12 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
This study aims to develop a highly sensitive, specific, and cost-effective blood assay for the early detection of esophageal adenocarcinoma and its precursor lesions, using advanced machine learning and state-of-the-art biological analyses.
The goal of this validation study is to compare Spectrally Encoded Confocal Microscopy (SECM) Tethered Capsule Endoscopy (TCE) diagnosis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis to that of standard of care endoscopic biopsy.
The main purpose of this research is to test the feasibility and tolerability of the tethered capsule Optical Frequency Domain Imaging (OFDI)
Patients with severe acid reflux and/or Barrett's esophagus are recommended to take Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)indefinitely to prevent complications such as strictures or the development of a type of esophageal cancer. Recently, some studies suggested that taking these medications on a long-term basis may affect the bone. Therefore, it is important to learn whether these medications may lead to accelerated bone loss so that effective preventive measures can be developed for patients who require these medications for acid-related conditions. Several studies reported that patients receiving PPIs for many years may have increased risk of hip fractures. However, it is unclear whether this is because the PPIs cause reduced bone density or whether the increased risk of fractures has nothing to do with PPIs and is because patients who require PPIs have other illnesses that cause the increased fractures. The purpose of the study is to learn how bone structure and bone mass change after long-term PPI use.
This is a randomized, open-label pilot study to assess whether treatment with chlorhexidine mouthwash can alter the esophageal and gastric cardia microbiome
In a related study, the investigators have found evidence that patients with Barrett's esophagus have a leak for oral sucrose to leave their upper gastrointestinal tract, enter the blood, and be filtered into urine. The amount of sucrose appearing in an overnight urine sample can be used to indicate the presence of Barrett's esophagus and/or esophagitis in a patient reporting with reflux (GERD) symptoms. The leak is presumably in the Barrett's epithelium itself. This phenomenon will be used to test if a standard 8 week therapy of Nexium in a first-time-presenting GERD patient can reduce the leak as a means of assessing the efficacy of the drug in that patient. The investigators predict that Nexium will reduce leak in esophagitis but not Barrett's patients.
This is a longitudinal observational study on patients with gastrointestinal and related disease. The study will be conducted for at least 10 years, following each participant over time, as they either go through relapses and remissions, or progression of their disease.
A multi-center, multi-year registry of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) undergoing diagnostic evaluation and/or treatment of GERD and associated diseases and complications.
Confocal Endomicroscopy for Permeability of Esophageal Wall in Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
This clinical trial studies whether esophageal cytology plus fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is equal to or better than esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (EGD) or upper endoscopy for the early detection of esophageal cancer. Genes are the units of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) the chemical structure carrying genetic information that determine many human characteristics. Certain genes in cancer cells may determine how the tumor grows or spreads and how it may respond to different drugs. Part of this study is to test those genes in esophageal cells using FISH.
Although the symptomatic and epithelial (histologic and endoscopic) response to antireflux therapy are well known and extensively studied, little is known of the genetic events occurring in response to proton pump inhibitor therapy. Preliminary data from our laboratory has shown, for example, that COX-2 expression is not only elevated in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease but also can be correlated with pathologic esophageal acid exposure on 24 hour pH monitoring. Similar studies have suggested that antireflux surgery may normalize COX-2 gene expression. In contrast studies following ablation of dysplastic Barrett's epithelium have shown persistence of genetic changes associated with altered cellular function, despite the return of the histologic appearance to normal. Several key mediators of inflammation, metaplasia (Barrett's) and neoplasia have now been well characterized and shown to be important factors in the pathogenesis of esophageal injury. It is likely that successful antireflux therapy returns altered expression of these mediators toward normal although this hypothesis remains largely unexplored. The aim of this study is to investigate gene expression of key mediators of the spectrum of esophageal mucosal injury and the response to antireflux therapy. Hypothesis: Antireflux therapy (proton pump inhibitor and surgical fundoplication) normalizes the expression of genes known to be involved in the pathogenesis of inflammation (esophagitis), metaplasia (Barrett esophagus) and neoplasia (adenocarcinoma).
To better define the presence of Barrett's esophagus (BE) via non-endoscopic testing in an eating disorder cohort with purging (vomiting/rumination) behaviors