ANZCTR search results

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating condition with a poor prognosis. There are currently no widely available imaging modality to assess lung perfusion, which is decreased in PAH. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a nuclear medicine technique which can assess three dimensional lung perfusion. We wish to evaluate the utility of SPECT in the assessment and early detection of PAH.

Doctors know that seizures occur more often in babies than older children. Seizures in babies may result in damage to their brain that may lead to epilepsy or affect their learning, thinking and memory. There is not a lot of research as to the best way to treat seizures in babies and to protect their brain function. The aim of this research project is to compare the treatment of seizures that are physically seen by doctors and nurses (standard clinical care) to when seizures are detected using an amplitude integrated electroencephalograph monitor (aEEG), to see which method is better at protecting brain function in the longer term. We hope a total of 630 babies will take part in this study. Half of the babies will receive standard treatment and half will be treated when a seizure is seen on the aEEG monitor. After the babies have been discharged from hospital we will follow them up at 2 years of age to assess their development. This research project is important because it may change the way doctors treat seizures in babies in the future, and we want to make sure that our treatment is protecting the babies brain.

Children’s sleep duration has been decreasing in recent decades, and the average Australian child is not getting enough sleep for optimal well-being, health and social function. This study will use a randomised controlled trial to test the effect of a comprehensive sleep intervention delivered in a school setting. It is hypothesised that the intervention will improve children’s attitudes and knowledge, mediating changes in sleep behaviour. In turn, this may affect alertness, quality of life, and use-of-time. This is the first sleep behaviour intervention delivered in a community setting. If successful, it could inform curriculum change, with the potential to address a wide range of cognitive, affective and physical outcomes.

A controlled clinical trial study design to study the efficacy, for smokers motivated to quit, of a cognitive and behavioural support program using mobile phones in addition to a traditional self-help quitting booklet to test the hypotheses that this intervention will increase short and long term smoking cessation.

The purpose of this project is to determine if a patient’s belief or views towards their medicines for heart attacks affects their decision on whether to take their medicines or not. This may help determine why some people choose not to take medications for their heart attack. Aim: To determine if patients’ belief towards medication for heart attacks is related to an optimised medication regimen as well as adherent behaviour, and whether this is influenced by review of their medication by a community pharmacist. Hypotheses: 1. Patients with good adherence will have different beliefs towards their medication than those with poor adherence 2. Patients receiving regular interviews with their community pharmacist are more likely to be on the appropriate medications for ACS at optimised doses and have better adherence than those who do not have this intervention. 3. Patients with beliefs in regards to their medicines that match good adherence are more likely to be taking evidence-based medicines for ACS at 12 months.

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of OCD STOP, which is an online psychological treatment for individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that is based on the face-to-face psychological treatment for OCD called the Systematic Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive phenomena or STOP. To assess its effectiveness, OCD STOP will be compared to an online relaxation program for anxiety known as Progressive Relaxation Training. This study is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

In this trial, patients undergoing elective colonoscopy under sedation will be randomised to BIS-guided sedation targeting either “light” or “deep” sedation. Sedation will be achieved with a standardised regimen of target-controlled infusion of propofol and fentanyl bolus. The primary end point will be the incidence of procedure recall in each group. The procedural conditions, cardio-respiratory complications and recovery including cognitive function will be assessed. The patient satisfaction with anaesthesia care will be recorded.

This National Prescribing Service (NPS) project aims to improve GPs’ management of these patients through feedback on their own prescribing practices and small group discussions with peers and a trained group facilitator. Participating GPs can examine their prescribing practices using a “data extraction and reporting tool” provided by the researchers that interacts with the software GPs already use to manage patient records and write prescriptions. About twenty Divisions of General Practice will be recruited through expressions of interest and the chosen divisions will in turn recruit approximately 9 practices within their division to participate in the research. Participating practices will be randomly allocated to one of three groups of which two groups will be the intervention group and one group will be the control group. Practices assigned to the intervention group will receive the quality improvement intervention (data extraction tool and small group discussion) with each group undertaking the clinical topics hypertension and chronic heart failure ion the reverse order to the other. The control group will not receive any intervention for the first six months and will therefore act as a “true control” for the other two groups. Participating GP practices will receive continuing education credits and an average of $500 reimbursement for time spent on data cleaning. Non–identifiable patient and GP data before and after the intervention will be extracted and analysed by NPS.

This study aims to develop a more accurate screening test for colorectal cancer (CRC) by evaluating the accuracy of a panel of blood-based candidate biomarkers and to determine whether there is potential for recurrent cancers to be detected earlier with the new biomarker panel than the currently available blood tests. Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are aged 18 to 85 years old and are scheduled for colonoscopy for standard clinical indications. Participants with a diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) who have been treated and are being monitored for recurrence will also be eligible for the second and third phase of the study. Study details: All participants in this study will be asked to undergo several tests for bowel cancer at the time of their routine hospital colonoscopy, the established gold standard bowel examination. The tests include, blood and saliva samples; and faecal occult blood tests which we will compare to new tests that we are developing that detect specific markers in blood. If we can reliably detect these markers then we will be able to develop a better screening test for bowel cancer. In patients who have been previously treated for bowel cancer and who are being monitored for signs of recurrence, we will also explore the use of the new biomarker blood test. It is hoped that this test may be more sensitive and detect recurrence much earlier than is now possible. The overall duration of observation in each participant is three years post surgery. For patients that undergo cancer resection prior to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, consent will be asked to obtain some tissue samples from any excess specimen from surgery (a cancer specimen and adjacent normal tissue). Tissue will have DNA extracted for analysis of biomarker levels to allow direct comparison to blood biomarker levels, as well as methylated BCAT1 and IKZF1 in the blood and surgical tissue. This will help to evaluate the accuracy and efficacy of the new blood-based screening test for bowel cancer.

To determine the effect of gastric acid suppression (using the proton pump inhibitor [PPI] pantoprazole) on the pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid (MPA) in kidney and liver transplant recipients maintained on either mycophenolate mofetil [MMF] or enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium [EC-MPS]. The following outcomes will be assessed: a. MPA area under curve (AUC). b. Clinical outcomes including rejection, graft function and proteinuria.