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35 active trials for Wounds and Injuries

Comparison of Transcutaneous and Epidural Spinal Stimulation for Improving Function

Incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCI) are the most frequent neurologic category, comprising 66.7% of all SCI cases. People with incomplete SCI may retain some ability to move the legs and therefore the capacity to regain walking. Studies that show functional improvement in locomotion via electrical stimulation of lumbosacral circuits suggest that the underlying mechanisms are neuromodulation of lumbosacral spinal cord automaticity and sensory feedback. Both epidural and transcutaneous spinal stimulation are demonstrating exciting potential to improve limb function for people after chronic SCI. Available treatment options for SCI are less than satisfactory and most often do not achieve full restoration of function. Recent experimental results suggest an exciting new approach of using electrical spinal stimulation to enable users to regain control of their weak or paralyzed muscles. Using surgically-implanted electrodes, epidural stimulation results in remarkable improvements of lower extremity function as well as autonomic functions such as bladder function and sexual function. In addition to epidural stimulation, over only the last few years a novel strategy of skin surface electrical spinal stimulation has also demonstrated exciting potential for improving walking function. Using a high-frequency stimulation pulse, current can pass through the skin without discomfort and activate the spinal cord; this results in patterned stepping movements for people without SCI and improved lower extremity function following SCI. This study will directly compare skin-surface transcutaneous stimulation with implanted epidural stimulation for improving lower extremity function.

Start: August 2019
FIT Study (Functional Outcomes In Trauma Study)

Why? There is not much information in the UK on how well patients who sustain major trauma function afterwards. Major trauma is defined as significant injuries with a calculated 'injury severity score' (ISS) over 15. The ISS is calculated based on how many parts of the body are injured and how badly injured these are, up to a maximum score of 75 (fatal). We feel that learning more about how these people cope afterwards, and what influences this will allow us to improve the care we can deliver in the future, which will hopefully lead to better outcomes. What? We propose to implement the FIT (Functional outcomes In Trauma) study to assess how well patients function physically, psychologically and socially, and get back to activities of daily living, work and participation in recreational activities following major trauma. Who? Major trauma patients: 2 cohorts: prospectively going forwards in time (from baseline to 12 months after trauma) and retrospectively going backwards in time (patients between 2-10 years after trauma). Where? Leeds General Infirmary. How? We will do this by collecting data from questionnaires completed by patients (also known as PROMS, or Patient Reported Outcome Measures), using an online questionnaire service developed at the University of Leeds, called QTool. These will offer the participants the chance to tell us how they are doing across lots of areas, with both tick-box multiple choice questions and open-ended questions to explain how they are doing and what influences this. We will also interview a random selection of patients in further detail to discuss how their trauma has affected them, how they found the study, how we could improve it. Afterwards we will send participants a copy of what we have learnt from the study and aim to publish it in a scientific journal. Timeline/Phase overview: The FIT Study will consist of 2 phases. Phase 1 will last for 2 years in total (12 months for prospective study cohort recruitment and 12 months follow-up for these patients) during which time data will be collected from the retrospective cohort as well. Following this there will be a full analysis of the data, after which phase 2 of the FIT Study will begin. Patients enrolled into phase 1 of the study will be given the option of consenting to being contacted annually to complete the same set of online PROMs, which will comprise phase 2 of the study. We will also continue active recruitment into both prospective and retrospective arms of the study in phase 2. We plan to continue data collection on an annual basis up to 10 years post trauma in phase 2 of the study for patients in both cohorts. We hope to incorporate elements of the FIT Study into future routine care with what we learn from the FIT Study, and develop our own unique Patient Reported Outcome Measure tool, with the overall aim of improving patient care and outcomes.

Start: August 2020
Pre-hospital Anti-fibrinolytics for Traumatic Coagulopathy and Haemorrhage (The PATCH Study)

The purpose of this research is to determine whether giving severely injured adults a drug called tranexamic acid (TXA) as soon as possible after injury will improve their chances of survival and their level of recovery at six months. After severe injury, a person may have uncontrolled bleeding that places them at high risk of bleeding to death. Coagulation (the formation of blood clots) is an important process in the body that helps to control blood loss. Up to a quarter of people that are severely injured have a condition called acute traumatic coagulopathy. This condition affects coagulation and results in the break down of blood clots (fibrinolysis) that can lead to increased blood loss and an increased risk of dying. TXA is an anti-fibrinolytic drug that might help to reduce the effects of acute traumatic coagulopathy by preventing blood clots from breaking down and helping to control bleeding. In Australia, TXA is approved for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to reduce blood loss or the need for blood transfusion in patients undergoing surgery (i.e. cardiac surgery, knee or hip arthroplasty). Recent evidence from a large clinical trial (CRASH-2) showed early treatment with TXA reduced the risk of death in severely injured patients, however the majority of patients involved in the study were injured in countries where prehospital care is limited and rapid access to lifesaving treatments is limited compared to that available in countries like Australia and New Zealand. It is unclear whether TXA will reduce the risk of death to the same degree when it is given alongside other lifesaving treatments that are available to patients soon after injury in these countries. The hypothesis is that TXA given early to injured patients who are at risk of acute traumatic coagulopathy and who are treated in countries with systems providing advanced trauma care reduces mortality and improves recovery at 6-months after injury.

Start: July 2014
Transferability of Clinical Prediction Models for Early Trauma Care in a Swedish Setting

Trauma is one of the top threats to population health globally. A substantial body of research has been devoted to the development of clinical prediction models to aid early decision making in trauma care. Often these models are applied outside the context in which they were originally developed. In contrast, very little research has focused on the effects on model performance of such transfers despite the fact that a potential loss in performance could have devastating consequences. Data from the Swedish trauma registry SweTrau will be used to study the effects on model performance of transfers between different contexts within a single conceptually homogenous setting. Using logistic regression models for predicting all-cause mortality within 30 days of trauma in adult patients will be developed, focusing on systolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, and Glasgow coma scale as predictors. Four different sets of data sampled from SweTrau will be used to simulate transfer of models between high and low volume centres, metropolitan and non-metropolitan centres, multicentre and single centre data, and finally between individual centres. Measures of overall performance, clinical usefulness, discrimination, calibration, and recalibration will be used to quantify the effects on performance of model transfers. The study will provide evidence to help clinicians and policy makers in deciding on whether it is appropriate to apply models developed in other contexts. For example, the results of this study may inform decisions on the development and implementation of models intended to be applied on a national or regional level, and ultimately help designing better trauma care and improve the outcomes of trauma patients.

Start: October 2016