10 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
1.1. Background: Renal transplantation is the treatment of choice for eligible patients with end-stage renal disease. It provides better outcomes in terms of life expectancy and quality of life than dialysis (Liu, Narins, Maley, Frank, \& Lallas, 2012). Kidney transplants from living donors also have additional benefits in terms of graft function and survival compared to transplants from cadaver donors (Galvani et al., 2012). Living donor transplants provide an opportunity to have good quality grafts and to perform the procedure when the recipient is in an optimal clinical status (Creta et al., 2019). Laparoscopic donor nephrectomy was first introduced in 1995 and is currently accepted as the gold standard for kidney procurement from living donors. The first worldwide robotic assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy was performed in 2000 by Horgan et al. (Horgan et al., 2007). The main obstacle to living donation is the exposure of a healthy subject to the risks of a major surgical intervention. Therefore, efforts have been made to reduce complications and postoperative pain, achieve faster recovery, and minimize the surgical incisions. Minimally invasive procedures like hand-assisted and robotic approaches greatly enhance living donation rates, and in 2001 the number of living donors exceeded the number of cadaver donors (Horgan et al., 2007). 1.2. Aim(s)/Objective(s): The objective of this study is to compare intra- and postoperative patient outcomes of kidney donors following hand-assisted and robotic kidney transplants at a single center. 1.3. Rationale for the study: More research is needed regarding the differences between minimally invasive approaches to kidney transplantation.
Live donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is important because its outcomes for recipients are superior to those of deceased donor transplantation, and it yields significant cost savings to the healthcare system overall. Despite efforts over the past few decades to enhance understanding of the short- and long-term outcomes of living kidney donation, it is clear that investigators have more knowledge in some areas (e.g., surgical and medical complications) than in others (e.g., psychological outcomes, financial impact). While the transplant community and changes in federal regulations have brought attention to the need for more systematic study of living donor outcomes, there remains a paucity of scientifically rigorous multisite, prospective outcome studies. The long-term goal of this research program is to characterize the short- and long-term surgical, medical, functional, psychological, and financial outcomes of living kidney donation. The objective of this study is to establish a multisite prospective cohort of living kidney donors, their recipients, and a healthy comparison group. This cohort will be used to examine three primary aims: (1) to assess donor outcomes (surgical, medical, functional, psychological, financial) over a 2-year period initially, with the intention of examining these outcomes over a more extended time period in subsequent years; (2) to identify the donor, recipient, and center variables that are most predictive of donor outcomes; and (3) to identify disparities in donor outcomes and their predictors. To accomplish these aims, six kidney transplant programs, representing six states (Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, New York, Iowa, and Arizona) and with experience and expertise in caring for living donors and transplant recipients, will participate in the study. Donors, their recipients, and healthy controls will complete comprehensive assessments at baseline (pre-surgery) and at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months post-donation. This study will extend the investigators considerable preliminary work by simultaneously examining outcomes that are of importance to donors, recipients, healthcare providers, and policymakers. The rationale for this research is that, once these outcomes and their predictors are known, investigators can further develop and refine educational strategies and informed consent processes for both living donors and their intended recipients, as well as provide systematic data to inform policy discussions and clinical care practice.
The purpose of this study is to learn if using a Quadratus Lumborum (QL) plane injection technique (also called a "nerve block") that numbs the nerves going to the abdominal area improve pain control after surgery compared to administration of local anesthetic directly to the surgical incision. The QL block technique uses a numbing solution (local anesthetics) that is injected next to nerves located along muscles in the back to reduce pain. This block will not affect movement in the leg and/or make the legs weak. Some institutions, including Duke, use the QL block for patients having various abdominal surgeries, with the hope of providing good pain relief combined with improved mobility after surgery.
The overall goals of this study are to demonstrate the change in renal tubular function in living donors pre and post nephrectomy at 6 months.
Laparoscopic nephrectomy (removal of the kidney) is the most common procedure for people donating a kidney to be used for living donor kidney transplantation. Laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (LDN) was a great advance in the field of living donor kidney transplantation due to the many advantages it offers over open nephrectomy, including significantly shorter hospitalization and recovery time, and significantly improved cosmetic result related to the nephrectomy scar(s). More recently, a new procedure has been introduced to the field of laparoscopic nephrectomy, called laparoendoscopic single site donor nephrectomy (LESS-DN). In the LESS-DN procedure, a single natural orifice (the umbilicus or belly button) is used as the single incision site through which the entire donor nephrectomy is performed. The LESS-DN procedure may further decrease donor morbidity by further decreasing length of stay, lessening recovery time, and improving satisfaction with the surgical scar. The investigators propose to evaluate conventional LDN versus a LESS-DN in a randomized, controlled trial in living kidney donors. The investigators will compare operative times and intra-operative donor management, intra- and post-operative complications, pain scores, analgesic requirements, length of stay, recovery parameters, surgical scar satisfaction, and function and survival of the transplanted kidney for the two groups of subjects: (1) the group that has the conventional laparoscopic donor nephrectomy; and, (2) the group that has the laparoendoscopic single site donor nephrectomy.
The goal of this observational study is to learn if PRAT thickness is a marker of visceral obesity and its influence on donors' kidney function and blood pressure in living kidney donors. Population includes male/female, 18 years and up, living kidney donors scheduled for nephrectomy within 6 months, with a BMI of ≤ 27 or \>30, with a PRAT thickness measurement of ≥ 14mm or ≤10mm on CT. The main area it aims to help in, is future care managing blood pressure and obesity in living kidney transplant donors. Primary Hypothesis: We hypothesize that Perirenal Fat Thickness (PRAT) may exhibit expansion, remodeling and inflammation that can negatively affect renal outcomes in LKDs. Researchers will compare PRAT morphology and inflammation in LKDs with low and high PRAT thickness. We will also correlate PRAT thickness with renal outcomes including vascular remodeling, at the time of donation and worsening hypertension and inadequately increased compensatory GFR of the LKD at 4-6 months post-donation. Participants will be separated into one of two groups depending on their PRAT measurement and asked to give samples of their blood, perinephric fat, and urine as research samples. Clinically we will abstract data up to 6 months prior and 6 months after their nephrectomy that includes laboratory findings, CT measurements, vitals, exam data, demographics, medical history and current medications.
The investigators are interested in whether or not the use of a mobile health (mHealth) application increases the rate of follow-up compliance among living kidney donors. The investigators aim to test this by randomly assigning living kidney donors to the intervention (use of mHealth application to complete required living kidney donor follow-up at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years) or control arm (standard of care) upon discharge from their initial donation hospitalization, and tracking follow-up compliance over time. The study population will be approximately 400 living kidney donors who undergo donor nephrectomy at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital (200/year for 2 years). The investigators will also recruit patients from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center into the study, however, these study participants are not a part of the Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT).
This study evaluates whether using small financial incentives increases patient compliance with nationally-mandated living kidney donor follow-up at 6-months, 1-year, and 2-years after donation. Half of participants will receive a financial incentive (mailed gift card) after completing required follow-up activities (brief questionnaire and lab draw), while the other half will be asked to complete the required follow-up activities but will not receive a financial incentive (current standard of care).
On a yearly basis there are approximately 12,000 kidney transplants in the United States. Presently there are approximately 40,000 patients awaiting a transplant with only 5,000 available donors. Due to the obvious difference between organ supply and demand, live donors have become a standard source of kidneys for transplantation. Research has proven that kidneys from living donors are superior to cadaveric donors (kidneys harvested from a deceased individual). Kidneys from living donors are not exposed to extremely low temperature that could increase post-operative problems. They are less likely to experience rejection and there is a decreased likelihood that a patient will have to undergo post-operative dialysis. The objective of this study is to promote the enrollment of healthy individuals to serve as kidney donors for patients undergoing research kidney transplantation at the NIH. Potential donors will be screened to make sure they are able to survive with a single kidney without significant medical risk. Additional tests will be taken to establish compatibility with the recipient. Compatible donors will be evaluated to determine which kidney is suitable for transplantation. Both the donation and transplantation procedure will be conducted on the same day. Appropriate post-operative care and follow-up will be provided at the Clinical Center.
This study is designed to look at outcomes of patients who have undergone hand assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy versus totally laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.