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When cancer spreads to the brain, doctors often use a precise type of radiation therapy called stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) to treat these tumors. This treatment can effectively control brain tumors while helping protect healthy brain tissue. However, when brain tumors or the areas where tumors were surgically removed are larger, treatment outcomes in terms of side effects and tumour control can become worse. Specifically, standard SRS on larger areas can have lower tumour control and higher risk of side effects, particularly a condition called radiation necrosis, which can cause swelling and damage in nearby healthy brain tissue. Currently at Sunnybrook, large brain tumors are typically treated with SRS spread over 5 daily treatments using a machine called a linear accelerator. While this approach works well for many patients, it may be possible to improve results by combining two different types of radiation therapy machines - the linear accelerator and another specialized machine called the Gamma Knife. In this study, the investigators want to test a new treatment approach where patients first receive 4 daily treatments using the linear accelerator, followed by a 1-2 week break, and then a final treatment using the Gamma Knife. The break between treatments allows the study doctors to take new scans and precisely target any remaining tumor, which may shrink during the break, thereby potentially reducing the amount of healthy brain tissue exposed to radiation. The Gamma Knife is also particularly good at delivering very precise radiation while sparing nearby healthy tissue. Lastly, there may be unique biological mechanisms between the two technologies that could be taken advantage of, by combining the technologies in the participant's treatment plan, to improve cancer control. The investigators believe this combined approach might help achieve better tumor control while reducing the risk of side effects compared to using just the linear accelerator. This study will help the investigators understand if this new treatment strategy is safe and effective for patients with large brain tumors or surgical cavities, and whether it leads to better outcomes than the current treatment approach.
Conditions:
Brain (Nervous System) Cancers | Brain Metastasases | SRSLocation:
- Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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ALLAges:
Over 18The goal of this clinical trial is to assess if a personalized regime of 177Lu-PSMA-617 (Lutetium Lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan, also known as Pluvicto) is feasible and safe in a population of patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Can the administered activity (cumulative or per-cycle) be increased in a majority of participants? 2. What is the incidence of some specific adverse reactions during the treatment? Researchers will compare participants receiving a personalized regime to participants receiving the standard fixed-activity regime of 177Lu-PSMA-617 to see if the activity can be safely increased through personalization based on renal dosimetry (i.e. the measure of how much radiation is actually delivered to the kidney). Participants will receive up to 6 treatments of 177Lu-PSMA-617 every 6 weeks and be regularly evaluated with imaging and laboratory tests, as well as with questionnaires.
Conditions:
Metastatic Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC)Location:
- CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, Canada
Sex:
MALEAges:
Over 18Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by a reduced drive to pursue rewarding experiences and stimuli. Food consumption - which is almost universally experienced as pleasurable - is not described as rewarding by those with AN. This is thought to be underpinned by abnormalities around reward learning. However, the most fundamental question relating to reward in AN - whether those with AN may learn positive associations - remains unaddressed. In this study, the investigators will identify the patterns of how those with AN acquire positive associations, how they diminish, and their relationships to physiology (heart rate and pupil responses) and brain activation. In assessing the robustness of this learning, the investigators will investigate the extent to which this association is reactivated after 24 hours, and the extent to which a memory prompt will help reinstate this previously learned positive association. This project will allow for important advances in our understanding of the neurobiology of AN. The investigators will first identify if, and how, those with AN come to learn positive associations to cues, and secondly, the extent to which learned positive associations remain over time. Moreover, the investigators will use machine learning to ascertain whether reward learning can be predicted by physiological and neural biomarkers.
Conditions:
Anorexia NervosaLocation:
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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FEMALEAges:
12 - 22While effective interventions for depression exist, their success rates are unsatisfactory and their provision is haphazard. The Canadian Depression Research and Intervention Network (CDRIN) Maritimes Depression Hub will improve the delivery of care and the quality of outcomes for youths, adults and seniors with depression across the Maritimes. The investigators will establish an integrated system of assessment, treatment, research and education related to depression with the active involvement of those with lived experience. The establishment of a patient registry is a key step that will facilitate evaluation and reform of current services, integration of patient choice and community resources into treatment programs, monitoring long-term outcomes, and development of more effective treatment approaches through research. The registry will facilitate research that will include validation of new diagnostic and outcome measurement tools, low-cost clinical trials and collaborative projects with national and international partners. Educational programs will involve training the next generation of researchers, those with lived experience, clinicians, and health system managers in critical appraisal and will facilitate their involvement in research. The registry, the proposed systematic measurement of outcomes and the broad dissemination of information and skills will improve the quality of research and of care as well as the experience of patients and their families. The need for a registry: It is increasingly recognized that major advances in the treatment of mental disorders will require large scale clinical research. Recently demonstrated ways of completing large-scale research with finite resources include the routine use of electronic health records (EHR), data linkage and randomized registry trial. Use of EHR is the most efficient way of rapidly obtaining large amounts of information. However, EHR cannot completely exclude confounding by indication and other unmeasured variables. Therefore, tests of treatment effects require experimental designs that cannot be replaced by routine health records data. The gold standard for testing the effects of treatment in an unbiased way is the randomized controlled trial (RCT), where measured and unmeasured confounders are balanced through the randomization process and any remaining confounding is due to chance alone. RCTs are valued as the highest level of evidence, but are costly and take significant time to be completed, partly because of the need to screen a large group of individuals to identify eligible participants. The most efficient unbiased test of interventions, new treatment modalities and novel ways of treatment delivery is a method that combines EHR use with the randomized controlled trial (RCT) methodology: the randomized registry trial (RRT). The RRT takes advantage of a registry of individuals with available information to identify a large number of individuals suitable for an RCT. The RRT approach is efficient especially if the same information (e.g. diagnosis and treatment history) is used repeatedly for different purposes. The same information can be used for clinical purposes, service improvement and multiple research projects. RRT will allow obtaining answers about the efficacy of new treatments and management strategies significantly faster and at a much lower cost than traditional RCTs. Therefore, the investigators propose to establish a registry that has the capacity to conduct RRTs. The proposed registry will be integrated with similar efforts across Canada. Jointly, this collaborative network of registries will facilitate fast and economical testing of new treatments, which is urgently needed to advance the therapeutic options for people with depression and related conditions.
Conditions:
Bipolar Disorder | Depression | Post Traumatic Stress Disorder | Suicide | Mood DisorderLocation:
- Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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ALLAges:
AnyPhase 1 study to evaluate safety, tolerability and anti-tumor activity of RGT-61159 in patients with ACC or CRC
Conditions:
Colorectal Cancer | Adenoid Cystic CarcinomaLocation:
- Princess Margaret Cancer Center, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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ALLAges:
Over 18The TIDE project aims to establish personal indicators for initial treatment choice for youth with first episode depression. Specifically, 100 adolescents and young adults (age 12 to 25) with untreated major depressive disorder of recent onset will be randomly allocated in 1:1 ratio to one of two evidence-based regimens for youth depression: (A) Individual cognitive-behavioural therapy; and (B) Optimized pharmacological treatment with an antidepressant. All participants will be offered active treatment for up to 1 year and follow-up for 2 years to establish short- and long-term outcomes, including change in depressive symptoms, maintenance of remission, core role functioning, achievement of educational, occupational and social milestones, and quality of life. Baseline characteristics including duration of untreated depression, pre-existing anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, substance use, symptoms of reduced interest and activity, sleep, rhythm and melody of speech, brain function, history of childhood adversity, coping style, repetitive thinking, and family history of depression and bipolar disorder will be tested as potential moderators of outcome. Characteristics that differentially predict outcomes in those allocated to initial cognitive-behavioural therapy and those allocated to initial treatment with antidepressants will be combined into a personalized allocation algorithm.
Conditions:
DepressionLocation:
- Nova Scotia Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal / Centre de Recherche Douglas (Montreal West Island IUHSSC / Douglas Research Center), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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12 - 25Multicenter, Prospective, Randomized, Sham Controlled, Double Blinded Clinical Trial, with; 1:1 randomization
Conditions:
Heart Failure | Heart Failure, DiastolicLocation:
- Unity Health Toronto St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- St. Paul's Hospital Providence Health Care, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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ALLAges:
Over 40Pain control after surgery is a crucial component of postoperative recovery. Thus, in open abdominal surgery, the use of TEA (Thoracic epidural analgesia) has become a gold standard. However, analgesia may still remain a challenge, especially in patients with large incision abdominal incisions. To address this problem, the use of the PIEB (Programmed intermittent epidural bolus) mode has been proposed, because it offers a better spread of the epidural medication. Only a few studies have evaluated the superiority of this PIEB mode in open abdominal surgery, yielding conflicting results. However, PIEB showed to be at least as effective in controlling pain as CEI, and clinical experience shows that it can be a valuable tool, especially in patients with a large laparotomy incision. However, the optimal dosage of the PIEB mode has never been determined, Furthermore, it is known whether men and women have the same dosage needs to achieve adequate analgesia since most studies have failed to account for sex-based differences in postoperative analgesia. Hence, the main objective of this study will be to determine the optimal volume dose of the PIEB delivered at a fixed interval of 60 min in patients undergoing surgery using a large midline laparotomy incision. The optimal dose for male and female patients will be determined separately by evaluating men and women in two independent groups. We hypothesize that the optimal dose of the PIEB that will provide effective analgesia in 90% of patients on the first postoperative day will range between 5 and 10 mL, for both groups. The primary outcome in both groups is successful analgesia. It is defined as a requirement of 5 or less patient-controlled epidural boluses between 8 AM and 8 PM on the first postoperative day. Secondary outcomes will be the incidence of motor block and hypotension, comparison of the level of sensory block according to group, comparison of patient satisfaction according to group and comparison of Quality of Recovery-15 score at 48h post-op according to group.
Conditions:
Laparotomy | Epidural Analgesia | Acute Post Operative PainLocation:
- Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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ALLAges:
18 - 85Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in the world. Overall 5-year survival rate is fewer than 10% and the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy is limited. The new knowledge shows the correlation between genetic alteration and effective of chemotherapy. Therefore non-surgical modalities to obtain tumor specimens for genetic alteration analysis are particularly critical in lung cancer, since many patients have advanced disease at the time of first presentation, and are therefore not eligible for radical surgery. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) samples obtained during diagnosis of lung cancer can be used for molecular analysis that will predict response to treatment and prognosis. In this study, we will detect specific target molecules related to the effectiveness of treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy) and prognosis in patients with lung cancer using EBUS-TBNA samples and its combined with xenograft technology.
Conditions:
Lung CancerLocation:
- University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Over 18This is a prospective, randomized controlled trial using the cruciate retaining, MC Persona to comparing the conventional TKA to ROSA assisted TKA. Patients will be randomized to one of three study trial arms. 1. Standard of care medial parapetallar approach (Control) 2. ROSA PSA medial parapetallar approach 3. ROSA PSA medial subvastus approach Participants will be followed for 1 year post surgery with a combination of perioperative parameters, imaging, patient reported outcomes, functional outcomes, blood and tissue sampling for inflammatory information and activity levels.
Conditions:
Knee OsteoarthritisLocation:
- University Hospital, London, Ontario, Canada