ANZCTR search results

This study compares levels of skin self-examination behaviour for the early detection of melanoma in men 50 years or older who receive a video-delivered intervention compared to those who receive standard brochures only. You can join this study if you are male, aged 50 years and older and live in Queensland, Australia. Participants will be randomly divided into two groups. Participants in one group (the intervention group) will receive one video, which runs for approximately 12 minutes, recommending that participants conduct a whole-body skin self-examination (SSE) at least once a month. They will also receive a body pictogram that they can use to mark lesions while they are conducting a SSE. All participants will receive standard written educational materials from the Cancer Council Queensland entitled Take the time to spot the difference. This brochure displays photographs of benign and malignant lesions and explains the particulars. It recommends sun protection, and regular skin self-examination without giving details of how to do so. The number of whole-body skin self-examinations (SSE) in both groups will be assessed by independent telephone survey staff blind to the participants’ group assignment. This trial aims to measure the impact and cost-effectiveness of a video-delivered intervention.

The aim of the project is to determine the effect on Tai Chi training on exercise capacity in people with COPD. Hypothesis: On completion of an 12 week training program, subjects with COPD will demonstrate significant improvement in exercise capacity, compare with the control group with no Tai Chit raining. Significance: If Tai Chi improves exercise capacity in people with COPD this would provide an alternate form of exercise training which does not require exercise equipment thus making effective exercise training more accessible for the large numbers of people with COPD.

Although oesophageal cancer can be surgically removed, the cancer often comes back. A combination of chemotherapy and radiation before surgery might help, but standard treatment hasn’t been defined and new therapies are needed urgently. This study will test a novel combination of chemotherapy and radiation, with and without a new type of antibody treatment. Effectiveness will be assessed by the amount of tumour left at the time of surgery, the length of time before the tumour begins to grow again, and length of life.

Approximately 100 hip fracture cases are expected to be recruited over a 12 month period who are vitamin D insufficient, reside in the Perth metropolitan area, consent to inclusion in the trial and don’t fulfill any exclusion citeria. Vitamin D insufficiency will be defined as a 25 OHD < 50 nmol/L and initially measured using our current assay (Diasorin 25OHD radioimmunoassay). In a randomised fashion all vitamin D insufficient patients will be offered standard therapy with Ostelin 1000 I.U./day (ergocalciferol) or Vigantoletten 1000 I.U./day (Cholecalciferol obtained from Merck, Germany) in addition to matching placebo to prevent unblinding of study design. Those patients consenting to trial entry will have serum collected for intact PTH, whole PTH, ionised calcium, vitamin D binding protein and 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D at baseline and following three months therapy.

The research aims to test the leading theory of chronic pain, and to develop and test interventions aimed to reduce chronic pain. We will measure attentional biases to pain-related stimuli, such as hypervigilance (selectively paying more attention) and difficulty disengaging, in a group of adults with acute low back pain. We will then compare the effect of an active and placebo attention retraining task on these attentional biases, and the subsequent effects on the development of chronic low back pain and associated disability and distress.

This study will determine the most effective way to administer bee venom desensitisation therapy for people with serious life threatening bee venom allergy

To compare the safety and efficacy of traditional surgical repair (anterior colporrhaphy) with mesh based prosthetic devices (transobturator mesh) in the clinical management of bladder prolapse.

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a blood borne virus which primarily infects and damages the liver. About 75-80% of people who acquired the acute hepatitis C will develop a chronic infection. Out of those about 20% will develop severe liver disease (cirrhosis) in 20-40 years following the acquisition of the disease. About 5% will develop liver failure and liver cancer. It is estimated there were around 264,000 people living with HCV antibodies in Australia in 2005 (range 206,000 to 318,000). 197,000 were estimated to be living with chronic HCV infection (range 154,000 to 238,000). The current treatment for chronic hepatitis C is pegylated interferon and Ribavirin. Interferons are chemicals produced by cells in response to viral infection. Ribavirin is an anti viral medication. The treatment duration is either 6 or 12 months. The treatment results in 50-80% success in eradicating the virus depending on the viral load and subtype of the virus. The success also depends on the total amount of medications taken by the patient. Less than 80% of the medications taken less than 80% of the time will result in significant decrease in the success rate. The Interferons cause psychological side effects including depression, anxiety, anger, mania and psychosis. It is estimated about 30-40% patients will feel one or more of the above symptoms during the course of the therapy with about 20% meeting criteria for major depression. These symptoms significantly reduce the quality of life of the patients who undergo therapy. In addition these can lead to reduction in medication dose, non compliance and premature therapy termination resulting in reduction in success of eradication the virus. Gastroenterologists working in this setting are very aware of the psychiatric adverse effects, routinely inquire about them and at times treat depression and other disorders they may find, and/or refer the patients for psychiatric care. They provide patients with information booklets covering this and other topics to do with interferon therapy. Some patients are symptomatic and are referred for psychiatric care right at the start, before interferon is commenced. The majority, however, are commenced on interferon and referred if and when psychiatric problems emerge. The capacity for gastroenterologists to comprehensively deal with these problems is necessarily limited and, in addition, it is preferable to recognize emerging symptoms and to commence therapy early to minimize the impact of these side effects on overall outcome. Availability of psychiatrists and psychologists is very limited, so the usual practice in hepatitis C treatment centers is to refer patients for psychiatric care if and when problems arise. We propose to conduct a pilot randomized trial to explore the value of early contact with a psychologist in reducing the risk of psychiatric side effects and improving access to psychological and psychiatric care when needed. Study participants will be recruited from the hepatitis C clinics at St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne) and will exclude those referred to the psychiatrist at baseline. All other patients will be randomly assigned to two groups at the beginning of interferon therapy. The first group will be offered what we have termed a ‘psychological care gateway’ consisting of two appointments with a psychologist, plus two offers: (i) further appointments with the psychologist as needed and (ii) access to a weekly supportive group on ‘coping with interferon therapy’, all this in addition to ‘treatment as usual’, i.e. attendances at the HCV clinic to see their gastroenterologist and the clinic nurse. The second group will receive ‘treatment as usual’. During the interferon therapy, both the psychologist and gastroenterologists will continue to refer patients to the psychiatrist as usual if the clinical need arises. The main outcome measure will be reduction in psychiatric symptom levels, measured by questionnaire. Secondary outcomes will be the interferon therapy discontinuation rate, rates of clinically diagnosed psychiatric disorder, and quality of life. In addition, we will measure the uptake of the ‘psychological care gateway’, and the extent to which its components are acceptable to and utilized by patients. Psychometric tests will be used to define which patients will benefit from the early psychiatric review. This pilot study is expected to recruit about 48 participants within 24 weeks for randomization and to be completed in 72 weeks. Data gathered in the pilot will guide the design of future trials of provision of psychological care for these patients.

The purpose of this study is to identify whether resistance (weight) training results in improvements in fitness and well being for patients with stable chronic systolic heart failure. Systolic heart failure is a condition where the heart muscle cannot pump blood as vigorously as usual. Resistance exercise training involves the use of muscle groups to push and pull against a smooth hydraulic force. In this study participants are randomly allocated to 3 months of either resistance exercise training or no exercise training. Tests are carried out before, during and after the 3-month period to determine differences between the 2 groups in a number of measures of fitness and well being.

A total of 30 consumers with a previous 6 month history of warfarin use and a long term indication for its future use will be identified by selected community pharmacies. With the consent of their GP they will be trained to perform patient self monitoring of the INR with a portable monitor by a trained accredited pharmacist. Results obtained will be reported back to their GP for dosage adjustment every 2 weeks for 6 months. The views of GP's, pharmacists and patients will be assessed and used to modify the training process prior to a more widespread implementation of the program