Boston, MA Paid Clinical Trials

The objective of this study is to provide pain relief to patients with facet joint disease or head and neck pain related to compression of a nerve root. The goal is to provide palliative care with superior efficacy and longer relief compared to current methods. Read Less

There are few treatment options available for patients once they have failed standard psychopharmacological therapy for generalized anxiety disorder. Existing brain stimulation methods such as rTMS fail to target deep brain structures associated with anxiety disorders; structures such as the amygdala. In this double-blind sham-controlled clinical trial, the investigators propose to establish baseline severity of anxiety in 48 patients, then deliver eight treatments over four sessions of focused ultrasound stimulation to the amygdala. Anxiety severity will be assessed using standard psychometric scales after each session, and at follow-ups. Read Less

This is a Phase 1, open-label, dose escalation study to determine the safety and preliminary efficacy of voruciclib monotherapy in subjects with relapsed/refractory B cell malignancies or AML after failure of standard therapies or voruciclib in combination with venetoclax in subjects with relapsed or refractory AML Read Less

This study aims to assess \[11C\]acetate positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) as a biomarker for renal angiomyolipomas and pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) and an early biomarker of response to rapamycin in LAM patients. \[11C\]Acetate is a radioactive form of acetate, a nutrient commonly processed in our body's cells to generate fat and energy. Preclinical studies support the hypothesis that TSC tumors enhance lipid synthesis compared to normal tissues, suggesting that quantification of \[11C\]acetate in these tumors by PET/CT may provide a metabolic biomarker of disease. Participants in the study will undergo 1 or 2 PET/CT scans over 3 to 6 months at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA). \[11C\]acetate is administered through an intravenous catheter. This small amount of radioactivity is short-lived and eliminated from the body within a few hours. Read Less

This project aims to explore the feasibility and effects of a symptom-specific, brain-circuit-based, home-based neuromodulation therapy for addressing mood and memory symptoms in older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) in the context of dementia. Read Less

Our nation is facing the COVID-19 pandemic during an ongoing opioid epidemic. Effective treatment for patients with opioid use problems involves a treatment method called Medication-Assisted Treatment, or MAT. In MAT, patients receive a medication that reduces cravings and withdrawal symptoms and can prevent overdose. Patients also receive counseling. Because the medications that are used in MAT are controlled substances, this treatment is subject to a number of federal regulations. The need for social-distancing during the pandemic would have made following these regulations very difficult for patients and their providers. Because of these difficulties, the federal government eased regulations in March 2020, making it easier for patients to receive MAT with fewer (if any) in-person visits for medication and counseling. Our team is studying the effects of these policy changes on the treatment that patients with opioid use disorder receive and on their outcomes. We are using both quantitative analyses of large, existing databases and qualitative analyses of interviews with patients, providers, and policy-makers to study these effects. Read Less

Abdominal wall transplantation surgery is the transfer of abdominal wall tissues from a deceased human donor to a patient with a large abdominal wall defect. Abdominal wall transplantation is an innovative reconstructive procedure that has the potential to significantly improve the lives of patients with large abdominal wall defects. The purpose of this study is to develop the best practices for abdominal wall transplantation that will improve the outcomes of future abdominal wall transplant recipients. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a moderately low blood sugar stress on the nervous system. The investigators hope that information obtained from completing this study will help to reveal information about how a non-psychological stress impacts the parts of the brain that react to stress and the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that provides the body with involuntary or automatic control of heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. Read Less

The study is one part of a "bundle" of experiments that constitute Project Three of a National Eye Institute grant. Project Three includes a series of experiments that investigate how changing the input from a simulated AI can affect the decisions made by human observers in a two-alternative forced choice task (like the decision to recall a woman for further examination in mammography). HAICT 7, the experiment described here, investigates how changing prevalence affects human performance when AI is used as a Second Reader. Read Less

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality after renal transplantation, accounting for more than 30% of deaths. Elevated lipid levels (hyperlipidemia) are a frequent finding following transplantation and the immunosuppressive medications play a central role in the development or worsening of hyperlipidemia. In the general population, the correlation between elevated serum cholesterol and increased risk of cardiovascular disease is well established and the reduction in serum LDL cholesterol has proved to significantly reduce both morbidity and mortality. Statin based drugs are the standard of care in the management of hyperlipidemia. Commonly used statin-based drugs include atorvastatin (Lipitor), fluvastatin (Lescol, Lescol XL), lovastatin (Mevacor, Altoprev), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor), simvastatin (Zocor), and pitavastatin (Livalo). These drugs have been proven to lower lipid levels as well as cardiovascular risk. However, statin-based drugs also cause a variety of side effects. While the most commonly encountered side effects are toxicity to the liver and muscles, a few others have also been known to cause increased excretion of protein in the urine and kidney failure. These side effects are also more common in a renal transplant recipient due to the simultaneous administration of drugs that prevent rejection. Therefore, there is an emergent need for newer drugs which are both efficient and safe especially in this population PCSK-9 inhibitors (Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin Kinase-9 inhibitors) are a new class of drugs that are highly efficient in lowering lipid levels in the general population. However, an exclusive trial involving kidney transplant recipients is yet to be done. Through this study, we would like to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Evolocumab (trade name: Repatha) which is a PCSK-9 inhibitor developed by Amgen, Inc in renal transplant recipients. The study would involve a total of 120 patients across 3 different hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts. Read Less

One method of breast cancer screening involves radiologists reading digital tomosynthesis (DBT) images. DBT consists of a 3D stack of x-ray "slices" through the breast. The exam is accompanied by a 2D image like a standard mammogram, a single x-ray of the breast. In a screening setting, most cases are normal. Sometimes it is obvious that a case is normal from a quick look at the 2D image. It would speed up the process of screening if readers could dismiss a clearly normal case on the basis of the 2D image, alone, without looking at the DBT images. Obviously, the investigators would only want to "triage" cases in this way if the investigators were almost perfectly sure that no cancers would be missed. In this study, the investigators look at radiologist's willingness to triage cases and on the accuracy of their answers. In addition, the investigators ask about the impact of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) opinion. Would it be possible to triage an image on the basis of the AI opinion, alone? Radiologists will look at each case for up to five seconds and offer an opinion (on a 1-10 scale) about how sure they are that a case is normal. Next, they will see the opinion of the AI. Finally, they will say (using a 1-10) scale, how willing they would be for the AI to triage this case without human intervention. This study is the start of an effort to understand the conditions under which radiologists might be willing to declare a case "normal" with little or no human examination. Read Less

Background \& Significance. Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) have experienced improved postoperative survival shifting the focus away from minimizing mortality to curtailing morbidities. Critical illness following cardiac surgery induces catabolism which may impact functional status. Catabolism, a state in which protein breakdown exceeds protein synthesis, can lead to lean body mass (LBM) breakdown. LBM loss has been associated with poor clinical outcomes. Muscle ultrasound (mUS) has been utilized to measure LBM changes and the functional status score (FSS) was developed to assess functional status changes in children following hospitalization. The ability to identify LBM loss acutely and its association with FSS changes may lead to earlier interventions to preserve LBM and aid in outcome prediction. Specific Aims \& Hypotheses. Specific Aim 1 is to identify the percent change in LBM by mUS during the first postoperative week in children following complex cardiac surgery. Specific Aim 2 is to evaluate the relationship between percent change in LBM during the first postoperative week and the FSS at discharge and 6 and 12-month follow-up in children with CHD following complex cardiac surgery. The investigators hypothesize children with CHD following complex cardiac surgery will experience a decline in LBM and that there is a direct relationship between the change in LBM and postoperative FSS follow-up. Study Design \& Methods. The investigators are conducting a single-center, prospective, observational cohort study. Consecutive children (\> 3 months and \< 18 years of age) with CHD undergoing biventricular conversion will be enrolled. Patients will undergo a baseline mUS and FSS at the time of the index operation. Interval mUS will be obtained on the third and seventh postoperative day. Discharge mUS and FSS will be obtained and a remote FSS will be requested by the family at 6 and 12-months postoperatively. Demographics, pertinent laboratory, concomitant medications, nutrition and ultrasound variables will be collected. Outcomes. The primary outcomes will be change in LBM during the first postoperative week and change in FSS at 6 and 12-month follow-up in children following complex cardiac surgery. Change in LBM will be defined as a percent change in cross-sectional area of the quadriceps muscle layer thickness (QMLT). Change in FSS will be significant if the score drops 3 points or more from baseline at postoperative follow-up. Read Less