6 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
This study will evaluate the effectiveness of a flexible belt device in guiding patient breathing during computed tomography (CT)-guided needle biopsy. When patients undergo CT scanning to help guide the physician during a tissue biopsy, they are usually asked to hold their breath while the scan is taken of certain parts of the body. When the first scan is completed, the patients are allowed to breathe, and are then asked to hold their breath again while the needle is advanced towards the tissue to be biopsied. Since body organs and tissues move with breathing, this study will try to stop the patient's breathing at the same place in the breathing cycle to ensure that the biopsy target stays still and in the same place. This study will see if the flexible belt, used with a computer screen that charts the patient's breathing, will improve the patient's ability to stop breathing at the same place in the breathing cycle before and during the biopsy. Patients 18 years of age and older who have a lesion requiring a needle biopsy in the chest or abdominal area may be eligible for this study. The biopsy procedure must require CT scan guidance. Participants will undergo the following procedures: * Breathing exercise: A flexible, loose-fitting belt is placed around the patient's abdomen and the patient is asked to stop breathing in the following ways: 1) take a deep breath in and hold; 2) breathe deeply out and hold; and 3) breathe regularly and hold. * Needle biopsy: The patient is positioned in a CT scanner and is asked to hold his or her breath while an initial scan is taken. Then the patient is taken out of the scanner and the place the needle entry site for the biopsy is marked on the skin. A local anesthetic is applied to the site and the patient is asked to hold his or her breath the same way as before. During this breath hold, the patient may or may not be shown a computer screen displaying a graph of the patient's breathing and the point in the cycle of the previous breath hold. The biopsy is then performed with CT guidance. While the CT pictures are being taken, the patient is again asked to breathe and hold his or her breath as before. When the biopsy is completed, the belt device is removed.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether availability of DNA Evaluation of Fragments for Early Interception (DELFI) Lung Cancer Screening Test, FirstLook™ to practicing physicians affects overall lung cancer screening rates among their patients who are recommended and eligible for screening based on 2021 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) but are not up to date with it. DELFI hypothesized that patients in the care of physicians or practice groups who have FirstLook™ will have increased lung screening rates compared to patients in the care of physicians or practice groups who do not have access to FirstLook™.
In recent years, multiple articles have highlighted the increased risk of developing cancer from ionizing radiation. The risk increases with higher radiation doses, and accumulates with repeated scans. Hospitals with computerized physician order entry systems (CPOE) have the unique opportunity to use decision support on radiation safety to influence a physician's ordering practice in real-time. An ideal decision support tool for radiation safety will educate the physician about the dangers of cumulative ionizing radiation, present the patient's image history, and guide the provider to the best modality that meets the patient's diagnostic needs with as little radiation exposure as possible. The design challenge is to create a decision support tool that appropriately protects the investigators patients from overutilization of CAT scans, without inadvertently leading to underutilization of CAT scans or inappropriate utilization of alternative tests. This research protocol proposes to study one such design at a large, academic medical center.
Background: * Atherosclerosis, the arterial plaques or blockages that cause heart disease, develops in many people by the time they are in their mid-20s. The rate of atherosclerosis in patients with immune system disorders has not been well studied, but it may be very different from the general population. * Patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) produce less of a group of molecules known as free radicals, which help to fight infection and may play a role in the development of atherosclerosis. Patients with CGD may develop atherosclerosis much more slowly than people without CGD. On the other hand, carrier mothers of children with genetically-linked CGD often have problems with autoimmune problems in addition to a problem with making free radicals. Patients with other immune system disorders also have very different responses to infection, and many of them also have autoimmune-like problems that may change the risk of developing atherosclerosis. Objectives: - To study the prevalence of atherosclerosis in patients with immune system disorders, compared with healthy individuals. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age who either have been diagnosed with an immune system disorder or are healthy volunteers. Design: * The active part of the study involves one or two visits to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center for a series of imaging tests and scans. * Participants will have the following tests during the active part of the study: * (1) CAT scan to obtain images of the chest arteries and measure the amount of calcium in the artery walls. * (2) Magnetic resonance imaging scan to obtain images of the coronary and carotid arteries in the chest and neck. * (3) Electrocardiogram to provide data on current heart function. * (4) Blood samples to provide data on heart, kidney, and immune system function. * Participants will be contacted every 2 years in the future for up to 30 years to determine whether they have developed heart disease. Researchers will ask participants to provide contact information for two other people who may likely know how to get in touch with the participant in the future.
The purpose of this study is to determine if one CT contrast agent (medication injected into a vein; used in CT examinations to help produce clearer images) is safer to use than another. This study will compare the safety of two widely-used, U.S. FDA approved contrast agents, Isovue and Omnipaque. The investigators hypothesize that there is no significant difference in the rates of contrast-induced nephrotoxicity (CIN) between these agents when the overall population consists of low-risk patients.
The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal images of the heart structures which are used to guide AF ablation or BiVenticle and coronary vessels.