4 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Intracerebral hemorrhage is bleeding into the brain and is a major cause of stroke and other complications. Brain injury from intracerebral hemorrhage occurs in two phases. The early phase involves the mechanical compression of brain tissue by the expanding hematoma. In a later phase, brain swelling develops causing further compression that may lead to brain herniation and death. This study investigates the neuroprotective role of haptoglobin, in minimizing the development of brain swelling following intracerebral hemorrhage.
Increased brain bulk may be problematic during brain surgery for tumors because it may limit surgical exposure and access to the surgical site. Mannitol, an osmotic diuretic, is commonly given to alleviate brain bulk, and sometimes furosemide in a small dose is added if mannitol alone is insufficient. It is unclear if adding this furosemide truly helps to diminish brain bulk, and it is possible that furosemide may cause too much diuresis, leading to dehydration and its side effects (e.g., low blood pressure). Our purpose is to investigate what the effects of furosemide are in the setting of brain surgery for tumors, specifically with regards to decreasing brain bulk and/or causing dehydration. Study Hypothesis: The addition of furosemide to mannitol will result in improved brain relaxation in human subjects undergoing craniotomy for brain tumor resection than that seen with mannitol alone. However, the combination of mannitol and furosemide will also lead to more significant intravascular volume depletion than that seen with mannitol alone.
This study will examine what causes seizures in patients with cysticercosis (pork tapeworm infection). A better understanding of this could lead to improved methods of controlling or preventing seizures. In humans, the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium) lives in the small intestine. The parasite's microscopic eggs travel around the body-including to the brain-where they develop into cysts. Usually, the cysts don't cause symptoms until they die. Then, they provoke an inflammatory reaction that irritates the brain, causing seizures and other symptoms. The inflammation eventually goes away, but the dead cysts remain. Calcium deposits often form where the cysts are. Some of the calcified cysts develop swelling around them that seem to be associated with the development of seizures. This study will explore how and why these dead, calcified cysts continue to cause seizures. In so doing, it will try to determine: 1) the best diagnostic imaging method for detecting swelling around the cysts; 2) how often swelling occurs; and 3) what makes some cysts prone to swelling and related seizure activity, while others are not. Patients with cysticercosis who have had seizures or who have known or possible swelling around calcified cysts will be studied with various tests, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scans, electroencephalography (EEG), blood tests, and possibly lumbar puncture. Patients will be studied for two cycles of seizures (during active and quiet periods) or a maximum 4 years.
This phase II trial studies whether low dose dexamethasone works as well as standard dose dexamethasone to reduce brain swelling after brain surgery in patients with primary brain tumors or cancer that has spread from other places in the body to the brain (metastatic). Surgery is an important part of the treatment of brain tumors; however, it results in injury to surrounding brain tissue, leading to brain swelling. Dexamethasone is effective for controlling the swelling of the brain; however, dexamethasone can cause many unwanted side effects. To minimize the side effects of dexamethasone, the lowest dose needed to control swelling of the brain should be used. This research study is assessing the safety of using a lower than standard dose of dexamethasone after the surgery to control brain swelling.