Iowa Paid Clinical Trials

While appendectomy has been the main treatment of appendicitis for over 100 years, recent European studies found that, at least among highly selected patients, antibiotics alone can be an effective alternative. Surgeons and patients alike have a difficult time deciding if surgery or antibiotics are the best choice to treat appendicitis. The goal of the TRIAD is to evaluate the patients who are a part of the TRIAD implementation program and assess satisfaction and decisional regret for patients with appendicitis. This information will be used to inform the design of decision-support interventions to help patients improve their ability to make an informed decision in-line with their preferences and values. Read Less

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the most common chronic complication of diabetes, affecting about 50% of patients with diabetes and leading to severe morbidity, poor quality of life, high mortality, and high health care costs. Due to the complex structure and anatomy of the peripheral nervous system, DPN presents with a very broad spectrum of clinical symptoms and deficits, including severe pain, sensory deficits, foot ulcers and amputations. Presently there is no treatment for DPN and even with good blood glucose control DPN develops especially in patients with type 2 diabetes. There is a need to identify effective interventions for DPN. Preclinical studies have provided evidence that the combination of fish oil and salsalate is an effective treatment of DPN. The human subject study to be performed will examine the effect of fish oil with and without salsalate on the blood lipid profile and circulating metabolites of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Fish oil is an excellent source for the nutrition dependent omega-3 PUFA, primarily eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6). These fatty acids are the source of anti-inflammatory metabolites known as resolvin, neuroprotectin and maresin. Preclinical studies have also demonstrated that the metabolites of EPA and DHA are neuroprotective. Furthermore, when fish oil is combined with salsalate the production of these metabolites is increased in vivo. Thus, the investigators hypothesize that fish oil and salsalate will be an effective therapy of DPN. However, prior to doing a formal study of the effect of fish oil + salsalate on DPN there is a need to learn more about what concentration combination will provide the most efficacious effect on the omega-3 index (defined as the sum of EPA and DHA, as a percentage of total fatty acids in red blood cells) and that will safely increase the production of the anti-inflammatory metabolites. These studies will be performed at two sites the University of Iowa (Dr. Yorek) and University of Michigan (Dr. Pop-Busui) by treating human subjects with type 2 diabetes and DPN with either 2g or 4g of fish oil per day (capsules) for 4 months and then adding salsalate 1.5 g or 3g per day (tablets) to the fish oil treatments for an additional 2 months. At baseline and after treatment with fish oil alone and after treatment with the combination of fish oil and salsalate the omega-3 index and levels of circulating omega-3 PUFA metabolites will be determined as primary endpoints. Secondary endpoints will include determination of circulatory inflammatory markers and non-invasive measurements for DPN. The risks to subjects are minimal and are very reasonable in relation to the importance of the knowledge to be gained. Read Less

This study examines how certain risk factors (such as age, gender, other medical conditions, and the type of immunotherapy used to treat the cancer) affect whether a patient with a malignant solid tumor will develop mild or serious side effects from the immunotherapy medications. Immunotherapy is the type of treatment that helps the body's immune system fight cancer. In the future, this information may help doctors make better decisions about cancer treatments. Read Less

Previous research suggests that children and adolescents with cancer are at heightened risk of late effects that can occur months or years after cancer treatment, yet little is known about programs that increase their return for follow-up cancer care and late effects surveillance. This study will evaluate the impact of an electronic personal health record and education system, SurvivorLink, for pediatric cancer survivors and their caregivers. The researchers will develop a standardized intervention and training for the SurvivorLink trial, followed by conducting a Hybrid Type 1 effectiveness-implementation, clustered randomized, waitlist control trial to evaluate the impact of SurvivorLink on pediatric cancer patients' one year follow-up visits and completion of screening tests. The study will also assess the impact of SurvivorLink on caregiver's patient activation, survivor's and caregiver's quality of life, and self-efficacy to manage a chronic condition. This study will provide the evidence base about the effects of the system to improve follow-up care for children and adolescents with cancer and best practices for implementation for pediatric cancer centers. Read Less

This will be a prospective, randomized, noninferiority clinical trial comparing rehabilitation methods post-total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Population of interest is adult hip/knee clinic patients over age 18 who are indicated for unilateral primary total knee arthroplasty. All TKA patients are prescribed physical therapy (PT) for rehabilitation post-operatively. The investigators will compare this current treatment with a new, validated, wearable smart knee brace (FM2 Knee Brace) that can be used for rehabilitation post-TKA. Following enrollment in the study, the investigators will match and randomize participants into two cohorts (outpatient PT versus FM2 Knee Brace). Outpatient PT group will be prescribed routine six-week course of outpatient PT (no pool exercises, remainder at therapist's discretion) to start as soon as possible upon discharge. The FM2 Knee Brace group will complete device set up at pre-op visit and will be prescribed 3-4 exercises to complete at their discretion over six weeks. The investigators will collect measurements of knee flexion, extension, total arc of motion at pre-op visit and at 6-week, 3-month, and 1-year post-op visits. The investigators will also plan to record additional PROs, therapy compliance, and complication rates. The investigators will compare the two groups to test whether the new FM2 Knee Brace is noninferior to regular PT when recovering from TKA, and if the new technology could be an alternative to outpatient PT. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to determine if addition of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) to routine physical therapy improves movement-evoked pain in patients with fibromyalgia (FM). The study will also determine if addition of TENS to routine physical therapy (PT) improves disease activity and symptoms, increases adherence to physical therapy, increases the likelihood of meeting patient specific functional goals, and reduces medication use. Read Less

One in five hospitalized patients is prescribed an antimicrobial at the time of discharge, and a large proportion of these post-discharge antimicrobials are unnecessary. The investigators will evaluate a novel method for reviewing post-discharge antimicrobial prescriptions in real-time with the goal of improving antimicrobial selection and duration. Read Less

The primary purpose of this study is to determine whether or not there is a correlation between MRI and ultrasound for the diagnosis of lower limb stress injuries. Patients that are seen at the University of Iowa Sports Medicine Center with a suspected diagnosis of a lower limb stress injury will be recruited. These patients will undergo a diagnostic ultrasound of the affected region prior to undergoing an MRI of that region. Then, the ultrasound findings will be compared to the MRI findings to determine if a correlation exists. Read Less

This phase II Lung-MAP treatment trial test the combination of targeted drugs (capmatinib, osimertinib, and/or ramucirumab) in treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer that may have spread from where it first started to nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or distant parts of the body (advanced) and that has EGFR and MET gene changes. Capmatinib and osimertinib are in a class of medications called kinase inhibitors. They work by blocking the action of the abnormal protein that signals cancer cells to multiply. This helps stop or slow the spread of cancer cells and may help shrink tumors. Ramucirumab is a monoclonal antibody that may prevent the growth of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow. Giving capmatinib, osimertinib, and/or ramucirumab and targeting abnormal gene changes in tumor cells may be effective in shrinking or stabilizing advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less

DECAMP 1 PLUS aims to improve the efficiency of the diagnostic evaluation of patients with indeterminate pulmonary nodules (8-25 mm). Molecular biomarkers for lung cancer diagnosis measured in minimally invasive and non-invasive biospecimens may be able to distinguish between malignant or benign indeterminate pulmonary nodules in high-risk smokers. Ultimately, this study aims to validate molecular as well as clinical and imaging biomarkers of lung cancer in individuals with indeterminate lung nodules. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of cochlear implantation in adults 65 years of age and older. Read Less

This study aims to show that giving high dose, intravenous vitamin C in addition to standard care to burned critically ill patients will be associated with less organ dysfunction, improved survival and a quicker rate of recovery. In this study, all patients will receive standard care and of the patients will also receive high dose intravenous vitamin C, while the other half of patients will receive placebo. Read Less