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Background Frozen shoulder is a common problem, affecting up to 5% of the population, leaving long-term disability and hence impairing the quality of life of patients. It still remains to be an ill defined term. There have been various methods for the management of ‘frozen shoulders’ namely: analgesia; hydrodilatation;corticosteroid injections; manipulation; and arthroscopic release of contractures. There have been increasing and equivocal evidence with regards to the efficacy of hydrodilatation for the management of adhesive capsulitis. The effects of hydrodilatation have been shown to improve pain and range of movement from the effects of capsular distension in some prospective studies. Previous trials have shown negative results which may have been undermined from an inadequate designed trial or technique. Aims and hypothesis To investigate the clinical significance of the effect of hydrodilatation. This raises our clinical research question as to whether hydrodilatation with corticosteroid injection is the superior form of treatment. Whether the outcome shows superiority of the treatment or not, this would have an impact on the way clinicians manage their patients with frozen shoulders. Above all, the emphasis is on the outcome for patients. Healthcare policies may alter based on the findings. Method Patients will be randomly allocated into two groups. These two groups are patients receiving corticosteroid and local anaesthetic with and without hydrodilatation. Allocation concealment will be ensured. Patients referred to Monash Medical Centre, Clayton rheumatology outpatients department with suspected ‘frozen shoulder’ will be screened. Written and verbal informed consent will be obtained.Inclusion criteria: limitation of shoulder motion with pain at rest or on movement, duration of symptoms over 3 months. Exclusion criteria: Osteoarthritis, systemic inflammatory disorder, previous surgery within 6 months, pregnant, rotator cuff disease, referred pain from spine. Contraindications to the procedure: mental illness, age<18yo. Technique The patient lies down and the overlying skin of the affected shoulder is sterilised The hydrodilatation technique involves the insertion of a needle from the front by a radiologist into the shoulder joint guided by a small infusion of contrast material confirmed on plain Xray. The injection for hydrodilatation,containing normal saline, will continue to be injected until distension is achieved. Post treatment patients will receive a daily self-assisted exercise programme. This will be a double blinded randomization study where patients are not aware of what treatments they are receiving and clinicians evaluating patients at weeks 4,8 and 12 will not know which two groups of patients are being treated.

Endothelial dysfunction is a disease process that occurs throughout the vascular system and results in abnormal regulation of blood vessel tone and the loss of atheroprotective properties of normal endothelium. The presence of endothelial dysfunction in coronary or peripheral arteries is an independent predictor of future cardiovascular events. While it is well known that vascular dysfunction is associated with type II diabetes, the effects of standard treatments for this disease such as statins and fibrates on vascular function is less clear. This is even more so for type II diabetes patients with acute coronary syndrome. The assessment of arterial endothelial function using strain gauge plethysmography is considered the “gold standard” of endothelial function testing. However, it is invasive and not applicable to large patient populations. Therefore, recent non-invasive techniques such as Endo-PAT have been developed to overcome these shortfalls. Endo-PAT is a non-invasive peripheral arterial tonometer (PAT) which measures the changes in pulse wave amplitude (PWA) in the fingertip of the index finger. While Endo-PAT is approved by the U.S Food and Drug Authority, its reliability in detecting endothelial dysfunction in different patient cohorts is still being established. Aims: Our study aims to answer two research questions: Do patients at high cardiovascular risk under standard clinical care exhibit endothelial dysfunction? We will examine endothelial function using both forearm venous occlusion plethysmography and Endo-PAT. The second research question is how reliable is the EndoPAT device in detecting endothelial dysfunction compared to strain gauge plethysmography?

The primary objective of this study is to establish if glucagon-like peptide-1 (a hormone released from the gastrointestinal) has an effect on blood sugar levels in diabetic patients who are critically ill

This project is designed to assess the needs and barriers to providing interventions among palliative care staff. It will also evaluate the effectiveness of a training program to assist palliative care staff to detect and intervene when palliative care patients experience depression. This intervention is expected to improve the health and quality of life of patients and their families, as well as care staff.

This project aims to explore the safety and effectiveness of lithium carbonate in reducing the severity of withdrawal that often occurs with the cessation of dependent cannabis use. Participants will be admitted to an inpatient drug treatment unit for 7 days and will be randomly assigned to receive either lithium or placebo.

This is a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of oral magnesium in patients suffering from paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of oral magnesium on the incidence of paroxysmal lone atrial fibrillation. In order to do this participants will be randomised to oral magnesium or placebo. The participants’ incidence of atrial fibrillation will be monitored for a 12 month period to determine whether oral magnesium reduces the number of episodes of atrial fibrillation.

NeutraLice Lotion, NeutraLice Advance and Banlice Mousse will be applied at weekly intervals. The louse free rate one day after the last treatment will be determined by wet combing for the Intention to Treat population (primary outcome measure) and the Per Protocol population (secondary outcome measure). The louse free rate at Day 1 will be determined by dry combing (secondary outcome measure).

The purpose of this study is to test the safety of the drug Eurartesim (trademarked). The drug is to be used for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium Falciparum (a type of malaria, a mosquito borne infectious disease). A number of safety studies have been completed for this new drug, but the company requires more information about what happens when taking this drug in certain groups of people, including the differences between men and women, and the differences between asian and caucasian (western) people and the difference in body weights ( particularly people weighing less than 65 kg and those weighing more than 65kg). The study is to be conducted in helathy people to comapre how the drug behaves in these groups.

Children with type 1 diabetes have detectable arterial endothelial dysfunction and arterial intima-media thickening as first markers of accelerated atherosclerosis. They can be reliably measured to test the effectiveness of early intervention strategies. Folic acid supplementation significantly reduces the risk of stroke in adults, with most benefit in primary prevention. We have demonstrated that folic acid supplementation 5 mg daily rapidly normalizes endothelial function in children with type 1 diabetes, independent of homocysteine lowering. However there are no dose response studies of the benefit of folic acid to determine the minimum effective dose. This is relevant as while high dose folic acid does not have short term adverse effects, recent epidemiological data questions its long term safety in individuals with established vascular or early neoplastic disease. Determining the minimum dose of folic acid that improves endothelial function and the effect of endothelial nitric oxide synthase polymorphisms on the response to folic acid, will also inform future intervention trials for accelerated atherosclerosis in this age group.

This study looks at the effectiveness and tolerability of integrated radiotherapy and chemotherapy with oxaliplatin 5-flurouracil (5-fu) and folinic acid before surgery in patients with locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the rectum (back passage). Who is it for? You can join this study if you have locally advanced cancer of the rectum (back passage) which you have not yet received treatment for. Trial details Participants will receive integrated preoperative radiotherapy with FOLFOX chemotherapy over 11 weeks, prior to standard surgery 4-6 weeks later . Patients will be monitored to determine their tolerance and response to treatment.