23 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Spinal orthoses have been used in the treatment of non-operative thoracic and lumbar fractures with much success. However, there has been increasing questioning as to wether or not the orthotics are necessary to have a good overall outcome. Being fitted for and acquiring braces are associated with great expense and increased hospital stays. The purpose of this study is to determine wether or not braces are required for good outcome post thoracic or lumbar fracture.
About 90% of chest injuries in America are due to blunt forces, mostly as a result of motor vehicle collisions and falls. Severity varies from minor bruising to severe chest injuries. For several years, clavicle ("collarbone") fractures have been treated without surgery (non-operatively), even when the fracture is out of place (displaced). Over the last few years, however, treatment has changed more towards surgical fixation (operative), because of the sometimes difficult healing in clavicle fractures that are displaced. Several research studies have shown that cases in which the clavicle fracture never heals completely (non-union) are more frequent after nonoperative treatment, compared to operative fixation. In those cases, surgery is still required, only later (secondary surgery). Further, clavicle malunion, in which the fracture heals but is still out of place) has been shown to be high after nonoperative treatment. Recent published research studies have shown better function, higher patient satisfaction, earlier return to activity (use of the arm) and decreased nonunion and malunion following surgery, also called open reduction/internal fixation. Despite recent published research, there is still a lack of agreement on when surgical fixation should be performed for clavicle fractures. Patients with chest injuries often have clavicle fractures. Chest injuries can restrict patients' ability to breathe, cough, stand, walk and leave the hospital. Although it is unusual that chest injuries can be improved with surgery, patients with clavicle fractures and chest injuries might recover faster if the clavicle fractures were repaired. Patients are being asked to take part in the study they have sustained a clavicle fracture associated with a chest injury with or without any other injury to the abdomen, or arms or legs. The aim of this study is to determine the difference in the hospital length of stay, intensive care unit length of stay, respiratory rehabilitation (recovery of good respiratory function), functional outcome, ability to become mobile again, complications and risk of dying in trauma patients with chest injury and clavicle fracture treated operatively versus non-operatively.
This is a prospective, observational trial of 50 patients who have multiple, severe rib fractures following trauma. The investigators will follow their hospital stay for outcomes (infections, length of stay and medical care) as well as their early post-hospital course.
The main goal of this clinical trial is to learn if light therapy improves pain and inflammation in adults with painful rib fractures. The main question it aims to answer is: - Does bright blue light therapy in addition to standard pain treatments improve pain with breathing in adults with painful rib fractures? Researchers will compare participants who receive bright blue light therapy to participants who receive white light therapy and participants who receive only usual lighting conditions to look for differences in their pain control. In addition to their assigned light treatment, all participants will receive standard pain control treatments. Participants will be assigned randomly to one of three groups: one-third will be assigned to bright blue light therapy, one-third will be assigned to bright white light therapy, and one-third will be assigned to usual light only. They will receive their assigned light treatment for 4 hours during the morning/early afternoon for up to 3 days while they are in the hospital. On each day they receive the light treatment and on the day after their final light treatment: * They will be asked twice to rate their pain at rest and with taking a deep breath. * They will be tested to confirm that they are not experiencing delirium, or confusion related to being in the hospital. * They will be asked to wear a heart monitor to look for changes in their heart rate. * Blood samples will be collected to look for changes in inflammation and the circadian clock, the body's natural 24-hour cycle.
Dynamic digital radiography (DDR) is a new advanced version of chest radiography that captures dynamic images at a rate of 15 frames per second. It is coupled with an analytical software that allows it to provide more advanced measures of lung motion, ventilation, and perfusion compared to traditional chest radiography. While implementation of DDR fixed machines are beginning elsewhere in the US, this trial involves the first applications of an FDA-approved portable DDR machine, for use at the bedside in the ICU. The goal of this clinical trial is to determine the feasibility and safety of portable DDR technology in the ICU, as well as to evaluate the improved clinical diagnostic value of the portable DDR system over current standards of care. Participants will receive one to three sets of DDR images, which will then be compared to their clinical gold standard exams (such as chest x-rays, CTs, or VQ scans) to assess and improve the precision and accuracy of measurements such as diaphragmatic motion, lung movement, and perfusion.
The goal of this double blinded randomized control trial is to learn if percutaneous cryoablation of traumatic rib fractures improves outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does percutaneous cryoablation improve short and long term pain scores? Does percutaneous cryoablation improve short and long term respiratory mechanics? Does percutaneous cryoablation improve long term quality of life? Does percutaneous cryoablation decrease delirium? Researchers will compare cryoablation to standard multimodal pain therapy to see if this impacts respiratory recovery. Participants will undergo randomization, percutaneous cryoablative procedure, and participate in tests at pre-determined intervals to evaluate their pulmonary recovery.
The goal of this Randomized controlled double-blinded trial is to compare the addition of a ketamine infusion to placebo, when added to standard care in adult blunt trauma patients with multiple rib fractures. The main question it aims to answer are: • addition of low dose ketamine infusion (LDKI) decreases narcotic use • does LDKI impact pulmonary complications, readmission, or hospital length of stay Participants will receive usual standard of care with up to 48 hours of LDKI or placebo. If there is a comparison group: Researchers will compare infusion of a saline infusion to LDKI to see if LDKI decreases need for narcotic analgesics use.
Thoracic trauma frequently involve rib fractures which can be very painful for 2-3 months. Unfortunately, pain is not simply a "symptom" of the injuries, but a significant cause of additional medical problems: pain causes people to breath and cough less deeply/often which increases the risk of collapsing little parts of the lung. These collapsed areas often lead to complications which can increase the risk of death. In addition, the higher the amount of pain in the weeks following the fracture, the higher the risk of developing persistent, chronic pain that can last indefinitely. So, providing excellent pain control is very important for a variety of reasons. Various nerve blocks can greatly decrease pain, but even the longest acting are measured in hours or days, and not the weeks and months for which rib fracture pain can last. Therefore, opioids-"narcotics"-are the most common pain control method provided to patients; but they frequently do not provide enough pain control, have undesirable side effects like nausea and vomiting, and are sometimes misused which can lead to addiction or overdose. A prolonged nerve block lasting multiple months from a single treatment may be provided by freezing the nerve using a process called "cryoneurolysis". With cryoneurolysis and ultrasound machines, a very small "probe" may be placed through anesthetized skin and guided to the target nerve to allow freezing. The procedure takes about 5 minutes for each nerve, involves little discomfort, has no side effects, and cannot be misused or addictive. After 2-3 months, the nerve returns to normal functioning. The investigators have completed a small study suggesting that a single cryoneurolysis treatment provides potent short- and long-term pain relief following thoracic trauma with rib fractures. The ultimate objective of the proposed research is to determine if percutaneous cryoneurolysis is an effective non-opioid, single-application treatment for pain following traumatic rib fracture. The current project is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized, triple-masked (investigators, participants, statisticians), sham/placebo-controlled, parallel-arm, human-subjects, post-market clinical trial to determine if cryoneurolysis is an effective non-opioid treatment for pain following traumatic rib fractures.
The purpose of this study is to use the Duracore splinting device to measure lung capacities of patients with rib fractures in control and experimental groups to determine if lung capacities improve with the splint.
The purpose of this study is to compare the usual care alone to usual care plus early surgical stabilization in adult trauma patients who have been admitted with rib fractures, to evaluate for heterogeneity of treatment effect in high risk subgroups and to determine the the impact of multiple rib fractures on post-discharge health status and time to return to work or usual physical activity.
Acute traumatic rib fractures are a common issue for patients of trauma surgeons. They inflict substantial morbidity, the most dreaded and consequential of which are pulmonary complications. While these fractures are often treated non-operatively, there is a continued need for effective adjuvant treatments to improve rib fracture pain and outcomes. Prior studies have evaluated outcome measures for traumatic rib fractures that include respiratory failure, tracheostomy requirement, ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, narcotic requirement, daily maximum incentive spirometry volume, pneumonia, and mortality . Rib belts, which have been present since at least 1945, have long been used to provide pain relief via chest wall stabilization \[3\]. However there is an extreme paucity of literature regarding their clinical efficacy, and their use has largely been abandoned due to concerns that they may have been overly constricting and resulted in poorer respiratory (pulmonary/breathing) outcomes. Newer generation rib belts are more elastic and theoretically less constricting than their earlier generation predecessors, however their clinical efficacy has not been yet demonstrated. The investigators will therefore plan to perform a prospective trial to determine if these rib strapping devices are effective clinical tools in the traumatic rib fracture population. The goal of the study is institutional quality improvement, to determine if the investigators see benefit of these devices for the pain management of our trauma population. The investigators will also conduct this as a pilot trial for hopeful future research applications, however the overall goal is institutional improvement. Patients determined to be eligible for the study by the admitting physician (and per the previously defined criteria) will be recruited to enroll in the project within the first 24 hours of their hospital admission. Recruited patients will be offered the opportunity to consent to enrollment in the study and will be assigned by the study team into either the intervention (RibFx belt +current standard of care) or control (current standard of care) arm in a quasi-experimental prospective design: untreated control group with dependent pretest and posttest samples. In this manner, the intervention arm will be both compared to themselves (pretest vs. posttests) as well as to a control group not exposed to the intervention. The relevant study materials will be included in their paper (physical) and electronic chart. Patients upon enrollment in the study will undergo an initial assessment that will include their baseline pain scores, narcotic consumption, incentive spirometry scores, and the subjective self-reported results of their questionnaire (the pre-test questionnaire- see attached). Patients will continue to be scored on objective (incentive spirometry results, opioid pain medicine consumption) and subjective variables (pain scores) during their hospital course. Between 24-48 hours after enrollment, they will be prompted to again complete a similar 2nd questionnaire post-test (if they are discharged from the hospital at this point in the time course, they will be sent home with the questionnaire and prompted to complete it at home). At their follow up appointment in trauma clinic (which will be coordinated by the research team to be as close as possible to 3 weeks post injury), they will have the opportunity to again voluntarily complete a final short questionnaires (post-test) that assess their pain control and respiratory function over the last 3 weeks. At this point, their involvement in the trial will be complete. Patients themselves will play an active role in data collection during the trial, and will be instructed and prompted in how to do so. Patients will be expected to fill out a worksheet on a daily basis, both while inpatient and after discharge, on their daily incentive spirometry scores as well as their minimum and maximum pain scale scores. This will be used to supplement the survey or questionnaire data, as well as the objective data from the electronic medical record. The investigators will ultimately compare groups using a quasi-experimental design as follows: Untreated control group with dependent pretest and posttest samples. This will allow for a direct comparison of patient to patient within the intervention arm (patient pretest result serving as control compared to posttest result) . To observe for temporal variability, their will be a control group with no intervention as well (no rib belt worn) , however the principle aim of the study is the comparison of patients to themselves in a pre-test, post-test fashion.
Management of traumatic rib fractures continues to be a challenge for trauma surgeons. Currently, many analgesic options are available to patients suffering from rib fractures. Formulations currently used for conventional intercostal nerve blocks (CINB) are relatively safe, do not require additional equipment or specialized anesthesia personnel, do not require catheter repositioning, and provide improved analgesia immediately over the aforementioned systemic therapies. A goal of these authors to introduce an additional safe option for extended local analgesia in the setting of multiple rib fractures given the inconclusive evidence supporting or refuting the current standard of care
Patients with traumatic rib fractures not receiving regional anesthesia through a epidural or nerve block catheter will be recruited for the study. Once enrolled, they will be randomized to receive either intravenous lidocaine or intravenous saline for control of pain related to their rib fractures. In addition, they will receive other pain medications, such as acetaminophen, gabapentin, and opioid pain medications. Our primary outcome is a decrease in their opioid medication requirements.
Continuous paravertebral analgesia and erector spinae plane blockade (ESP) are accepted techniques at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) for the management of thoracic pain following surgery and trauma. Recently, an increasing number of erector spinae plane blocks are being performed as it has been demonstrated in our institution and via case reports that they provide clinical effectiveness, but may have a better side-effect profile than the paravertebral nerve block. However, the relative efficacy of ESP and continuous paravertebral analgesia for patients with rib fractures remains to be established. This study will include 60 consecutive patients presenting to the UPMC Presbyterian Acute Interventional Perioperative Pain Service suffering from unilateral rib fractures and will be randomized to receive either nerve blocks via continuous paravertebral infusion or via erector spinae plane infusion. In addition, to treat breakthrough pain, the patients in both arms will receive multimodal adjunctive therapy per routine. Bupivicaine and ropivicaine are FDA approved for use in nerve block catheters. The primary outcome will be total opioid consumption in the first 3 days of nerve block. Secondary outcomes include highest visual analog pain score (VAS) with deep breathing and at rest, adverse events, and total number of nerve blocks. Other data points include time to readiness for discharge, and length of hospital stay.
Rib fractures represent a common injury pattern this is highly associated with patient morbidity and mortality, as pain control remains a challenge. Even after surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF), unsuccessful pain control can lead to morbid outcomes such as pneumonia and opioid dependence. Multi-modal anesthesia, with the use of thoracic epidurals and para-vertebral injections/catheters, has shown to lessen these occurrences but are subject to a wide array of limitations. A more directed therapy with liposomal bupivacaine has shown to provide sustained analgesia for up to 72 hours in patients who have undergone other types of thoracic surgery, but not SSRF. The hypothesis of the current clinical trial is that, among patients undergoing SSRF, liposomal bupivacaine delivered via video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is an intercostal nerve block that provides comparable analgesia to the pain catheter, as measured by pulmonary function, numeric pain scoring, and postoperative narcotic use.
Thoracolumbar (TL) burst fractures in neurologically intact patients account for approximately 45% of all TL spine injuries. Despite being common fractures, there is significant variability in treatment recommendations encompassing surgery and non-surgical treatment options. The controversy regarding optimal treatment for these injuries is fueled by several studies which suggest a potential benefit to surgical treatment in the realm of patient satisfaction, and the overall socio-economic burden of treatment while other studies demonstrate improved outcomes and lower morbidity with non-surgical treatment. This study aims to perform a prospective cohort analysis investigating the clinical outcome of various treatment alternatives for patients with A3/A4 fractures in the thoracolumbar region. A cost-effectiveness analysis will also be performed to identify costs and benefits of each treatment option. More specifically a sub-group analysis will be performed for this group of patients, which have equipoise in regards to patients treatment, as decided by a blinded review panel.
This is a study of liposomal bupivacaine for pain control in patients with blunt chest wall trauma.
This is a multicenter randomized study investigating the differences in clinical outcomes of patients between two standard of care pathways for rib trauma: patients who receive rib fixation versus patients who receive modern critical care and pain control after sustaining clinically significant rib fractures from trauma.
The primary objective of this study is to investigate whether continuous PVB is equal in efficacy to epidural anesthesia in terms of analgesia in patients with INR lower than 1.2, or is continuous ICNB equal in efficacy to PCA in terms of analgesia, if patients have INRs equal to or greater than 1.2.
This study is designed to analyze the use of early aggressive pain management with thoracic epidural in eligible patients with blunt thoracic trauma.
The purpose of this observational study is to document the treatment of serial rib fractures with MatrixRIB implants in a registry.
Individuals with non-healing rib fractures may experience significant pain and disability. This is called rib fracture non-union, an unusual problem and one that most physicians have little experience with. The investigators hypothesize that surgical repair of rib fracture non-union is clinically efficacious and safe in 6 month follow-up. The objective of this study is to evaluate how repairing non-healing rib fractures affects pain and disability.
The purpose of this study is to gather information about a device used to help fix broken ribs. Hypothesis: Rib fracture repair with the U-plate system is clinically durable and safe for the indications of flail chest repair, acute pain control, chest wall defect repair, and rib fracture non-union.