ANZCTR search results

This is a trial investigating how providing detailed desciptors of a very good, and very bad health state affect the way people rate their own health-related quality of life. Health-related quality of life can be difficult to measure. Giving detailed description of extreme health states may help participants to "put into perspective" their current health states. This may result in reporting a different level of health than they would report if no detailed descriptors were given.

In addition to the standard pre-operative investigations you will also undergo a PET scan. Your results will be compared to people who only receive the routine pre-operative investigations, to see if the use of the PET scan changes the treatment plan. A PET scan is a non-invasive nuclear imaging test. In other cancers, particularly lung cancer, this scan can detect the spread of cancer better than other tests. If you have a suspected pancreatic cancer, the usual tests might include a CT (computed tomography) scan, ultrasound, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan and an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography). If a PET scan helps show the extent of the cancer better, your diagnosis will be more accurate and this might spare you unnecessary major surgery.

In this research project we will study quality of life issues related to having advanced ovarian cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. We are interested in knowing how women are doing during chemotherapy for ovarian cancer and whether symptom improvement occurs with treatment.

The primary purpose of this study is to established the side effect and benefit profile of BTVA in patients with heterogeneous upper lobe emphysema. The results will help to support subsequent clinical trials in a larger patient sample.

Prospective randomised study is to assess the safety and efficacy of the two intraocular lens (IOL) (Alcon IOL and Tecsoft IOL) in human eyes for the treatment of cataracts. The assessment of the IOL results will be based on a comparison to the patient’s preoperative condition (i.e. best spectacle corrected visual acuity and uncorrected vision) and the achieved versus expected visual and refractive outcomes, as well as an analysis of reported complications.

This study investigates if the inclusion of a high PUFA food, walnuts, shows favourable trends in body composition in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus over the long term (12 months). We assumed that dietary fat-driven changes in body composition take time. Further we examined how the dietary change occurred through food patterns and whether these changes might impact on clinical (glucose homeostasis, lipids), and metabolic (resting energy expenditure and leptin levels) variables.

A major challenge in influenza vaccines is to find a way to deliver considerably lower doses of influenza vaccine while still being able to elicit a protective immune response. This is because the number of doses of seasonal influenza vaccine able to be generated is limited by production capacity and cost.Extensive animal data indicates addition of a natural plant sugar called Advax results in enhanced immunity and/or reduced antigen requirements compared to current unadjuvanted human influenza vaccines. This study will test the safety and effectiveness of a low dose flu vaccine containing Advax to the standard full dose commercial flu vaccine.

The basic goal for hepatitis B vaccination is to achieve a protective immune response with a minimum of discomfort and without any risk of serious side effects. Current hepatitis B vaccines whilst safe are associated with significant injection site discomfort. In addition they contain aluminium salts which pose uncertain long term risks of toxicity. This study was designed to collect preliminary data on the safety and tolerability of a new hepatitis B vaccine where the aluminium component has been replaced by a natural plant derived sugar which in animal studies has been shown to markedly reduce injection pain while enhancing the protection conferred by the vaccine.

A side-effect of allogeneic stem cell transplantation is a big loss in bone strength. Bone-strength is also called “bone mineral density” (BMD). One of the problems with a loss in bone strength is a higher risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures later in life. Hence, we are keen to look at ways by which this loss in bone-strength can be minimised. A group of drugs, called bisphosphonates, have been shown to reduce the rate of bone-strength loss after transplants. The current study is a follow-on study that will will use a newer and more powerful bisphosphonate drug called zoledronic acid or Zometa®. Zometa® will be given to all patients before transplant but after transplant it will only be given to those patients whose bone mineral density (BMD) scan shows a >3% loss of bone density or to patients who receive large doses of prednisolone (steroid therapy). The aim is to use Zometa® only when it is needed. The main measure of the success of the study is whether we can stop bone density loss, which will be calculated by comparing the results of the pre-transplant scan with those from the scans at day 100 and 12 months after the transplant.

This study aims to implement and evaluate the impact of a telephone-based care management program, delivered by a care manager, on physical activity and nutrition behaviours and quality of life of people following a heart attack.