All Clinical Trials in Canada

The epidemic of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes is attributable in large part to unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity. In the Fall of 2016, the Québec Government launched its first-ever Government Health Prevention Policy (PGPS) to act on a set of factors to improve the health status and quality of life of the population of Quebec and to reduce social inequalities in health. NutriQuébec is a web-based prospective cohort study whose primary aim is to quantify the impact of the implementation of the PGPS on the Québec population's eating habits over the years. NutriQuébec will recruit over the next 3 years 20,000 adults living in the Province of Québec in Canada through a vast multimedia campaign designed to reach different segments of the population, including subgroups with a low socioeconomic status. Participants will be invited to complete on a web-based platform nine core questionnaires on a yearly basis. Questionnaires will assess several dimensions related to lifestyle, including eating habits and physical activity habits, as well as a large number of personal characteristics and global health status. The time course of the changes in eating habits will be analyzed in conjecture with the implementation of the PGPS to quantify its impact at a population level. Data will be analyzed while accounting for sociodemographic weight of participants, to achieve representativeness of the adult Québec population. NutriQuébec will provide essential data for the long-term evaluation of eating habits after Québec's PGPS is launched. Read Less

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) contributes to over 350,000 sudden deaths each year in the US. Malignant VTs involve an electrical "short circuit" in the heart, formed by narrow channels of surviving tissue inside myocardial scar. Current treatment for VT consists of either implantable defibrillators (ICDs), suppressive drug therapy, catheter ablation or a combination of all 3. Implantable Defibrillators (ICDs) reduce sudden death and can terminate some ventricular tachycardia (VT) without shocks, but they don't prevent VT. The occurrence of ≥1 ICD shock is associated with reductions in mental well-being and physical functioning, and increases in anxiety and sometimes depression. Further, ICD shocks have been consistently associated with adverse outcomes, including heart failure and death. Furthermore, the most important predictor of ICD shocks is a history of prior ICD shocks. Therapies to suppress VT include antiarrhythmic drug therapy and catheter ablation, neither however is universally effective. When VT recurs despite antiarrhythmic drug therapy and catheter ablation, novel yet invasive, approaches may be required. Such invasive procedures carry consequent risks of cardiac and extra-cardiac injury. Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a non-invasive technique that delivers high doses of radiation precisely to specified regions in the body, while minimizing exposure to adjacent tissue. This technique is currently, and commonly used in the treatment of cancer. Conventional application of SBRT has made use of its ability to spare non-target tissue, including for treatment of tumors near the heart. More recently, clinicians have changed the paradigm, by focusing radioablative energy on ventricular scar responsible for ventricular tachycardia. Pre-clinical studies have supported the concept and were followed by first-in-human VT therapeutic experience in 2017. Subsequent studies have had encouraging results for patients who failed or were unable to tolerate conventional treatment. Read Less

This study will investigate the effects of atezolizumab on select cancer types in people whose analysis of tumour DNA and RNA indicates they may be sensitive to atezolizumab. This study aims to determine if the information from the cancer genome analysis corresponds with the effects of atezolizumab on individuals and their cancer. This is a Phase 2 study, which is undertaken after preliminary safety testing on a drug is completed, and will involve approximately 200 participants. Participants are assigned to one of 8 cohorts based on their primary tumour type: breast, lung, gastrointestinal (GI), primary unknown, genitourinary (GU), sarcoma, gynecological, and 'other' cancer types. Participants in all cohorts will receive the same dose of atezolizumab (1200 mg every 3 weeks). In the first stage for each cohort, 8 participants will be enrolled and if no participants respond to treatment, enrollment to that cohort will be closed. If 1 or more participants respond to treatment, up to 16 additional participants will be enrolled to that cohort. Participants continue on treatment until they no longer may benefit from the treatment or they decide to stop treatment. Read Less

The Canadian Pseudoexfoliation Glaucoma Study 1 is a randomized clinical trial that aims to compare two initial treatment options - Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) and Phacoemulsification (PHACO) - in newly diagnosed patients with pseudoexfoliation and need to lower the intraocular pressure. Patients with pseudoexfoliation and a recent decision to lower the intraocular pressure, who also have early asymptomatic lens opacification will be recruited and randomized to receive either SLT or PHACO. Patients will be followed for 2 years according to a target IOP protocol based on the Canadian Ophthalmological Society Glaucoma guidelines. Patients who do not achieve the target IOP with the initial randomization procedure will receive IOP lowering medications. The main outcome of interest will be the proportion of subjects who need IOP lowering medications after 2 years. Secondary outcomes include IOP reduction, time to need medications, patient reported outcomes in terms of visual function, and occurrence of adverse effects. To obtain longer follow-up information beyond two years, a chart review will be done 5 and 10 years after randomization. Read Less

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in Canada. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may become a valuable tool to non-invasively identify prostate cancer and assess its biological aggressiveness, which in turn will help doctors make better decisions about how to treat an individual patient's prostate cancer. Despite the promise of MRI for detecting and characterizing prostate cancer, there are several recognized limitations and challenges. These include lack of standardized interpretation and reporting of prostate MRI exams. The investigators propose to validate and improve a computer program computerized prediction tool that will use information from MR images to inform us how aggressive a prostate cancer is. The hypothesis is that this computer-aided approach will increase the reproducibility and accuracy of MRI in predicting the tumor biology information about the imaged prostate cancer. Read Less

Does weight loss surgery in patients with morbid obesity prior to knee replacement surgery improve outcomes from knee replacement surgery Read Less

In clinical practice, women living with type 1 diabetes frequently report that insulin requirements change across the menstrual cycle. Consequently, glycemic fluctuations are observed. This phenomenon could be explained by a decrease in insulin sensitivity during the second half of the menstrual cycle (luteal phase). Overall, despite an important proportion of women reporting glycemic and/or insulin variations across the menstrual cycle, studies to date have involved small sample sizes, and have had inconsistent results. The objective of this study will be to study glycemic fluctuations across the menstrual cycle using CGM data, alongside insulin data, in a large sample of women. Read Less

The aim of this project is to assess the rate of recovery of secondary hypothyroidism in patients with pituitary disorders. Read Less

This study will investigate the safety and efficacy of using robotic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (R-RPLND), a minimally invasive surgical approach, as the first-line of treatment for stage IIA/B (or equivalent) seminoma patients. R-RPLND will be trialed as an alternative to chemotherapy, radiation therapy (for seminoma patients) and open RPLND in this study. Read Less

This study aims to assess the feasibility of a shared-care model for low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients, primary care practitioners (PCPs) and the tertiary care center utilizing a digital health-based thyroid cancer assessment reminder system (TCARS) in Medable with an expedited referral to specialists for rapid assessment in case of a concern of recurrence. Read Less

Nova Scotians are aging and many are becoming frailer. People with frailty are more likely to live in worse health and do not recover well from major events, such as open heart surgery. Many people are also too frail to receive open heart surgery. Less invasive procedures called transcatheter aortic valve implantation, or TAVI, are provided for the frailest patients. While TAVI is life-saving, frailer patients are less likely to survive in better health after their operation. Patients in Nova Scotia can also wait up to 3-6 months for their operation where they become frailer or can die before receiving TAVI. The investigators believe that it is important to support these individuals to improve their frailty and overall health before their operation. Center-based cardiac rehabilitation is offered to patients after, but not before TAVI to improve their health. Center-based preoperative cardiac rehabilitation (i.e., PREHAB) can safely improve the function of frail patients who received open heart surgery. However, many patients cannot come to a center-based PREHAB because of transportation requirements to access the program. Another option is to support these patients with virtually delivered PREHAB, where they can stay in their homes. However, this possibility has not been studied. For this study, virtual PREHAB will be delivered using the virtual cardiac rehabilitation program in Nova Scotia to patients before TAVI. This intervention will be delivered by healthcare providers who routinely care for TAVI patients, including a medical director, program lead, nurse, physiotherapist, and dietician. Ther goal of this study is to determine if it is feasible and safe to use virtual PREHAB to reduce frailty before TAVI. This research fits with Research Nova Scotia's priorities to improve patient outcomes in those with significant long-term health conditions, and to provide accessible, safe, and quality virtual healthcare to patients so they can thrive after their operation. Read Less

This clinical trial will investigate the effects of capsules containing stool from healthy donors, called fecal microbial transplant (FMT), in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Read Less