the infant needs supplementary feeding. Evidence for this practice is lacking so we are planning the first study exploring the safety and effectiveness of antenatal expression of breast milk in late pregnancy for women with diabetes in pregnancy.

The aim of the study is to investigate the efficacy of chronotherapy (altering ingestion time of study medication Perindopril) to improve and provide a better overall control of hypertension in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea.

The purpose of the study is to examine the effectiveness of an internet-based treatment program for depression. This will be achieved by comparing the Depression Online (DO) fully automated self help treatment program to a person who monitors their mood (‘self monitoring’ or waitlist control) over a 12 week period. The aim of this comparison is to will determine how effective the DO program is in the treatment of depression. The importance of the treatment of depression has become a focus for many researchers because the World Health Organisation has predicted that depression would be the world’s second biggest cause of death by 2020. A recent survey (The Australian National Mental Health Survey) found that only a third of respondents who reported experiencing a depressive or anxiety disorder sought professional assistance and only 10 percent consulted a psychologist or psychiatrist for specialised face-to-face treatments. Given the high prevalence of the disorder, the online environment provides an elegant solution to meet the largely unmet needs of depressed (and anxious) people by providing them with relatively easy access to efficacious treatments. Internet-based psychological treatments (‘eTherapies’) have been vigorously evaluated over the past decade and many have been shown to be effective, safe and acceptable forms of mental health treatment. As eTherapies have a broad reach capacity, they enable the delivery of specialist psychological support far beyond the capability of traditional face-to-face services. Depression Online is one of the programs that aims to do this.

This study looks at the effectiveness of the addition of radiotherapy to surgery on local relapse and survival in patients with neurotropic melanoma. Who is it for? You can join this study if you have neurotropic primary melanoma in the head or neck, and have had no previous surgery and you will be treated at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland (Other sites around Australia will be opened within the next six months). Trial details Participants will be in two groups. Both groups will receive surgery to excise their melanomas, and then one group will be randomised to receive follow-up post-operative radiation therapy. The other group will be randomised to observation only after their surgery, with follow-up occurring every 3 months for the first 2 years, then every 6 months for the next 3 years. The aim of the study is to compare the local relapse rate, survival, side effects and quality of life between the two groups.

This study will assess whether new cerals made with a new variant of barley deliver digestive health benefits to consumers.

There is a significant body of clinical evidence to support the assertion that if men adopt a healthier lifestyle, they experience improvements in health outcomes including: reduced chronic disease risks (i.e. reduced: waist circumference, weight, BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose); reduced urological symptoms (i.e. erectile dysfunction, urinary symptoms); and improved psycho-social welfare (i.e. reduced depression/anxiety, improved sleep and perceived quality of life). There is less evidence, however, about how to engage and support men in a community setting to adopt and sustain the necessary lifestyle changes – this is our central focus. The theoretical basis for the GIRTH program is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and its construct of self-efficacy. The peer-support program has been constructed around a chronic disease self-management (CDSM) framework to promote participants’ self-efficacy in relation to physical activity, nutrition, sleep habits and stress management. Self-management skills are infused at every step of the program to ensure that positive changes are sustainable.

No effective standard treatment of advanced progressive neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) exists, but over the past decade at Fremantle Hospital, we have developed new radiopeptide therapies with encouraging results using Lutetium-177 octreotate. Recently, we have combined this radioisotope with radiosensitizing chemotherapy to achieve stabilization of disease in over 90% of patients and tumour shrinkage in over half the NETs. We now seek to combine Lutetium-177 octreotate with a new targeted agent, Everolimus which has proven, although minor suppressive effect on NET progression. We propose to combine a standard activity of 177Lu-octreotate with escalating doses of Everolimus to define the maximum safe dose achievable. We will then design a study to define the efficacy of this novel radiopeptide Everolimus combination in NET patients with progressive disease.