ANZCTR search results

Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of lung diseases. NO is produced in the lung and can be measured in exhaled breath. The measurement of fractional exhaled nitrous oxide (FeNO) has now been standardized and there is evidence regarding its clinical use in asthma. However, the exact clinical role of FeNO remains poorly investigated in the context of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD is a leading cause of disability and mortality. Patients with COPD are prone to recurrent exacerbations that can affect quality of life and lung function. Exacerbation prevention is therefore an important goal of COPD management. This study aims to clarify the role of FeNO measurement in the setting of hospitalized COPD exacerbations and assess its association with risk of readmission. Identifying patients at greater risk of readmission may potentially help target interventions in this population.

iTestis is a detailed database that will allow the collection of high quality clinical data in patients with Germ Cell Tumour. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you have confirmed germ-cell tumor arising primarily in the testes, retro-peritoneum or mediastinum. Study details All enrolled patients will contribute data to the development of the web database. Data captured will include presentation and disease characteristics, patient characteristics, local and systemic therapies, surveillance methods, recurrence data and treatment outcomes. Data will be collected for up to 4 years and will be updated regularly by study personnel throughout the patient’s treatment and follow-up from their medical record. It is hoped this study will will help to describe the current care and treatment patterns for GCT patients and identify any deficiencies or abnormalities to ensure that Australian GCT patients receive the best care possible.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH), characterised by elevated pressure within the blood vessels of the lungs, is associated with progressive breathlessness, functional limitation and increased risk of death. PH has unacceptably low survival with 1, 3 and 5 year median survival rates only 85%, 66% and 53%. Exercise has recently been found to be beneficial in PH, with benefits similar to pharmacotherapy (Morris 2016). Traditionally patients with PH have not been included in exercise programs due to safety concerns. However, a recent Cochrane review of 6 RCTs including 206 patients, reported only a single adverse event (in which training was stopped for a single session due to lightheadedness). This pilot study proposes to assess 1. the feasibility of Innocor testing in conjunction with exercise testing to assess the cardiac output of patients with stable PH. 2. the safety of four 6-minute bouts of exercise a in a cohort of stable PH patients. This will be achieved through realtime measurement of cardiac response to standard Pulmonary Rehabilitation exercises in a cohort of patients with known stable PH. This pilot project is the first of its kind to assess using the Innocor, a breathing test from which cardiac output can be calculated.

Background The tissue trauma of burn injury incites a unique cascade of inflammatory cytokines that leads to acute local and systemic complications. Chronic inflammation contributes to increased morbidity and mortality that persists for more than 20 years after injury. Scar quality is a global indicator of acute recovery and predictor of long term complications. Despite receiving optimal surgical management, almost half of injuries result in hypertrophic scarring. Adjunctive therapies to complement contemporary surgical burns management are urgently needed and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are prime candidates. Despite extensive and promising pre-clinical data, there have been no clinical trials. Aims By conducting a randomised controlled trial, we aim to answer the important, original research questions: (1) Does early and sustained use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, celecoxib, following acute burn injury improve recovery as measured by scar quality at six weeks? (2) Does the use of celecoxib attenuate the persistent aberrant inflammatory response? Significance Scar quality is an important, patient centred outcome that reflects every intervention from the time of injury and is associated with long term quality of life. Annual costs of burn injury to WA Health are $11m with individual costs correlated with time to healing. Improving quality of recovery will facilitate return of physical and psychological wellness for the patients and reduce their need for ongoing healthcare.

The primary purpose of the RE-DIME study is to assess the impact of a multi-component education package on GP registrars’ medicines deprescribing. We hypothesize that an appropriately targeted educational package will improve adherence to evidence-based guidelines regarding deprescribing of inappropriate medicines in patients over 65 years by GP registrars participating in a vocational training program.

This study concerns the development and testing of a mobile phone application for the audio recording of oncology consultations. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are a cancer consumer or staff member at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Study details You may be invited to try a new consultation audio-recording app during your next consultation at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. An ‘app’ is a program that you can use on a mobile phone or tablet device. Patients who decide to take part, will be asked to audio-record their next consultation using the app. A copy of the audio-recording will also be kept and securely stored at Peter Mac. For those patients who decide to take part, any family members or friends who accompany them to your hospital consultation will be asked whether they are happy to be audio-recorded by the app during the consultation. . People who decide to take part in this study will be contacted one week after their audio-recorded consultation to complete in a telephone survey (30 minutes) to discuss what they think about the audio-recording app. We will audio-record this interview so that we can listen back over your answers and combine them with everyone else’s to get our results. The audio-recording of the telephone interview will be stored for 5 years post study completion. There are no costs associated with participating in this research project, nor will you be paid. It is hoped this research will contribute to the implementation of the audio recording app at Peter Mac. Oncology consultations contain a lot of information, and patients and their family members/friends may be very anxious while at the hospital, which makes it hard to remember everything that is discussed in the consultation. We hope that having an easy to use audio-recording app will be helpful for patients and their family members/friends by allowing them to re-listen to the consultation at their convenience. We have designed this app with help from people like you, and now we would like to try using the app in a health care setting. We are looking at how best to use the app in the hospital, and so we are seeking feedback from patients and health care professionals.

Bemfola is a recombinant follicle stimulating hormone used for ovarian stimulation during an IVF cycle. It is approved by the TGA for use in IVF procedures. Bemfola is administered via daily injections using a 12mm needle. Other medications, such as insulin, which are administered using a similar device are moving to a 4mm needle for patient comfort with no adverse effects on delivery of the drug.or complications. The purpose of this study is to compare the current needle with a smaller 4mm needle. Patient satisfaction and safety will be assessed. Subjects will be randomised into 2 groups with 51 subjects per group. One group will use the 12mm needle and the other group will use the 4mm needle. Subjects will complete a satisfaction questionnaire at each clinic visit as well as clinical assessments as per the clinics usual practice. Study duration will be one IVF treatment cycle which is approximately 28 days.

Benzodiazepines are common psychoactive medications, used treat to conditions such as anxiety and insomnia, whose therapeutic effects can be accompanied by side effects such as drowsiness and impaired judgment. Observational research suggests an increased risk of road trauma for benzodiazepine and alcohol-affected drivers; however, it is currently legal to drive after consuming legal levels of alcohol and prescribed benzodiazepines, despite the potential risk to road users. This project aims to evaluate the effect of three common benzodiazepines (Alprazolam, Temazepam and Diazepam), in combination with alcohol, on: 1. driving performance, to assess road risk; and 2. eye movements during driving, to identify objective markers of drowsiness and driving impairment. This project will provide vital information regarding the effect of combined benzodiazepine and alcohol use on several physical, cognitive and neurobehavioural indices. This will be achieved through three separate double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trials assessing the direct effect of combined usage of legal levels of alcohol (placebo; 0.04% BAC) and ONE of the three benzodiazepines (placebo; Alprazolam [1mg] OR Temazepam [10mg] OR Diazepam [5mg]). There will be 4 experimental sessions (alcohol + benzodiazepine, alcohol + placebo, placebo + benzodiazepine, and placebo + placebo) involving questionnaires, biological sampling (saliva, blood), cognitive tests, and a driving test on a driving simulator with simultaneous eye monitoring. It is hypothesised that alcohol and benzodiazepines alone and in combination will have an adverse effect on driving performance, and will be marked by specific eye movement patterns.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of electronic feedback, online and telephone support for reducing multiple health risk behaviours among TAFE students at 6-months follow-up. Design: A cluster randomised trial at 32 TAFE campuses in the Hunter and North Coast of New South Wales. Methods: TAFE campuses will be matched in pairs with one campus randomly allocated to the intervention and the other to the control condition. Eligible students will be enrolled in a class that runs for at least 12 months; aged 16 years or older; not meet Australian health guidelines for at least one smoking, fruit, vegetable, alcohol or physical activity health risk behaviour; and not attend any other TAFE campus. Online and telephone support condition: At 16 intervention campuses, electronic feedback and effective online programs (e.g. QuitCoach, Healthy Eating Quiz, THRIVE, 10,000 Steps) and telephone services (e.g. NSW Quitline, Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service, ADIS) that target health risk behaviours will be offered to TAFE students during class via the baseline computer tablet. Control condition: The 16 TAFE campuses in the control condition will not receive any intervention. Measures: Primary outcome measures will assess: 1) tobacco smoking; 2) serves of fruit consumed daily; 3) serves of vegetables consumed daily; 4) standard drinks of alcohol per week and 5) metabolic equivalent minutes of physical activity per week.

To review the performance in management of acute appendicitis in a metropolitan health network in Melbourne, Australia, in the past five years, focusing on the cohort of patients managed conservatively, the management decisions and follow up results