Pittsburgh, PA Paid Clinical Trials

Endometriosis is a complex, heterogeneous disease that may present inconsistently across women. Using disease-specific biomarkers and advanced biostatistics, DotLab is developing a biomarker test to confirm the presence of endometriosis.This is a multi-center, prospective, observational, minimal risk study in women undergoing laparoscopy, laparotomy or other pelvic surgical procedure for endometriosis, infertility or another benign gynecological indication. Participants will undergo 2 study visits for collection of blood and saliva and completion of study questionnaires. Read Less

Low-flow, low-gradient (LF-LG) aortic stenosis (AS) may occur with depressed (i.e. Classical LF; CLF) or preserved (i.e. Paradoxical LF; PLF) LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and both situations are amongst the most challenging encountered in patients with valvular heart disease. Although, CLF-LG AS is recognized has an important clinical entity, current ACC/AHA-ESC guidelines however do not provide precise recommendations for clinical management of these patients . PLF-LG AS is a new entity recently described by our group, which is characterized by more pronounced LV concentric remodeling with smaller LV cavity size and a restrictive physiology leading to impaired LV filling, altered myocardial function, and a low-flow state. Up to recently, this entity was often misdiagnosed, leading to underestimation of AS severity and inappropriate delays for aortic valve replacement surgery (SAVR). The two main challenges in patients with CLF- or PLF- LG AS are to distinguish between a true-severe (TS) versus a pseudo-severe (PS) stenosis and to accurately quantify the extent of myocardial impairment. Unfortunately, the traditional resting and stress echocardiographic parameters currently used to assess the severity of valvular and myocardial dysfunction in patients with LF-LG AS are far from being optimal, and as a consequence, quantification of disease severity and therapeutic management may not be appropriate in a substantial proportion of these patients. THE GENERAL OBJECTIVES of the TOPAS study are to develop and validate new parameters and biomarkers to improve the assessment of stenosis severity and myocardial impairment, the risk-stratification, and the clinical decision making in patients with LF-LG AS and to assess the impact of the different therapeutic strategies on patient outcomes. Read Less

A multicenter, single-dose study in children 12 to <17 years of age, 6 to <12 years of age, and 2 to <6 years of age who are scheduled for elective open inguinal hernia repair. Enrollment in this study will start with the oldest age group (12 to <17 years) and will continue in a stepwise fashion until appropriate doses are established for all 3 pediatric age groups (12 to <17 years, 6 to <12 years, 2 to <6 years). Read Less

The purpose of the research is to evaluate new blood tests, which measure immunity to the COVID-19 coronavirus after vaccination. These tests will be used to measure T-cell and antibody immunity after COVID-19 vaccination. Recent studies show that less than one-fifth of chronically immunosuppressed transplant recipients developed anti-receptor-binding domain antibodies after the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine (Boyarski, 2021). ood sampling at periodic intervals. These samples will be used to measure T-cell and antibody immunity to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Read Less

This study gathers information on patients at different stages of chronic pancreatitis to better understand the natural course and risk factors associated with pancreatitis. Chronic pancreatitis is a disease that occurs when the pancreas is inflamed (swollen and irritated) all of the time. It is important for doctors to diagnose chronic pancreatitis in the beginning stages of the disease. Over time, as chronic pancreatitis gets worse, the pancreas may stop working correctly. Since treatment options for advanced (end-stage) chronic pancreatitis are limited, patients with early-stage chronic pancreatitis or those at high risk of developing chronic pancreatitis are ideally suited for interventions to prevent the development of end-stage chronic pancreatitis and its associated complications. Information from this study may help researchers to develop lab tests for early diagnosis and prediction of disease progression, to understand disease mechanisms, and to discover genetic factors affecting susceptibility and progression. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to assemble a multicenter prospective cohort of patients with enterococcal bloodstream infections (BSIs) to provide data on outcomes of patients with enterococcal BSIs for sample size calculations for future trials, as well as to characterize enterococcal isolates causing BSIs in order to comprehensively dissect the molecular epidemiology of infecting organisms for future studies. Read Less

The PHA Registry (PHAR) is a national study about people who have pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). PHAR collects information from people with PAH and CTEPH who are cared for in participating PHA-accredited Pulmonary Hypertension Care Centers throughout the U.S. PHAR will determine how people with PAH and CTEPH are evaluated, tested, and treated, and will observe how well these participants do. The goal is to see if people with PH are treated according to recommended guidelines, and to see if there are certain factors that can lead to better or worse outcomes. PHAR will include information about people with PAH and CTEPH in the U.S. who are seen at participating PHA-accredited PH Care Centers. PHAR contains data about patient care and outcomes. Specifically, data in the PHAR includes information on diagnosis; clinical status; socioeconomic status; diagnosis test results; body size; treatment information; interest in participating in clinical trials; family health and social history; and information about smoking, alcohol, or drug use. Participants are followed over time, and provide updates such as changes in therapy, how often participants need to go to the hospital, and survival. Such information may help healthcare providers provide better care. Read Less

The objective of this trial is to assess the safety and effectiveness of the study device in subjects with degenerative mitral valve disease receiving a mitral valve repair without cardiopulmonary bypass (treatment group) when compared to subjects receiving mitral valve repair using standard surgical techniques with cardiopulmonary bypass (control group). Read Less

BACKGROUD: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is increasingly used to treat unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis. Protected LM PCI is considered standard of care in most centers. OCT allows for precise determination of stent placement, stent expansion and apposition. The pattern of vessel healing can be very precisely studied if immediate post-stent implantation OCT/IVUS data is compared to the 6-month post-PCI interval. While OCT cannot be optimally used for ostial lesion imaging, IVUS can be used to image ostial lesions/stent placement. Optimal and consistent vessel healing is particularly important in LM PCI where stent thrombosis is a potential complication with serious adverse outcome. HYPOTHESIS: Due to the absorption of the polymer of the Boston Scientific Synergy Stent over time, early strut coverage patterns and timeline may be different than previously observed in DES and BMS stents in LM PCI. Late acquired stent malapposition (LASM) is expected to differ from previous observations with traditional DES/BMS. Stent coverage in LM PCI will be studied with OCT or IVUS at six and 12 months and compared to OCT or IVUS at the time of stent implantation. OCT/IVUS data will be analyzed in a core lab (CRF) and correlated with clinical outcomes at 6 and 12 months. Read Less

For women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, lumpectomy followed by radiation is a common treatment option. Radiation treatment is typically delivered to the whole breast, five times per week, for anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks. The radiation helps kill any cancer cells that may have been left over following the surgery but causes skin burns. Many studies have demonstrated that radiation to the whole breast is not necessary, that it can be delivered to a portion of the breast where the cancer is more likely to recur. A technique called a Permanent Breast Seed Implant (PBSI) involving the implantation of radioactive seeds has been developed to deliver the radiation to a portion of the breast. The procedure is performed on an out-patient basis under local anesthesia and light sedation. Because the radioactive seeds are permanently implanted in the breast, the patient is able to live a normal life while the seeds deliver the prescribed radiation to the breast. Previous studies on PBSI demonstrate that it is a safe and effective alternative form of radiation for appropriately selected patients after lumpectomy. However, those results have been obtained mainly from a single institution, with only 4 patients treated in another center. Further research is still needed to evaluate its safety in a multi-center setting. The purpose of this study is to ensure the appropriate training of clinicians who will be performing this procedure and to capture long term outcomes and rare complications if any. Read Less