Mass General - Division of Clinical Research

The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a randomized trial of a brief psychoeducational intervention versus enhanced usual care for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who are initiating neoadjuvant multimodality treatment.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2023

open study

This study will combine brain imaging and neuromodulation tools to investigate the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of exercises. The findings will enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying mind-body exercise and facilitate the development of new pain management approaches.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2024

open study

This project aims to optimize a critical but understudied ingredient of language intervention provided to children with developmental language disorder (DLD) - feedback. The project will bridge a gap between previous findings in our lab of inefficient feedback processing in DLD and clinical practice by identifying the conditions under which feedback-based learning can be improved in DLD. The investigators hypothesize that the effectiveness of feedback can be significantly enhanced for children with DLD when it is tailored to their unique learning strengths. The rationale for this project is based on evidence that feedback-based learning can be improved by enhancing the dominance of an intact learning system. The project will achieve its aim by manipulating (1) the timing of the feedback (immediate vs. delayed) and (2) the level of the learner's involvement in error correction dictated by feedback (active vs. passive correction). Aim 1 will determine the effect of manipulating feedback timing on learning in 140 school-age children (8-12 years) with DLD. While immediate feedback is processed by the striatum, which is also implicated in implicit learning, delaying the feedback by a few seconds shifts feedback processing to the mediate temporal lobe (MTL)-based declarative learning system. Evidence that delaying feedback improves learning in DLD would support the hypothesis of the implicit deficit theory that intervention should capitalize on declarative learning mechanisms. The project will test a novel alternative feedback-learning parity hypothesis whereby feedback-based learning is optimized when the timing of the feedback is aligned with the dominant learning system at a given time (i.e., immediate feedback during striatal-based probabilistic learning; delayed feedback during MTL-based declarative learning). Within the same group of children, Aim 2 will compare feedback-based learning in children with DLD when feedback (a) prompts active self-correction or (b) passively exposes learners to error corrections (corrective recast). Children will engage in two nonword-object paired-associate learning tasks. In one task, feedback will promote active self-correction, which is in line with declarative learning. In the other task, feedback will passively expose the learner to corrective feedback in a manner consistent with teaching approaches aiming at reducing awareness of errors. The project will determine whether children with DLD learn better when feedback prompts self-correction or when they are exposed to passive corrections. Electrophysiological measures will indicate whether passive corrections (corrective recast) are processed as negative feedback by children with DLD. For both aims, behavioral indicators of response to feedback will be complemented by electrophysiological measures of feedback processing that can determine the involvement of the striatum and MTL brain systems during the learning process. This work is scientifically and clinically significant because elucidating what manipulations optimize feedback-based learning will enhance our understanding of the impaired learning mechanism in DLD and will provide clinical guidance on what type of feedback to use during an intervention.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2023

open study

This neuroimaging study is a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of intermittent theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (iTBS-TMS) to the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in reducing suicide risk in patients with major depressive episode (MDE) or borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2023

open study

The objective of this randomized, surgically controlled, double-blinded, Phase 2 study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AAV2-GDNF delivered to the putamen in subjects with moderate Parkinson's Disease.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2024

open study

NMOSDCopilot is a digital tool developed for the self-assessment of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder symptoms that impact patients' functioning and quality of life. It has been co-designed with the help of patient advocacy groups, NMOSD patients and medical experts. It includes a smartphone-based application for patients, connected to a web portal developed for healthcare professionals (HCSPs). The patient application is composed of vision, walking, cognition, and dexterity e-active tests inspired by clinical standards, as well as e-questionnaires. The HCP web portal is a desktop-based software that allows HCPs to access the results generated via the patient application and facilitates remote monitoring of patients' symptoms. The objectives of this study are to validate the accuracy, reliability and reproducibility of the unsupervised at-home self-assessment of symptoms on the patient's smartphone versus the standard in-clinic testing, as well as to evaluate the safety of use of the tool, its usability, and satisfaction towards the patient application among NMOSD patients, and the HCP web dashboard among HCPs.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2023

open study

The purpose of this Clinical Research Collaboration is to investigate the prognostic implications of pulmonary hemodynamics during exercise based on a large scale multi-centre approach by using retrospective and prospective analysis of hemodynamic data.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Dec 2018

open study

Individuals with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) frequently report difficulties with attention and memory. The main question this study seeks to answer is: Do patients with ITP have evidence of cognitive impairment as detected by a cognitive function test battery? To address this issue, participants will take a cognitive function test and complete surveys on quality of life, fatigue, depression, and cognitive symptoms. The primary aim of the study is to evaluate for the presence and extent of cognitive impairment in patients with ITP. The study will also assess whether cognitive impairment in ITP is associated with patient-reported impacts on quality of life, fatigue, mood, and cognitive symptoms as well as clinical characteristics such as ITP disease and treatment history.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Sep 2024

open study

The study will enroll 200 women newly diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy within 5 months postpartum in a randomized placebo controlled trial of bromocriptine therapy to evaluate its impact on myocardial recovery and clinical outcomes. Given that bromocriptine prevents breastfeeding, an additional 50 women with peripartum cardiomyopathy excluded from the trial due to a desire to continue breastfeeding but meeting all other entry criteria will be followed in an observational cohort.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2022

open study

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood and tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help the study of cancer in the future. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is analyzing the DNA in blood and tissue samples from patients with lung cancer.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Sep 2005

open study

The Epilepsy Learning Health System (ELHS) is a quality improvement and research network to improve outcomes for people with epilepsy. The ELHS is designed as a model of value-based chronic care for epilepsy as envisioned by the National Academies of Medicine Committee in their landmark reports "The Learning Health System" and "Epilepsy Across the Spectrum: Promoting Health and Understanding". The ELHS network is a collaboration among clinicians, patients and researchers that promotes the use of data for multiple purposes including one-on-one clinical care, population management, quality improvement and research. The ELHS Registry includes data on children and adults with epilepsy collected during the process of standard epilepsy care. These data are used to create population health reports and to track changes in outcomes over time. ELHS teams use quality improvement methods, such as Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, to continuously learn how to improve care.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Mar 2019

open study

The goal of this pilot clinical trial is to compare telehealth and onsite supervised maintenance exercise program for adults with Chronic Lung Disease. The specific aims of the study are: - To compare 8-week supervised maintenance program delivered onsite and via tele-rehab with no maintenance for patients with Chronic Lung Disease following discharge from traditional exercise or physical therapy or onsite outpatient rehabilitation programs on clinical outcomes (dyspnea, exercise capacity, physical function, physical activity, and quality of life) at 8 weeks and 4-months post-intervention. - To compare the differences in dyspnea, exercise capacity, physical function, physical activity, and quality of life between an 8-week maintenance program delivered onsite and via tele-rehab at 8-weeks and 4-months post-intervention in patients with Chronic Lung Disease following discharge from traditional onsite outpatient rehabilitation. Participants in both intervention groups (onsite and tele-rehab) will undergo a baseline onsite assessment followed by an 8-week supervised exercise intervention either onsite or in a telehealth setting. Control group will receive biweekly check in calls, but no active intervention.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2023

open study

Iadademstat is being studied as a treatment for subjects with Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia (R/R AML) with FMS-like tyrosine kinase mutation (FLT3 mut+). During the trial, iadademstat will be given in combination with gilteritinib, a drug that is already approved to treat patients with FLT3-mutated R/R AML.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2022

open study

The purpose of the HALT Biomarkers study are to identify a panel of circulating proteins that discriminates between patients with and without Hypo-Attenuated Leaflet Thickening (HALT) and can be used to supplement the diagnosis of HALT; to characterize changes in circulating proteins after treatment of HALT with systemic anticoagulation; and to identify circulating proteins that predict the occurrence of HALT. The study population will be adult patients undergoing transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for severe aortic stenosis (AS) or bioprosthetic valve degeneration. Enrollment will continue until 30 patients with HALT are identified for completion of phase 1. Based on a HALT incidence rate of 10%, we anticipate enrolling 300 patients. Patients are enrolled prior to undergoing transfemoral TAVR. Blood samples, clinical data and echocardiograms will be collected at the following timepoints: baseline (pre-TAVR, T0), post-TAVR (pre-discharge, T1), 30-day follow-up (window 3-9 weeks, T2), and 6-month follow-up (T3). Cardiac 4D CT will be performed at the 30-day follow-up visit to screen for the occurrence of HALT. Patients with HALT will be treated with systemic anticoagulation for 5-6 months, at which point a follow-up CT scan and blood sample will be obtained. Control subjects will also undergo a 6-month study visit with blood sample collection. The study will be conducted within two phases. Phase 1 will serve as a derivation / discovery study in which candidate protein biomarkers of HALT will be identified. Once this is successfully completed, a second cohort will be enrolled within phase 2. Phase 2 will be performed under the auspices a future contract or amendment and will seek to cross-validate the initial study findings.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2020

open study