All Clinical Trials in United Kingdom

The MR BIO study aims to understand the changes in the tumour and normal tissues during a course of radiotherapy. This is accomplished by studying the MR images taken during each treatment session on the MR Linear accelerator (MR Linac). The overarching hypothesis is that changes in MR imaging and biological parameters from blood, tissue, or urine biomarkers can be measured during radiotherapy and associated with clinical outcome. The MR Linac is a new radiotherapy machine with an on board MR scanner. This enables us to take images with high resolution and target the tumours more precisely and also reduce the dose to normal tissues. All patients undergoing treatment in the MR Linac at the Christie hospital will be considered for enrolment regardless of tumour site being treated. The study participants will receive the standard of care treatment for their disease condition. In addition, they will be requested to give weekly blood and urine samples during the course of radiotherapy and at first follow up. On completion of radiotherapy treatment, the participants will continue to be on standard of care follow up protocol with the treating oncologist. A small cohort of ten healthy volunteers will also be recruited to the study to develop and select some of the MR sequences only; they will not provide blood or urine samples. The healthy volunteers will be scanned for no more than one hour per session for a maximum of two sessions in total. These optimised sequences can then be used in the patient cohort. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to assess the safety and efficacy of OncoSil™ when given in addition to standard FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy for treatment of Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Read Less

The goal of this study is to investigate how the experiences of intensive care patients and their end-of-life wishes affect their willingness to accept intensive care treatment at different chances of survival. The main questions it aims to answer are: * What can ICU survivors' experiences of ICU treatment tell us about what it would be like to die whilst receiving ICU treatment? * How do ICU survivors' reflections about what it might be like to die on ICU relate to their own preferences for their end-of-life care? * What chance of survival would make ICU survivors willing to go through ICU treatment again, in light of the fact that the alternative chance is dying whilst experiencing ICU treatment? * How does the possibility of reduction in health-related quality of life and functional decline as a result of critical illness impact ICU survivors' willingness to accept ICU treatment again? Participating in this study will involve filling out a questionnaire and then taking part in an interview. Participants will be recruited through ICU review clinics and ICU steps groups. The study will last for two years and will be conducted at locations convenient to the participants or via zoom. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if AAT for inhalation, at a dose of 80 mg/day can slow the progression of lung disease in people who have lung disease caused by severe genetic deficiency in Alpha 1 Antitrypsin (AATD). The main question it aims to answer is: • Can daily treatment with Kamada AAT for inhalation at a dose of 80 mg/day prevent or slow lung function worsening ? Lung function will be measured by spirometry. Other questions it aims to answer are: * Can daily treatment with Kamada AAT for inhalation at a dose of 80 mg/day prevent or slow lung density loss ? Lung density will be measured by a CT scan. * Can daily treatment with Kamada AAT for inhalation at a dose of 80 mg/day prevent or slow lung disease from worsening ? Lung disease will be measured using spirometry, lung volume, gas diffusion, six minute walk test, quality of life questionaires and biomarkers. * What medical problems do participants have when taking AAT for inhalation 80 mg/day daily ? Researchers will compare AAT for inhalation to a placebo (a look-alike substance that contains no drug) to see if AAT for inhalation works to treat AAT-deficiency related lung disease. Study participants will receive either AAT for inhalation or placebo for the first two years of the study. During the third and fourth years of the study all participants will receive AAT for inhalation regardless of which drug they received during the first two years. Participants will: * Inhale the study drug every day * Clean and disinfect the nebulizer every day * Document daily symptoms and study drug use in an electronic diary * Visit the clinic for tests and assessments. There are 11 clinic visits during the first two years of the study and 5-6 clinic visits during the third and fourth year, combined. After treatment ends, participants will visit the clinic 3 times in half a year. Read Less

Kidney removal for cancer (nephrectomy) is a major operation. People can develop heart complications during or after surgery, especially if they are older or already have heart disease. One form of heart damage is called myocardial injury (MINS). This can be detected with a simple and easily available blood test. Unlike a heart attack, MINS doesn't cause changes in the electrical tracing of the heart (ECG) and it typically doesn't cause symptoms like pain. However, it can lead to heart problems and a stroke after surgery. We do not know how many people having a nephrectomy develop MINS. It is important to know if people are at high risk of MINS to help decide future treatment. There are a few different ways of carrying out nephrectomy surgery. These can be traditional open surgery, keyhole surgery or robotic surgery. We know that MINS is more likely if there has been a lot of bleeding during the operation, but other factors are also important. Therefore, it's important to monitor the relationship between blood loss, rates of MINS and method of surgery. We aim to recruit 120 participants undergoing nephrectomy to see how many develop MINS and to compare blood loss between different ways of surgery. Patients will be asked to consent to have blood tests on the day of and the day after surgery. This test will be added to routine hospital blood tests (and so no extra samples are needed). These results will show how many patients are diagnosed with MINS after nephrectomy. Around 90 days after the surgery, their quality of life and any further heart or breathing problems will also be recorded. We hope to identify the rates of and risk factors for MINS, so future patients can be spared this complication of surgery. Read Less

--- Background and study aim Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular heart rhythm which causes a five-fold increase in the risk of stroke. Approximately one in ten people aged over 70 have AF. If AF is recognised then the risk of stroke can be reduced by taking tablets regularly. AF can be difficult to recognise as it can occur without symptoms and only intermittently. Consequently, AF is not recognised in many people, meaning they live with an increased risk of stroke. Therefore, it is important to find ways to identify AF more reliably. Recently, wearable devices have been developed which could be useful for identifying AF. Several devices can monitor heart activity in daily life, including wristbands, smart watches and chest patch monitors. The aim of this study is to assess the acceptability and performance of wearables for use in AF screening in older adults. The primary objective is to determine the feasibility of measuring inter-beat-intervals using a wristband. The secondary objectives are: (i) to determine the acceptability of wearables; (ii) to determine the acceptability of the screening approach; (iii) to assess the performance of wearables for acquiring signals; (iv) to assess the performance of signal processing algorithms; and (v) to assess the performance of wearables for AF screening. --- Who can participate? Selected people who have previously participated in the SAFER Programme can participate in this study. The Investigators will invite previous SAFER Programme participants to also participate in this study, aiming to enrol 65 without AF, and 65 with AF. --- What does the study involve? Participants will be asked to wear three devices for seven days: Two wristbands (like watches), and one chest patch (like a plaster). These devices will collect measurements of their heart's activity. The Investigators will also ask participants to tell them how they found wearing the devices by completing a questionnaire. The Investigators will compare how participants found wearing each device, and how accurately each device identifies AF. --- What are the possible benefits and risks of participating? There will be no direct benefit to participants, although this research is intended to benefit future patients like them. Some participants may experience irritation or redness whilst wearing a chest patch - participants will be advised that if this occurs then they should remove it straightaway. Read Less

Fetal growth restriction during pregnancy represents one of the biggest risk factors for stillbirth (Gardosi et al, 2013), with 'about one in three term, normally formed antepartum stillbirths are related to abnormalities of fetal growth' (MBRRACE, 2015). Therefore, antenatal detection of growth restricted babies is vital in order to be able to monitor and decide the appropriate delivery timing. However, antenatal detection of SGA babies has been poor, varying greatly across trusts in England in those that calculate their rates (NHS England, 2016). Most trusts do not calculate their detection rates and rates are therefore unknown. It is estimated that routine NHS care detects only 1 in 4 growth restricted babies (Smith, 2015). Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with the Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) has introduced a clinical care pathway (the Oxford Growth Restriction Pathway (OxGRIP)) designed to increase the rates of detection of these at risk babies. The pathway is intended to increase the identification of babies who are at risk of stillbirth, in order to try to prevent this outcome, whilst making best usage of resources, and restricting inequitable practice and unnecessary obstetric intervention. It has been developed with reference to a body of research, however, the individual parts of care provided have not been put together in a pathway in this manner before. Therefore it is important to examine whether the pathway meets its goals of improving outcomes for babies in a 'real world' setting. The principles of the pathway are 1. A universal routine scan at 36 weeks gestation. 2. Additional growth scans at 28 and 32 weeks gestation based on a simplified assessment of risk factors and universal uterine artery Doppler at 20 weeks gestation. 3. Assessment of further parameters other than estimated fetal weight associated with adverse perinatal outcome (eg growth velocity, umbilical artery Doppler and CPR). The clinical data routinely collected as a result of the introduction of the pathway offers a valuable and unique resource in identifying and analysing in the effects of the pathway on its intended outcomes and also in investigating and analysing other maternal, fetal and neonatal complications and outcomes, establishing normal / reference ranges for ultrasound values. Read Less

This is an experimental medicine, single-centre, observational test-retest study to evaluate Filgotinib's mechanism of analgesic action in RA patients. The investigators hypothesize that Filgotinib's mechanism of analgesic action is determined by at least two factors. The first is related to those CNS sensitization pathways seen in fibromyalgia, specifically DMN-insula brain functional connectivity and insular glutamate. The second is related to peripheral inflammation, specifically joint synovitis, blood cytokines/chemokines and DAN-LIPL functional brain connectivity. The CNS sensitization pain pathways related to fibromyalgia are more quickly modified compared to those related to peripheral inflammation and help explain Filgotinib's rapid onset of effect. Read Less

Due to the potential for pregnancy-induced changes in the pharmacokinetics of medication, one cannot assume that the currently licensed doses of the medication to be tested under this protocol lead to adequate exposure in an HIV-infected pregnant woman. For the agents under study no or limited pharmacokinetic data during pregnancy are available. As the changes in pharmacokinetics during pregnancy are most prominent in the third trimester a pharmacokinetic curve will be recorded in the third trimester after attaining steady state. Read Less

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide, currently affecting approximately 1-in-4 people globally. The prevalence is expected to rise further, driven at least partly by the epidemic of obesity and diabetes. MASLD is a condition of fat build-up in the liver that can progress to liver scarring which is associated with higher chances of death. Women are more than twice as likely to develop MASLD after menopause compared to before menopause, and previous research has shown that this may be caused by a lack of oestrogen. A lack of oestrogen is also believed to lead to harmful changes in adipose (body fat), which has an important role in the development of MASLD. Oestrogen contained in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is an effective treatment for hot flushes and other problems in menopause. The popularity of HRT has increased dramatically in the United Kingdom in recent years, however the exact way in which it affects adipose and MASLD is unclear. The investigators will study how HRT affects the processes that drive MASLD in 10 women before and after using the treatment. This is a small-scale pilot study to understand feasibility of recruitment and test the procedures for a future, larger-scale studies. The investigators will recruit women who are about to begin HRT for the first time and perform the same tests for each participant before starting HRT, and after using HRT for 12-weeks. The participants will undergo meal testing including non-radioactive, stable isotopes, and blood and breath samples will be collected to measure fat processing. The total fat content of the liver will be measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Adipose samples will be collected, fat metabolites will be measured and the distribution of fat around the body will be assessed using a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. To find out how HRT affects these processes, the results from before and after using HRT will be compared. Understanding how HRT affects adipose and the liver may help reduce the development of MASLD in women after the menopause and improve their health and survival. Read Less

This is a double-blind, randomized phase 3 multicenter placebo-controlled study in at least 16 evaluable male participants diagnosed with MCT8 deficiency. Male participants, from 4 years of age (at randomization) and having demonstrated stable maintenance treatment with tiratricol, will be randomized to receive placebo or tiratricol for 30 days or until reaching rescue criterion (serum total triiodothyronine \[T3\] \> upper limit of normal \[ULN\] of the participant's normal range, for a sample collected during the 30-day Randomized Treatment Period). The research hypothesis to be tested is that, for participants in the placebo group, removal of tiratricol will lead to an increase of serum total T3 concentration, measured by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), above the ULN and requirement of rescue treatment with tiratricol, compared to those who continue to receive tiratricol. Read Less

Thermal ablation is an established treatment for lung cancer. It involves insertion of a applicator under image guidance into a lung tumour and destroying it with radiofrequency, microwave or cryotherapy. One of the common side effects is pneumothorax, which is a leak of gas from the lungs when it punctured. Air leak necessitates placement of a drainage tube in more than half of patients undergoing the procedure. The drain can be associated with some morbidity including pain, reduced mobility, prolonged hospital stay and infection Pleural embolization refers to the injection of substances to the linings of the lung to seal air leakage. There is published evidence in using pleural embolization with autologous blood (blood drawn up from the patient's veins) to prevent pneumothorax in patients undergoing lung biopsies. This technique is also known as pleural blood patch (PBP). A study involving more than 4000 patients found that PBP reduced the rates of pneumothorax by 35% and drain placement by 55% in lung patients. A study using prophylactic gelfoam torpedo embolization for radiofrequency ablation showed significant reduction in chest drain rates. In this study, investigators plan to evaluate the PBP using a tandem needle technique in patients undergoing lung ablation at the Oxford Thermal Ablation Service, one of the largest units in the country performing about 200 ablations per year, mostly microwave ablations. Patients will be randomized to receive lung ablation with or without the PBP. The PBP technique is easy to learn, enjoys high technical success rates and does not expose the patient to any significant additional risk. The primary outcome is the chest drains rates in the two trial groups: 1. patients undergoing lung ablation without PBP and 2. patients undergoing lung ablation with PBP. Other outcomes that would be measured include the volume of gas leakage on Computed Tomography (CT) imaging, safety profile, length of stay, feasibility of same day discharge, patient oriented outcomes including validated pain score, and institution oriented outcomes including medical costs. A positive trial could significantly reduce the side effect profile of lung ablation and hasten the patient's recovery. There could be significant savings in healthcare costs as the procedure may become safe to perform as a day procedure as opposed to an overnight procedure. Read Less