Mass General - Division of Clinical Research

Disorders of consciousness (DoC) caused by severe brain injury affect millions of people worldwide each year. A patient's level of consciousness in the intensive care unit (ICU) significantly impacts the recovery from disability and is a primary determinant of family decisions about withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST). However, reliable assessment of consciousness in the ICU remains elusive. Transcranial magnetic stimulation-electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) is a tool that has shown the best performance in detecting signs of consciousness in patients with chronic DoC. The goals of this prospective, observational study are to demonstrate the diagnostic performance and prognostic utility of TMS-EEG in the ICU setting.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2024

open study

This study will combine retrospective review of medical records from patients with ACTA2 and ongoing collection of clinical data using standardized instruments and intervals on an observational basis from patients with ACTA2. Patients in cohorts 1-3 will be asked to attend clinic visits in person per the schedule of events. At minimum, the medical records of patients with ACTA2 will be reviewed to record data on aspects of the disease, including disease characteristics and developmental milestones. The study is planned to enroll a total of 100 patients: 7 in cohort 1, 7 in cohort 2, and the remaining in cohorts 3 and 4. This study is planned to study patients for at least 3 years with the option to continue as long as possible for assessment of disease progression. During their continued study participation, as patients age, they may move into the next cohort. Beyond 3 years the duration of the study with be determined by availability of funding from sponsors.

Type: Observational

Start Date: May 2024

open study

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and fidelity of an 8-week intervention where peer coaches will deliver depression care to adults 60 years of age or older who have depression and subjective cognitive decline.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2024

open study

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome with clinical symptoms involving multiple systems. The efficacy of current treatments is inadequate, and more alternative modalities are needed for the management of FM patients. The parasympathetic vagus nerve innervates and integrates sensory, motor, and autonomic systems and has been suggested to play a role in pain modulation. The role of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as a treatment option for FM patients is yet to be investigated. The investigators propose to examine the hypothesis that vagus nerve stimulation could improve pain and related comorbid symptoms for FM patients.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2024

open study

The overall goal of this study is to develop OCT Vibrography (aka OCT elastography) as a novel tool for measuring biomechanical properties of human tissues in vivo.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2023

open study

The primary aim of this project are to evaluate a comprehensive, practice-ready, and deployment-focused strategy for improving the prediction and prevention of suicide attempts among a sample of 4,000 patients presenting to an ED with a psychiatric concern. Our first aim is to evaluate the effects of providing information about risk of patient suicidal behavior to ED clinicians. We hypothesize that patients randomly assigned to have their clinician receive their risk score will have a lower rate of suicide attempts during 6-month follow-up and that this effect will be mediated by changes in clinician decision-making.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2025

open study

The purpose of this study is to determine whether modifying the timing of nutrition support from overnight to daytime enhances sleep quality, preserves circadian rhythms, and improves overall inflammation and cardiometabolic profiles in postoperative patients in the cardiac surgical ICU on enteral nutrition.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2022

open study

The purpose of this open-label, first-in-human (FIH) trial is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary clinical activity of Tulmimetostat as a monotherapy in patients with advanced solid tumors and lymphomas.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2019

open study

The Computerized Registry of Patients with Venous Thromboembolism (RIETE) is a multidisciplinary Project initiated in march 2001 and consisting in obtaining an extensive data registry of consecutive patients with venous thromboembolism. The main objective is to provide information on the Internet to help physicians to improve their knowledge on the natural history of thromboembolic disease, particularly in those subgroups of patients who are usually not recruited in randomized clinical trials (pregnant women, elderly patients, disseminated cancer, severe renal insufficiency, patients with contraindications to anticoagulation therapy, extreme body weight, etc), with the purpose of decreasing mortality, frequency of thromboembolic recurrences as well as bleeding complications and arterial events. As an additional objective RIETE is also aimed to create predictive scores that help physicians to better identify patients with high risk of presenting some of these complications. The primary parameters recorded by the registry comprise details of each patient's clinical status, including any coexisting or underlying conditions, and the type, dose, duration and outcome (during the first 3 months of therapy) of antithrombotic treatment. Study endpoints are clinically recognized (and objectively confirmed) recurrences of VTE, major and minor bleeding complications, and death.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Mar 2001

open study

This is a cluster randomized controlled trial of 30 food pantries affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank to test the use of behavioral economics (BE) tools to encourage food pantries to implement the Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) program, with the goal of fostering accurate use of SWAP traffic light labels on pantry shelves and increasing the healthfulness of foods chosen by pantry clients. Primary outcomes will be assessed at 6 and 12 months to compare the implementation and effectiveness of the SWAP program in the intervention vs. control pantries.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2024

open study

This study originally included 140 subjects with medication-refractory depression undergoing 10 Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation (10Hz-TMS) to the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), with the goal of having 60 completers with good quality data. Subjects were recruited from the TMS clinics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham & Women's Hospital, and Butler Hospital. Subjects underwent an hour-long MRI scanning session, an optional DNA-sample collection, up to three 20 minute neuronavigation sessions for marking the site of TMS stimulation, questionnaires, and a behavioral testing battery before and after their TMS treatment course. The task battery included the Emotion Conflict Resolution (ECR) task, Multi-Source Interference Task (MSIT), War Game (Gambling) task, and Associative Learning with Reversal task. Subjects' scores on the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were assessed before and after the TMS course. MRI data was utilized to identify brain regions whose connectivity to the stimulation site co-varies with the aforementioned measures of symptom improvement. This was the only study group until August 30, 2022, and the primary outcome was analyzed for the 10Hz-TMS group. Due to changes in clinical standard of care from 10Hz-TMS to a newer version of TMS termed intermittent theta burst (iTBS), in September 2022 a second group was added to include patients receiving this new form of TMS. This second group included another 100 patients with medication-refractory depression undergoing iTBS to the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), with the intent to have 80 completers. Massachusetts General Hospital was added as a data collection site in lieu of Butler Hospital. Subjects will undergo an hour-long MRI scanning session, up to three 20 minute neuronavigation sessions for marking the site of TMS stimulation, questionnaires, and a behavioral testing battery before and after their TMS treatment course. The task battery will included the Emotion Conflict Resolution (ECR) task, Multi-Source Interference Task (MSIT), Penn Emotion Recognition Test, the Suicide/Death Implicit Association Test, and Associative Learning with Reversal task. Subjects' scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were assessed before and after the TMS course. MRI data will be utilized to identify brain regions whose connectivity to the stimulation site co-varies with the aforementioned measures of symptom improvement. Due to a higher dropout rate than anticipated, in March of 2025 an amendment was added to include an additional 20 subjects in the second group's enrollment goal to increase the likelihood of achieving 80 completers.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2018

open study

This is an open-label, pilot study, to characterize oxytocin response to a single dose of oral Estrogen-progestin in patients with arginine-vasopressin deficiency compared to healthy controls. The association between oxytocin levels and measures of psychopathology (i.e., anxiety and depression) and quality of life across groups will be examined. We hypothesize that: 1. Salivary and blood oxytocin response to Estrogen-progestin will be lower in arginine-vasopressin deficiency compared to healthy control. 2. Lower salivary and blood oxytocin levels will be associated with more severe symptoms of anxiety, depression, and social emotional difficulties as well as lower quality of life.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2024

open study

This is a pragmatic phase III, randomized, blinded, double placebo-controlled, three-arm trial of elderly patients following cardiac surgery to assess the relationship between nighttime intravenous (IV) and sublingual dexmedetomidine on postoperative delirium and functional outcomes after surgery.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2025

open study

The goal of the Tiny Baby Collaborative Multicenter Inventory of Neonatal-Perinatal Interventions (MINI) minimum dataset is to serve as a registry detailing the outcomes and practices for all deliveries and infants admitted to intensive care at 22-23 weeks' gestation at participating hospitals.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Jan 2019

open study

First-degree relatives of people with inflammatory bowel disease ("IBD," including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) have an increased risk for developing IBD themselves. This study will follow unaffected first-degree relatives (who do not have IBD) over time to understand if their behaviors, diet, and biomarkers for IBD can help predict who gets IBD and if IBD can be prevented in these high-risk individuals. Participants will be asked once per year to complete a questionnaire and have their blood, stool, and urine collected. The anticipated length of the study (registry) is approximately 10 years or longer. Parts of this study, such as the questionnaires and stool and urine collection, may be done from home, while other parts, such as the blood draw, will need to be done from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Dec 2024

open study

Recent studies have shown that transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) can sometimes cause a type of heart failure where the pumping function of the heart is normal, also known as Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) or diastolic heart failure. In this single center diagnostic study, we will evaluate for ATTR in patients with HFpEF in order to to determine how frequently this occurs and how we can predict which heart failure patients may have TTR amyloidosis. Our goal is to identify amyloidosis in heart failure patients earlier so that they can start treatment.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2020

open study

This study will enroll participants with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and healthy controls for the purpose of preparing for a clinical trial of neuroprotective treatments against synucleinopathies.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Aug 2022

open study

Calciphylaxis, a vascular calcification disorder, is a rare and serious disorder characterized by calcification of dermal arterioles. There are significant gaps in the understanding of the pathophysiology and risk factors for calciphylaxis. At present, there is no effective treatment. Uncertain pathobiology, rare incidence and lack of collaborative approach have been some of the major limiting factors towards treating calciphylaxis. The Partners Calciphylaxis Biorepository (PCB) aims to address these gaps within calciphylaxis research by utilizing existing and, when necessary, developing new infrastructure to support the consent of patients and the collection of dedicated samples for a calciphylaxis repository.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Jan 2017

open study

This collaborative screening protocol, developed by the Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium (LCMC) and supported by the Thoracic Surgery Oncology Group (TSOG), is designed to determine the feasibility of comprehensive molecular profiling to detect actionable oncogenic drivers in patients with suspected early stage lung cancers scheduled to undergo biopsies to establish the diagnosis of lung cancer. The primary purpose of this testing is to determine the presence of 12 oncogenic drivers (mutations in EGFR, BRAFV600E , MET exon 14, KRAS G12C and HER2, rearrangements in ALK, RET, NTRK, EGFR exon 20 insertion and ROS1, and amplification of MET and HER2) that can serve as targets making patients eligible for upcoming targeted neoadjuvant therapy trials. The ultimate goal is to use this information from the screening process to select the optimal neoadjuvant therapy and wherever possible enroll patients onto separate neoadjuvant therapy trials with genomically matched treatments or other appropriate trials if no actionable driver mutation is detected. Thoracic Surgery Oncology Group (TSOG) is a network of surgeons within North American Thoracic Surgery Academic Centers aligned with the goal of enhancing patient care through administration of multi-site trials focused on recent advances in lung cancer. TSOG has aligned with the LCMC4 sites to enroll the LCRF-LEADER screening trial. TSOG's involvement will be essential in trial enrollment and ultimate interpretation of the multimodal clinical and translational data collected as part of this study. We estimate we will detect an actionable oncogenic driver in 33% of cases. The remaining 66% of patients will represent a cohort identified by their care teams as candidates for other potential neoadjuvant therapies which may include checkpoint inhibitors such as atezolizumab, durvalumab, nivolumab, and pembrolizumab or other novel agents. The targeted therapy treatment trials will be conducted independently of the LCRF-LEADER screening trial, evaluating for efficacy. If none of the 10 oncogenic drivers are detected, the patient will be offered participation in any clinical trial of neoadjuvant therapy available at their treating institution or standard of care therapy. For patients not enrolled on a targeted treatment trial, circulating tumor DNA in blood (ctDNA) will be collected at 3 time points: before neoadjuvant treatment, after neoadjuvant treatment but before surgery, and after surgery. This initiative will be correlated with various clinical outcomes. Prespecified clinical data will be collected for correlation with these circulating biomarkers.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jun 2022

open study

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are common. Post-TBI depression is associated with anxiety, aggression, fatigue, distractibility, anger, irritability, and rumination. The current research group conducted a pilot clinical trial, which investigated the novel treatment combination of buspirone and melatonin (B+MEL) in outpatients with clinical depression. Compared to placebo, B+MEL was associated with a significant improvement in depressive symptoms. Depression following TBI may be different from clinical depression. The B+MEL combination has never been studied in patients with post-TBI depression. The B+MEL has shown promise in ameliorating cognitive difficulties in people with depression. Because cognitive problems are typical in people with post-TBI depression, we plan to measure the effect of the B+MEL combination on cognitive ability in post-TBI depression. Additionally, we are interested in measuring functional magnetic resonance imaging changes before and after treatment with B+MEL in order to gain insight into the brain mechanisms of our hypothesized clinical symptom changes. The goals of the proposed pilot research project are to assess changes in symptoms in patients with post-TBI depression following Buspirone + Melatonin combination (B+MEL), and the corresponding brain mechanisms underlying these hypothesized changes by measuring: 1) depressive symptoms; 2) cognitive symptoms; 3) functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2020

open study

A greater extent of resection of the contrast-enhancing (CE) tumor part has been associated with improved outcomes in high-grade glioma patients. Recent results suggest that resection of the non-contrast-enhancing (NCE) part might yield even better survival outcomes (supramaximal resection, SMR). Therefore, this study evaluates the efficacy and safety of SMR with and without mapping techniques in HGG patients in terms of survival, functional, neurological, cognitive, and quality of life outcomes. Furthermore, it evaluates which patients benefit the most from SMR, and how they could be identified preoperatively. This study is an international, multicenter, prospective, 2-arm cohort study of observational nature. Consecutive HGG patients will be operated with supramaximal resection or maximal resection at a 1:3 ratio. Primary endpoints are: 1) overall survival and 2) proportion of patients with NIHSS (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale) deterioration at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. Secondary endpoints are 1) residual CE and NCE tumor volume on postoperative T1-contrast and FLAIR MRI scans 2) progression-free survival; 3) onco-functional outcome, and 4) quality of life at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. The study will be carried out by the centers affiliated with the European and North American Consortium and Registry for Intraoperative Mapping (ENCRAM).

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jan 2022

open study

This is a single-center pilot study to be conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital. The purpose of this study is to examine the non-pharmacological impact of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on gastroparesis symptoms and other clinical co-comorbidities such as pain, depression, anxiety, and catastrophizing. CBT trial patients will undergo careful phenotyping pre- and post- intervention with brain MRI, autonomic function test (AFT), gastric emptying scintigraphy (GES), and nutrient drink test (NDT) to determine the impact of CBT on these metrics in patients with gastroparesis. Characterization of these relationships or lack thereof can help guide future development of more targeted approaches and optimize treatment strategies for gastroparesis.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2018

open study

This is a single-center, randomized, double-blind trial with four arms evaluating VE416 as pretreatment or concurrent treatment in comparison to low-dose peanut oral immunotherapy (PNOIT) alone.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2019

open study

This study will perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of hemodynamics and cerebrospinal fluid flow across breathing tasks and during breath-locked neuromodulation.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2022

open study

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an artificial intelligence phone application called ASSIST can help patients receiving cancer treatment. The main question[s] it aims to answer are: Is ASSIST feasible for patients (meaning can it be used by patients)? Is ASSIST acceptable to patients (meaning do patients like it)? Researchers will compare the ASSIST phone application to see how it compares to usual clinical care. Participants on the ASSIST arm will use the ASSIST phone application for 12 weeks, and participants in both groups will complete surveys.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2026

open study