Arthritis Clinical Trials in Birmingham, AL

This phase Ib trial studies the side effects of nivolumab and to see how well it works in treating patients with autoimmune disorders and cancer that has spread to other places in the body or cannot removed by surgery. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Read Less

The purpose of the chronic pain master protocol is to compare independent pain interventions and establish an overarching structure for the disease-state addenda (DSA) and intervention-specific appendices (ISAs). The ISAs may start independently of other ISAs as interventions become available for clinical testing. Read Less

The goals of treating knee osteoarthritis (OA) is to improve or maintain quality of life, mobility and function, pain relief, and improve inflammation. The different treatment options for knee OA have been extensively studied and implemented, but the optimum treatment is still undecided. There is a belief that anti-inflammatory sleeve technology may be beneficial in treating knee OA. The purpose of this study is to determine if the Reparel™ knee sleeve results in superior mobility, functionality, and pain outcomes as compared to a placebo knee sleeve in managing knee OA. Read Less

The purpose of this trial is to investigate the efficacy and safety of dapansutrile (OLT1177®) tablets in subjects with an acute gout flare. Read Less

The 2021 ACR RA treatment guideline, based on widely acknowledged low to moderate quality evidence, recommends switching to a non-tumor necrosis factor (TNFi) biologic (choose among existing medications, currently, rituximab, abatacept, tocilizumab, or sarilumab) or a targeted synthetic DMARD arm (tsDMARD; choose among existing medications, currently, tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib) in patients with active RA despite the use of a TNFi-biologic. In practice, most patients receive another TNFi-biologic, i.e., a second TNFi-biologic first. This is not based on solid evidence, but on arbitrary algorithms often proposed by health insurance plans, and/or physician experience and habit (TNFis launched 22 yrs ago vs. the first tsDMARD 8 years ago vs. first non-TNF-biologic launched 17 years ago). This study will fill a critical knowledge gap by generating CER data for important PROs between these treatment options, switching to a non-TNFi biologic or a tsDMARD in patients with active RA despite the use of a TNFi-biologic. Read Less

This randomized pragmatic trial will generate knowledge about strategies used to de-escalate tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) therapy in patients with juvenile spondyloarthritis with sustained inactive disease and are treated at one of the 29 participating pediatric healthcare systems. This open label study will be conducted in the setting of routine clinical care and will compare the risk and timing of flare (Aim 1) and patients' lived experiences (Aim 2) across three arms. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to develop an pharmacist-led preoperative opioid taper intervention for patients undergoing total knee or hip replacement who are on chronic opioids before their surgery. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is the intervention feasible and acceptable to patients? * Does the intervention result in a decrease in opioid dose during the preoperative period? Participants will meet with a clinical pharmacist, who will provide some basic education on pain and opioids, and will propose an opioid taper schedule. The pharmacist will then follow-up with the participant by phone each week until surgery to assess progress and adjust the taper as necessary. Read Less

This mechanistic clinical trial proposes to test whether a five-day course of mindfulness meditation training (MMT) and tDCS, and their combination, can enhance pain modulatory balance and pain-related brain function, reduce clinical pain, among African Americans and non-Hispanic whites with knee osteoarthritis (OA). This approach will provide evidence that targeting stress and pain-related brain function will reduce OA-related pain and ethnic group differences therein. Read Less

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent form of arthritis and race is a risk factor for poor outcomes. Non-Hispanic Black individuals (NHB) report greater disability and pain severity compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). These differences are reinforced through social and biological mechanisms, ultimately resulting in disparities in pain experience and associated quality of life. National efforts to reduce analgesic utilization highlight the critical need for safe, effective, and accessible alternatives for pain relief for underserved/at-risk populations. Low-carbohydrate diets (LCDs) reduce inflammation and pain independent of weight loss, indicating that diet interventions offer a non-pharmacological alternative. However, racial differences exist in metabolism that are rarely addressed in diet intervention studies. Therefore, a LCD may have greater pain-reducing effects in NHBs and provide an alternative treatment for pain. This will be the first study to examine the efficacy of these diets to reduce knee OA pain with an emphasis on race and interactions with biopsychosocial variables. Aim 1: To investigate the efficacy of the LCD to reduce pain and improve QOL. Hypothesis 1: The LCD group will show significantly greater reductions in: self-reported pain and evoked pain when compared to the USDA diet. Hypothesis 2: The LCD group will show greater improvements in: QOL, mood, and self-reported improvement. Hypothesis 3: Both diets will result in improved pain disability, severity, catastrophizing and pain-related fear; the LCD will outperform the USDA diet. Objective 2: To explore racial differences in diet effects and baseline measures. Hypothesis 1: NHBs will show greater improvements in pain, QOL, and mood. Hypothesis 2: NHBs will report greater food insecurity and less proximity to grocery stores. Hypothesis 3: Diet quality will be negatively associated with baseline pain sensitivity. Objective 3: To determine whether physiological variables contribute to diet effects or lack thereof. Hypothesis 1: Baseline physiological measures will predict: pain sensitivity and reductions in pain. NHBs will show greater inflammation at baseline than NHWs. Hypothesis 2: Change in physiological measures will be related to: change in pain, change in QOL, self-reported improvement and mood. NHWs will show greater reductions in inflammation and adiposity than NHBs. Read Less

This study is being conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ASA compared to placebo in the management of osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms of the knee. Read Less

The COVID-19 VaccinE Response in Rheumatology patients (COVER) study is a multicenter randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a mRNA COVID-19 vaccine supplemental dose (booster) in patients with autoimmune conditions and to evaluate the impact of different immunomodulatory therapies on vaccine response. The investigators propose to recruit up to 1000- patients with autoimmune conditions who have a completed 2-dose regime of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (>28 days prior) and who are planning to receive an additional dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (i.e., booster). Participants in this study will be men and women 18 years and older with confirmed rheumatic disease, including psoriatic arthritis (PsA), axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who express a decision to receive the mRNA vaccination booster within 30 days post enrollment. A primary objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that holding certain medications for a brief period of time around the time of COVID-19 vaccination might improve the response to the vaccine while not unduly having safety concerns with respect to the effects of their disease. During the study, participants using the immunomodulatory therapies described outlined in protocol will be randomized to temporarily hold (for 2 weeks) versus continue after they receive the COVID-19 vaccine supplemental dose. Patients who temporarily stop one of their medications for their autoimmune inflammatory disease may be at increased risk of flares of their autoimmune condition. If these occur, they are expected to occur within 2 - 4 weeks of treatment interruption. Detailed protocol outlines the hold schedules for the therapies to be randomized in this study. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to determine the clinical efficacy of a novel sustained dynamic compression intramedullary nail for tibiotalocalcaneal (TTC) arthrodesis. Read Less