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Each year approximately 10,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia, making this the most frequently diagnosed cancer in reproductive age women. Approximately 6-7% of these women are under 40 years at the time of their diagnosis. All patients faced with decisions about treatment for cancer need to weigh up the benefits and side-effects of treatment. This issue is particularly relevant in considering the effects of treatment on future fertility. The prognosis in terms of survival for young women is often excellent, but permanent ovarian failure and hence infertility as a result of adjuvant chemotherapy is a common consequence. For many young women, this is of enormous importance. Yet, many are not fully informed of the potential adverse reproductive effects of chemotherapy or fail to take in the possible consequences of treatment while making treatment decisions shortly after the diagnosis of breast cancer. Our objective is to conduct a comprehensive nation-wide prospective study to compare the efficacy of a fertility-related decision aid (an information tool specifically designed to assist with decision-making) to usual care amongst young women with early breast cancer. The decision aid will present information on choice of chemotherapeutic agents, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) options and the impact of pregnancy following diagnosis on prognosis. Following pilot-testing, the decision aid will be tested in a prospective nationwide study involving 17 oncology clinics, and young women with early breast cancer will be recruited prior to commencement of any adjuvant therapy. Data will be collected prior to commencement of adjuvant therapy, and 1 and 12 months following this, using self-administered questionaries assessing a range of variables, using validated measures of psychological and decision-related outcomes.

The purpose of this project is to investigate changeover from a person's current antipsychotic drug to a relatively new drug for the treatment of schizophrenia. This drug, Aripiprazole, works differently than any other antipsychotic drugs that have been previously available. Therefore, this study is important because the current knowledge is limited and it will allow a better understanding of a safe and effective way to switch over.

Thirty participants were assigned to either CBT, SE PDT or EFT group therapy for 9 weeks, while 28 participants were assigned to either CBT, or SE PDT for 14 weeks. The results showed that group therapy over both 9 weeks and 14 weeks significantly reduced anxiety and depressive symptom with gains maintained at 6-month follow-up. No significant differences were found between dosages or therapies at post-therapy. However, at 6-month follow-up, group CBT benefited recovery by 15% compared with group SE PDT.

INTERACT is an academic, international clinical trial to establish the possibility of undertaking a large scale study in 6,000 patients with acute intracerebral haemorrhage (bleeding into the brain) within 6 hours of onset and who also have associated high blood pressure. 400 patients will be recruited from Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore and the United States of America. Patients will be assigned to either intensive blood pressure lowering treatment or current guideline based management of blood pressure alongside routine stroke management. Participants will be visited for 7 days during their hospital stay and then followed up at 1 month and 3 months intervals. The majority of information will be collected using standardised questionnaires and stroke scales. The study is a trial of blood pressure lowering policy using approved drugs within their labelling restrictions. The main purpose of the studyis to review the numbers of deaths and number of patients permanenetly disabled at 3 months.