Surgery Clinical Trials

This study aims to investigate how non-invasive, non-significant risk EMG monitoring can be used intraoperatively to objectively characterize neuraxial anesthesia (i.e. spinal and caudal blockade) in pediatric patients undergoing surgery. The investigators will also attempt to measure the effect of adjunctive intrathecal clonidine on spinal and caudal blockade using EMG. This study also aims to quantify the impact of sevoflurane on basal muscle tone based on EMG changes. This study aims to generate pilot data on this subject to help design future studies. Read Less

The investigators plan a pilot study to evaluate patient tolerance of the GE Portrait Mobile Monitoring Solution, along with appropriate alert thresholds, and clinical utility. Data obtained in the proposed pilot cohort will guide design of a future robust randomized trial comparing clinical interventions and serious complications with blinded versus unblinded continuous ward monitoring. Read Less

This study is a randomized controlled trial to assess whether the implementation of a TKA Personalized Outcome Prediction Tool to set expectation, in addition to targeted interventions to address patients with poor baseline mental health and poor physical function, improves satisfaction at 1-year (when compared to standard of care). Read Less

Acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery for congenital heart defects (CHD) in children affects up to 60% of high risk-patients and is a major cause of both short- and long-term morbidity and mortality. Despite effort, to date, no successful therapeutic agent has gained widespread success in preventing this postoperative decline in renal function. Nitric oxide is an intricate regulator of acute inflammation and coagulation and is a potent vasodilator. The investigators hypothesize that nitric oxide, administered during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), may reduce the incidence of AKI. Read Less

Determine whether operating room air filtration and sterilization with the ActivePure system reduces a composite of serious surgical site infections, infection-related complications, and death within 30 days after surgery. Read Less

This study is being done to see if preoperative transversus abdominis plane (TAP) analgesia will provide similar postoperative pain control, hospital length of stay, and postoperative outcomes compared to surgeon-initiated wound infiltration with local anesthetic in participants undergoing laparotomy for gynecologic indications. Read Less

This is a research study to determine if a particular method of providing nutrition improves the clinical outcomes of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) who have undergone abdominal surgery and would require nutrition delivered via the bloodstream (called total parenteral nutrition or TPN). The nutrition method we are testing is a structured nutrition delivery plan that involves tube feeding, oral nutrition supplements, and the use of a device (called an indirect calorimeter or IC) to measure calorie needs. This study will also use two devices to measure fat and muscle mass to examine changes during hospitalization. Subjects will be followed throughout hospitalization where nutrition status and fat and muscle mass will be closely monitored. Study activities will begin within 72 hours of a patient's abdominal surgery. TPN (total parenteral nutrition, a method of feeding that bypasses the usual process of eating and digestion) will be started, a non-invasive method of assessing calorie needs (indirect calorimetry (IC)) will be started, a urine sample will be collected to help assist in protein needs, and fat/muscle mass will be measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and an ultrasound. This is a minimal risk study and all products/devices used are non-invasive and FDA-approved. Indirect calorimetry and urine sample collection will be conducted every 3 days during the stay in the Intensive Care Unit - ICU, then every 5 days until hospital discharge. BIA and muscle ultrasound will be conducted every 7 days during ICU stay, then every 14 days until hospital discharge. Read Less

This is a prospective, non-randomized, clinical trial of discarded liver transplants that have received normothermic machine perfusion (NMP), compared with standard cold preservation liver transplants. The discarded livers rejected by all other centers and meeting pre-NMP eligibility criteria will receive NMP using the OrganOx® metra device. The NMP-treated liver that meets the viability criteria will be transplanted to patients who are eligible and consented to the study. Liver transplant outcomes will be ascertained during 12 months post-transplantation. The results of the trial will be compared with those of contemporary comparison groups of patients who received the standard criteria donor liver transplantation. Read Less

This is a prospective randomized blinded controlled trial that will enroll 175 subjects undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass at NorthShore University HealthSystem. The purpose of this study is to compare clinical outcomes in elective and urgent cardiac surgical patients at NorthShore University HealthSystem when receiving sugammadex, a common neuromuscular blockade reversal drug given after surgery and before the breathing tube is removed vs. those patients who do not receive sugammadex (placebo) group. The Investigators will compare the following outcomes in both the sugammadex and placebo groups during patients hospital stay: # of patients who have the breathing tube removed within 6 hour of the end of surgery, time it takes to remove the breathing tube after surgery, ICU and hospital length of stay, cost of the ICU stay, time to achieve a train of four ratio of > or equal to 0.9, whether patients develop pneumonia or not, whether they require the breathing tube to be replaced during their hospital stay and to compare the nursing perception of patients recovery within first 24 hours of their ICU stay. Read Less

The risk of developing a blood clot occurs in up to 60% of all critical care patients. Many times enoxaparin (or Lovenox) is given to patients who are at a higher risk of developing clots in their legs or lungs. There are two standard doses of enoxaparin that are recommended by the drug companies. These two doses have never been directly compared in trauma, general, and vascular surgery patients. The purposes of this study are: to compare the development of blood clots in patients receiving 30mg twice daily of enoxaparin compared to patients receiving 40mg once daily of enoxaparin. to determine if there is higher risk of bleeding complications in patients receiving 30mg twice daily of enoxaparin compared to patients receiving 40mg once daily. Patients enrolled into the study will be randomized to receive enoxaparin, 30mg twice daily or enoxaparin, 40mg once daily. Patients will then be monitored for signs and symptoms of blood clots. At the time of discharge (or before, if medically indicated), an ultrasound test will be performed to look for blood clots in the patient's legs. The investigators will compare incidence of blood clots formed between the 2 groups of patients to determine if one dose of enoxaparin relates to a lower rate of blood clots in critically ill patients. The investigators will also compare the incidence of bleeding complications between the 2 groups. Read Less

In this study the investigators will evaluate the acceptability of a communication intervention for fecal ostomy surgery (CI-oSurg) to address the needs of adults who are undergoing fecal ostomy surgery. The investigators will recruit 24 patients and 4 clinicians (surgical nurses, wound ostomy nurses). At least half of patients are 65 years or older to understand the unique needs of older adults recovering from fecal ostomy surgery that might impact intervention acceptability. Questionnaires will be administered at two time-points for patient participants: upon study start and 4 weeks after exposure to the intervention. Read Less

The objective of this study is to compare open and minimally invasive pancreatic and liver resection techniques and analyze the different outcome variables from the clinical standpoint. The plan is to investigate patient survival, length of stay, complication rates, operative time, transfusion rate, 30 and 90-day readmission rate, and hospital charges. Read Less