ANZCTR search results

Subacromial decompression surgery and rotator cuff repair surgery are often performed to treat shoulder pain, but recent evidence suggests these surgeries provide little-to-no benefit to patients over non-surgical options and may cause harm. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether a patient decision aid outlining the benefits and harms of these surgeries can reduce people’s intentions to undergo surgery. Secondary outcomes include knowledge of the benefits and potential harms of surgery compared to non-surgical options, attitudes towards surgery, the proportion of people who are equipped to make an informed choice, and decisional conflict.

The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of personalising chemotherapy treatment using in-vitro (in the laboratory) testing of patient-derived cells to guide the choice of chemotherapy for patients with head and neck carcinoma. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 years or older, have been diagnosed with locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic head and neck carcinoma, and are thought to have a high probability of treatment failure with standard techniques. Study details All participants will undergo definitive surgery and the biopsy will be transported to anatomical pathology where tissue assessment will be done in great detail, followed by transfer of tissues to either Macquarie university or Garvan Institute where cell lines will be developed, tested for tumor markers, tested for chemotherapeutic drugs including target therapy, and then based on an algorithm derived drug recommendation, the clinician will be informed. The patient will be informed of the results and depending on whether they choose to proceed with treatment, they will be assessed for progression of disease using RECIST 1.1 criteria. It is hoped that this study may demonstrate that testing the sensitivity of patient-derived cancer cells to guide choice of chemotherapy agent prior to their administration will reduce tumour progression and improve survival in patients with head and neck carcinoma.

Cognitive training ("brain training") programs are now mainstream among the community, education and health systems, promising to improve cognitive functioning. The potential of cognitive training to improve core cognitive abilities, such as working memory, has been acknowledged by many education and health experts, however these programs are designed based on common untested assumptions of training methods that are conventions in the field. A key assumption is that the difficulty level of a training activity should be adapted to the trainee’s performance. This is assumed to appropriately challenge the trainee, inducing plasticity and resulting in improved cognitive performance. However, this assumption has only been tested once in adults. The assumed benefit of adaptive training has not been systematically evaluated in children. This trial aims to test the common assumption that cognitive training in children should be adaptive. It will compare the outcomes of working memory training using adaptive, stepwise and self-selected approaches to setting difficulty level of training activities, to an active control. Given the lack of research evaluating common assumptions of cognitive training, our aim is exploratory. Training outcome will be evaluated immediately and 6-months post-training using: 1) working memory tests similar in structure to the training activities (near transfer), 2) working memory tests different in structure to the training activities (intermediate transfer), and 3) tests of non-verbal reasoning, inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity behaviours (far transfer).

The current trial aims to assess the efficacy of a new online psychological treatment for fears of death. Outcomes include death anxiety, depression, anxiety, and stress scores.

The purpose of this study is to (1) identify changes in performance and metabolism due to cephalexin in endurance exercise, and (2) improve prescribing practice by increasing the body of knowledge associated with cephalexin. The hypothesis being tested is that cephalexin, when given at therapeutic levels, will decrease endurance performance. The mechanism by which this occurs is being assessed through testing of specific metabolites suggested to be impacted by the administration of cephalexin.

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of an implementation intervention targeting indoor-outdoor free play recommendations on the total amount of time children have the opportunity to spend in outdoor environments at 6-months follow up. We hypothesize that services who receive the intervention will provide 35 minutes more for the opportunity for outdoor free play, than those in the control group. Previous research has shown that increased outdoor play opportunities is associated with increased child activity. 100 service will be recruited to this research and randomly allocated to receive the intervention or no-intervention. The 6-month intervention will target early childhood education and care (ECEC) service Nominated Supervisors (NS), Service Champions (SC) and Educators to support their implementation of indoor­-outdoor free play recommendations. This includes goal setting, providing resources, telephone support and feedback to NS, SC and educators, to increase the amount of time available for children to spend outdoors while they are in care. At 6 months follow up, we will compare the amount of time childcare services provide children with the opportunity for outdoor free play between the services that received the intervention and those that did not.

The purpose of this research project is to provide a new alternative to currently approved methods of sealing retinal breaks (retinal tamponade) and substitute for the liquid portion (vitreous) of your eye. Tamponade is a required action for the standard surgery required for retinal detachment repair. The name of the investigational product in this study is PYK-1105. PYK-1105 will be injected during surgery as a vitreous substitute and tamponade. Use of the investigational product will prevent subjects from having to remain in a face down position for a number of days, will not limit their ability for air travel for a period of time, nor require an additional surgery to remove the tamponade and may have improved visual clarity as compared to other methods.

For patients that undergo pancreas and kidney transplantation there is a risk of bleeding during and after the operation, one way of reducing this is identifying potential sources of bleeding during the preparation of the organ before we implant it into the patient. One solution called Methylene Blue can highlight these sources of bleeding, therefore we will want to conduct a research project to determine if this will reduce the risk of bleeding.

This study will investigate the effect of same day dual endoscopy on finding common gastrointestinal conditions for patients referred for assessment of positive Fecal Occult Blood Test (Bowel cancer screening test) Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are aged 50 and above, and have been referred for investigation of positive Fecal Occult Blood Test (Bowel cancer screening test) Study details: All participants in this study will have two endoscopy procedures on the same day: an upper (gastroscopy) and lower (colonoscopy) as part of the routine clinical care for patients with a positive fecal occult blood test. We would also access your electronic medical records so we can confirm your diagnosis and test results. The findings from both upper and lower endoscopy will be used to evaluate occult GI bleeding. Participants will not be asked to attend any additional appointments, outside their scheduled clinical visits. This study therefore has no effect and no foreseeable risk of harm to its participants. No attempts at directly contacting the patient or their family will be made. All the relevant findings from the endoscopy (both gastroscopy and colonoscopy) will be discussed with the participants by their gastroenterologist. It is hoped these findings will provide further guidance/evidence to support the routine use of both upper and lower endoscopy for the evaluation of occult GI bleeding.

We are doing a research project to evaluate the feasibility of a Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service (VCPS) that is being delivered via video link to patients admitted to an elective orthopaedic ward at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital located in Sydney NSW. The aim is to explore if a service can be implemented, if it will detect potential medication errors and if it is acceptable by patients and hospital staff. Routine data collection from patients' electronic medical record will help to measure the success of the VCPS.