All Clinical Trials in Canada

Intravitreal topotecan has anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative and anti-fibrotic activity that we hypothesize may exhibit high efficacy for the treatment of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). A high efficacy for intravitreal topotecan has been exhibited in cell cultures of PVR. At the same time, intravitreal topotecan has been routinely used in the treatment of vitreous seeds from retinoblastoma. At doses of 5-30 micrograms per injection, no adverse events have been reported with the use of intravitreal topotecan. Therefore, the current prospective matched phase II trial aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of intravitreal topotecan for severe PVR in patients with RRD. Read Less

Uncontrolled hypertension is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in hypertension and treatment using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has been shown to effectively lower blood pressure. Despite its clinical significance, OSA remains underdiagnosed in patients with hypertension, because the current standard of care to diagnose OSA is in-laboratory polysomnography, which is inconvenient and often inaccessible for high-risk populations. An alternative to in-laboratory polysomnography is home sleep apnea testing, which has been validated against in-laboratory polysomnography and may be more convenient, accessible, and potentially cost-effective. The objective of this study is to compare home sleep apnea testing to in-laboratory polysomnography in a randomized controlled trial. The investigators will assess whether the use of home sleep apnea testing, compared to use of in-laboratory polysomnography, leads to higher rates of OSA diagnosis and treatment using CPAP, a reduction in blood pressure, improved sleep-related outcomes, and greater patient satisfaction among patients with hypertension at 6 months. The investigators will also assess whether home testing is cost-effective. Read Less

Endometriosis, is a condition where tissue from the uterus, called endometrium, grows outside of the uterus. This effects up to 10% of women, and can lead to long-lasting, moderate to severe pelvic pain, infertility and other symptoms. This can affect a woman's quality of life (including increased risk of depression and anxiety) and is associated with increased healthcare costs. Current treatments are often limited by serious side effects, and many women resort to surgery. Surgery is also associated with complications and there are long wait times for procedures, sometimes over 3 years. This means that many women continue to suffer from symptoms while they wait for surgery. Therefore, new effective treatments for endometriosis pain are needed. New research suggests that inflammation and stress caused by lack of oxygen in the affected areas may cause endometriosis. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), where patients are placed in a small chamber with higher than normal levels of oxygen, suppresses inflammation and promotes tissue healing. Because inflammation is central to this condition, HBOT has emerged as a potential treatment. In this study, the investigators will test if HBOT, in addition to the standard treatments, is more effective at treating endometriosis pain than the standard treatments alone. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare adverse even rates after EMR for large (≥20mm) flat colorectal polyps (so-called laterally spreading lesions, LSLs) when performing complete or no defect closure. It will also evaluate lesion recurrence after EMR for large colorectal LSLs. The hypothesis is that performing complete defect closure following EMR of large colorectal LSLs will result in lower rates of adverse events compared to cases where no defect closure is performed. For participants with planned EMR, endoscopists will perform EMRs as per standard of care and: * prophylactic defect closure will either not be performed (control group), or will be performed (experimental group); * then, patients will be called between 14 and 44 days after EMR to assess for possible adverse events, and electronic medical files will be verified for emergency room visits and healthcare received for an adverse event; * finally, patients will undergo follow-up colonoscopy 6 months and 18 months after randomization. Read Less

Patients with memory and cognitive deficits following TBI that do not respond to conventional treatments experience a decrease in quality of life. Despite advances in neuroimaging, genetics, pharmacology and psychosocial interventions in the last half century, little progress has been made in altering the natural history of the condition or its outcome. This study would explore whether a surgical therapy is safe and potentially effective in patients who develop refractory memory and cognitive deficits following TBI. Preclinical studies suggest that DBS may improve memory deficits in TBI models. Moreover, DBS delivered to the fornix has shown promising clinical results in patients with Alzheimer's disease. The main mechanism for the improvements induced by DBS in memory tests is the development of multiple forms of plasticity. Read Less

Bronchodilators are medications that open the bronchi to help patients with COPD to breathe better. It is still not known exactly how this effect improves shortness of breath in people with COPD. The goal of this clinical trial is to determine whether bronchodilators lower resistance in the smallest airways in the lungs, and whether this will improve the feeling of breathlessness in these patients. The main questions the investigators attempt to answer are: * In patients with COPD, does treatment with a short-acting bronchodilator improve small airway resistance during exercise? * In patients with COPD, does acute treatment with short-acting bronchodilator improve breathlessness and exercise endurance? The investigators will compare short-acting bronchodilators to placebo (a substance that contains no drug) to see if the bronchodilator medications improve small airway resistance and breathlessness during exercise. Participants will: * Visit the research laboratory 3 visits to complete tests of lung function and exercise * Complete 2 identical visits (Visit 2 and 3), one in which the participant receives bronchodilator and one in which the participant receives placebo. Read Less

This is a dual arm, single centre, investigator initiated study to investigate the use of FAZA-PET in combination with MRI. FAZA is an investigational radiotracer used in PET scans. FAZA PET/MRI will be used to measure hypoxia in sarcoma tissues and will occur for: Arm A: before neo-adjuvant radiation/chemotherapy treatment; Arm B: before surgery (optional). After the FAZA PET/MRI scan, patients will be followed up via telephone, 48 hours after the scan, to see if there are any side effects due to FAZA. Up to 30 patients enrolled in Arm B will receive pimonidazole approximately 16-20 hours before surgery. Read Less

Living in poverty has a profound negative impact on parenting stress and children's health. When poverty occurs early in childhood and continues for a long time, the impact on child health can be lifelong. Child poverty is common, affecting about 20% of Canadian children. Many low income families may not be receiving all the social benefits for which they are eligible. There are calls for primary care providers to ask patients if they have difficulty making ends meet at the end of the month and to intervene if poverty is identified, but it is not known if intervening can improve parent's and children's health. This study will test whether a Community Support Worker who helps families with young children navigate the social service system by reviewing social needs (like food, housing or energy insecurity) and income supports can lead to increased family income, reduced parenting stress and an improvement in their child's health. The Community Support Worker will help families complete income tax, apply for benefits and community supports for which they are eligible. The investigators will also study the effect of this intervention on health care utilization. Our study will be conducted in Toronto and Kingston in primary care practices participating in the TARGet Kids! primary care research network. Results from this study will help health care providers and policy makers understand whether Community Support Workers are an effective way to integrate the health and social service systems to improve parent and child health. Read Less

This is a multi-center clinical study enrolling up to 86 participants. The primary objectives are to determine the objective response rate (ORR) established by the confirmed best overall response (BOR) following intratumoral administration of DaRT - Diffusing Alpha-Emitters Radiation Therapy, as well as to assess the Duration of Response (DOR) 6 months from initial response. Secondary objectives are to assess the safety of DaRT, and to assess the progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), Overall Duration of Response (O-DOR), local control and quality of life (QOL) for patients treated with DaRT. Read Less

The purpose of this open-label study is to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics of WVE-006 in participants with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) following Period 1 single ascending dose (SAD) and Period 2 multiple ascending doses (MAD), respectively. Read Less

Breast cancer predominates among cancer diagnoses in Canadian women. It accounts for around 25% of new cases and contributes to 13% of all cancer-related deaths. In 2020, almost 27,400 Canadian women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,000 of them died from it. Mammography is still the preferred method for screening for breast cancer. Although progress has been made over the years, mammography does have its drawbacks. These include physical discomfort for patients, exposure to X-rays and reduced effectiveness in dense breasts. The study team is therefore interested in developing a new breast cancer detection method, the BRAVE method. The BRAVE method, short for "BRA-based Visco-Elastography", uses the high contrast of elastic stiffness in malignant breast tumors to detect possible cancer cases without the need for X-rays or breast compression. The first phase, carried out on a small scale pilot study, aimed to assess the method's ability to distinguish a breast with no abnormalities from one with confirmed cancer. The second phase (current phase), carried out on a larger scale, aims to confirm the sensitivity and specificity of the method in detecting malignant lesions, i.e. to determine whether the method is capable of distinguishing between several types of breast masses. Read Less

This is an interventional, single-centre, single-arm, non-randomized, prospective, feasibility trial investigating salvage MR-guided High-Dose-Rate brachytherapy for prostate bed recurrence after postoperative radiotherapy. Read Less