Dexamethasone Treatment Options in Pennsylvania

A multimodal analgesic regimen including regional anesthesia is used at UPMC Shadyside for primary thoracic and major abdominal surgeries. The current standard-of-care regional anesthesia techniques include Erector Spinae Plane (ESP) block for video assisted thorascopic surgery (VATS) and Quadratus Lumborum (QL) block for major abdominal surgery. These blocks are routinely administered as a continuous catheter technique in order to extend the duration of postoperative analgesia. Although rare, continuous nerve block techniques carry risks and limitations, including catheter dislodgement, migration, kinking and leaking at the site, bleeding, and infection. They are also much more expensive to perform and maintain than single-injection nerve blocks at this institution. Perioperative intravenous (IV) lidocaine is one of the safest local anesthetics, and its use has been shown to provide analgesia and reduce opioid requirements. Furthermore, it has been hypothesized that part of the analgesic efficacy of continuous peripheral nerve blocks may be due to the systemic effects of the local anesthetic infused at the site. Therefore, it is possible that the combination of a single block followed by an infusion of IV lidocaine may provide the same benefits as a continuous nerve block at a lower cost. The purpose of this study is to show that a single block technique plus IV lidocaine is non-inferior to a continuous block technique. For the purpose of this study we chose two surgical models--VATS and major abdominal surgery--and ESP and QL blocks, respectively. The study will be conducted as a prospective, randomized (1:1), open-label, active-comparator, noninferiority trial. The study will prospectively investigate the efficacy of continuous block versus single block plus IV lidocaine infusion for postoperative pain management in patients undergoing primary unilateral VATS or primary major abdominal surgery. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as dexamethasone, cisplatin, gemcitabine, and cytarabine, work in different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more cancer cells. Monoclonal antibodies, such as rituximab, can locate cancer cells and either kill them or deliver cancer-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Giving rituximab as maintenance therapy after stem cell transplantation may kill any remaining cancer cells. It is not yet known which salvage chemotherapy regimen is more effective before autologous stem cell transplantation in treating relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying salvage chemotherapy using dexamethasone, cisplatin, and gemcitabine to see how well it works compared to dexamethasone, cisplatin, and cytarabine given before autologous stem cell transplantation in treating patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This trial also is studying giving rituximab as maintenance therapy to see how well it works compared to no further therapy after stem cell transplantation. Rituximab was added to both salvage treatment arms for CD20+ patients in a protocol amendment in 2005. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to provide continued access to ixazomib and/or lenalidomide to participants who are continuing to have clinical benefit and to continue collecting relevant safety data to monitor safety in participants with Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma (NDMM) who are not eligible for stem cell transplant. Read Less

The Macular Edema Ranibizumab v. Intravitreal anti-inflammatory Therapy (MERIT) Trial will compare the relative efficacy and safety of intravitreal methotrexate, intravitreal ranibizumab, and the intravitreal dexamethasone implant for the treatment of uveitic macular edema persisting or reoccurring after an intravitreal corticosteroid injection. MERIT is a parallel design (1:1:1), randomized comparative trial with an anniversary close-out after 6 months of follow-up. The primary outcome is percent change in central subfield thickness from the baseline OCT measurement to the 12 week visit. Read Less

RATIONALE: Epoetin alfa may stimulate red blood cell production and may help improve cancer-related anemia and fatigue. Steroid therapy with dexamethasone may increase the effectiveness of epoetin alfa. It is not yet known if epoetin alfa is more effective with or without dexamethasone in treating anemia-related fatigue in patients with prostate cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying epoetin alfa and dexamethasone to see how well they work compared to epoetin alfa alone in treating anemia-related fatigue in patients with prostate cancer that is refractory to treatment with hormone therapy. Read Less

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies, such as rituximab, can block cancer growth in different ways. Some find cancer cells and kill them or carry cancer-killing substances to them. Others interfere with the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as methotrexate, leucovorin, vincristine, procarbazine, dexamethasone, and cytarabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving rituximab together with combination chemotherapy may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving rituximab together with combination chemotherapy works in treating patients with primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with allogeneic or autologous stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known whether stem cell transplantation is more effective than standard chemotherapy in treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying how well stem cell transplantation works compared to standard combination chemotherapy in treating patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in first remission. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known which regimen of combination chemotherapy is more effective for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is comparing different regimens of combination chemotherapy to see how well they work in treating children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known which regimen of chemotherapy is more effective for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is comparing four regimens of combination chemotherapy to see how well they work in treating children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Read Less

Pre-clinical data and recently published clinical data suggest a synergistic effect between lenalidomide and dexamethasone. We hypothesize that a combination of lenalidomide-dexamethasone can overcome rituximab resistance. To determine the response rate to lenalidomide and dexamethasone plus rituximab therapy in subjects with recurrent small B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma who have had lymphoma progression within 6 months of being treated with rituximab alone or with a rituximab-containing regimen, we propose initial treatment with both drugs for two 28-day treatment cycles (Part I). After response assessment following two cycles of lenalidomide-dexamethasone, patients will enter Part II of the study. In Part II, patients will receive lenalidomide-dexamethasone and rituximab to evaluate the potential reversal of rituximab resistance as measured by response to rituximab and progression-free survival following rituximab. Read Less

The proposed study is a pilot randomized control trial to determine the efficacy of dexamethasone use in hospitalized children who are less than 2 years of age with non-respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis admitted to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh from February 1 to May 31, 2022. It is hypothesized that the use of standard airway-dose steroids (0.6mg/kg dexamethasone) will improve the clinical outcome of children hospitalized for non-RSV bronchiolitis, which will be evident by decreased length of stay. Read Less

This phase II clinical trial studies how well dasatinib followed by stem cell transplant works in treating older patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Dasatinib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving chemotherapy before a stem cell transplant stops the growth of cancer cells by stopping them from dividing or killing them. Monoclonal antibodies, such as alemtuzumab, may interfere with the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) and giving dasatinib together with chemotherapy may kill more cancer cells. Read Less