Mass General - Division of Clinical Research

Without an explanation for severe and sometimes life-threatening symptoms, patients and their families are left in a state of unknown. Many individuals find themselves being passed from physician to physician, undergoing countless and often repetitive tests in the hopes of finding answers and insight about what the future may hold. This long and arduous journey to find a diagnosis does not end for many patients- the Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR) notes that 6% of individuals seeking their assistance have an undiagnosed disorder. In 2008, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) was established with the goal of providing care and answers for these individuals with mysterious conditions who have long eluded diagnosis. The NIH UDP is a joint venture of the NIH ORDR, the National Human Genome Research Institute Intramural Research Program (NHGRI-IRP), and the NIH Clinical Research Center (CRC) (1-3). The goals of the NIH UDP are to: (1) provide answers for patients with undiagnosed diseases; (2) generate new knowledge about disease mechanisms; (3) assess the application of new approaches to phenotyping and the use of genomic technologies; and (4) identify potential therapeutic targets, if possible. To date, the UDP has evaluated 3300 medical records and admitted 750 individuals with rare and undiagnosed conditions to the NIH Clinical Center. The NIH UDP has identified more than 70 rare disease diagnoses and several new conditions. The success of the NIH UDP prompted the NIH Common Fund to support the establishment of a network of medical research centers, the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN), for fiscal years 2013-2020. The clinical sites will perform extensive phenotyping, genetic analyses, and functional studies of potential disease-causing variants. The testing performed on patients involves medically indicated studies intended to help reach a diagnosis, as well as research investigations that include a skin biopsy, blood draws, and DNA analysis. In addition, the UDN will further the goals of the UDP by permitting the sharing of personally identifiable phenotypic and genotypic information within the network. By sharing participant information and encouraging collaboration, the UDN hopes to improve the understanding of rare conditions and advance the diagnostic process and care for individuals with undiagnosed diseases.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Sep 2015

open study

The Connect-One Study is an early feasibility study to obtain preliminary device safety information for the Connexus Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). The Connexus BCI is intended to be used as: (1) an assistive communication device to decode imagined language correlates and speech for patients with impaired communication as a result of severe loss of voluntary motor control; and (2) to provide control of computer devices for individuals with severe loss of voluntary motor control of the upper extremity.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2026

open study

The purpose of this study is to establish the safety of the pulsed field ablation (PFA) therapy of Pulmonary Veins and Electrographic Flow (EGF) identified extra-PV sources of atrial fibrillation (PVI + EGF ablation of sources) and to demonstrate its non-inferiority in effectiveness compared to PFA of Pulmonary Veins and LA Posterior Wall (PVI+ PWA) in the treatment of de novo symptomatic drug-refractory persistent atrial fibrillation (PersAF).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2025

open study

The purpose of this research is to evaluate if early vs rescue Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (PLEX) treatment algorithm leads to better visual outcomes in severe Optic Neuritis and leads to better neurological disability outcomes in severe Transverse Myelitis.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2025

open study

This study aims to refine and pilot test PDAC-PATHWAYS, a digital informational and supportive care app for patients who are initiating neoadjuvant therapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2025

open study

The purpose of this study is to measure the safety and efficacy of LY4175408 in participants with selected advanced cancer. In addition, this study will evaluate how much LY4175408 gets into the bloodstream, how it is broken down, and how long it takes the body to get rid of it. Participation could last up to 4 years.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2025

open study

The purpose of the present investigation is to test the efficacy of a virtual, brief (6 sessions) dyadic (patient and care-partner together) intervention to prevent chronic emotional distress in dyads where one person is diagnosed with Young Onset Dementia (YOD). Through this study, we seek to address the unmet need of preventing chronic emotional distress in YOD dyads through a feasible, acceptable and credible program, and ideally enhance resiliency and improve wellbeing and quality of life in both members of the dyad.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2026

open study

The ELEVATE III Pivotal Study is a prospective, multi-center, open-label, interventional, randomized, controlled study with an active control group. The study is intended to assess the safety and efficacy of the Elevate™ percutaneous Left Ventricular Assist Device System in patients referred to high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions (HR-PCI).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2025

open study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Onyx™ LES in the treatment of subjects with active arterial bleeding in the peripheral vasculature outside of the heart and brain.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2025

open study

This is a Phase 2 study of the study drug, ivosidenib (a mutant IDH1 inhibitor), compared to placebo, given to patients with IDH1-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2026

open study

Primary PC - or training HCT clinicians to deliver PC domains as part of routine practice - is an alternative model of supportive care. We have developed Sentinel, a primary PC intervention for HCT clinicians and patients. This study will assess Sentinel's feasibility and acceptability.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2026

open study

The purpose of this study is to assess Tacrolimus/Methotrexate/Ruxolitinib versus Post-Transplant Cyclophosphamide/Tacrolimus/Mycophenolate Mofetil in Non-Myeloablative/Reduced Intensity Conditioning Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2025

open study

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been traditionally considered incurable and untreatable. But starting in the 1990s with the introduction of Riluzole, therapies are being discovered and ultimately approved for slowing disease progression. Many pharmaceutical companies continue to seek new therapeutic approaches. One critical aspect of all clinical trials is the need track to progression sensitively to identify the impact of therapy. Tools to track ALS progression must be convenient, objective, require minimal training, be easily standardized, cost-efficient, and have the potential to be applied effectively at home. There has been a push to identify accurate, objective biomarkers of ALS progression. In this study, the investigators propose to use Electrical impedance myography (EIM) to evaluate the progression of the disease. Work has shown that the EIM 50 kilohertz (kHz) phase value from one or more muscles, followed sequentially, can serve as an effective overall biomarker for assessing the rate of ALS progression for a single person.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Mar 2025

open study

This study is researching an experimental drug called linvoseltamab combined with another drug called dupilumab. The study is looking at patients who have severe IgE-mediated food allergy. If the patient has an allergy, the body's defense system (immune system) overreacts to an allergen (eg, certain foods like peanuts, milk, shellfish) by making antibodies called IgE. An antibody is a protein that allows the immune system to find and fight off things the body does not recognize (allergens). IgE antibodies are sent out by cells like plasma cells. These antibodies and allergens bind to other cells that send out chemicals, causing an allergic reaction. The aim of the study is to see what side effects happen when linvoseltamab is combined with dupilumab. The study is looking at several other research questions, including: - What side effects may happen from taking the study drugs - Does linvoseltamab combined with dupilumab affect other types of antibodies in the blood at different times - How much study drug(s) is in the blood at different times

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2024

open study

This research study aims assess whether the Difference Frequency Generation (DFG) laser could be a better alternative to the CO2 laser in terms of reduced side effects and patient downtime.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2024

open study

This is a placebo-controlled, multi-arm phase II platform screening trial designed to test the safety, pain responses, and pharmacodynamic activity of multiple experimental therapies simultaneously in participants with moderate-to-severe pain due to schwannomatosis (SWN). This Master Study is being conducted as a platform that may allow participants with pain associated with schwannomatosis to receive a novel intervention throughout this study. Embedded within the Master Study are individual drug sub-studies: - Investigational Drug Sub-Study A: Siltuximab - Investigation Drug Sub-Study B: Erenumab-Aooe

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2023

open study

This is a 2-part (phase 2b/3) prospective, interventional, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Part 1 (phase 2b) is a dose-finding study for CSL300 vs placebo. Part 2 (phase 3) aims to assess the efficacy of CSL300 on cardiovascular (CV) outcomes and safety in subjects with systemic inflammation and either atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) or diabetes with end stage kidney disease (ESKD) undergoing maintenance dialysis.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2022

open study

Persistent developmental stuttering affects more than three million people in the United States, and it can have profound adverse effects on quality of life. Despite its prevalence and negative impact, stuttering has resisted explanation and effective treatment, due in large part to a poor understanding of the neural processing impairments underlying the disorder. The overall goal of this study is to improve understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in speech motor planning and how these are disrupted in neurogenic speech disorders, like stuttering. The investigators will do this through an integrated combination of experiments that involve speech production, functional MRI, and non-invasive brain stimulation. The study is designed to test hypotheses regarding the brain processes involved in learning and initiating new speech sound sequences and how those processes compare in persons with persistent developmental stuttering and those with typical speech development. These processes will be studied in both adults and children. Additionally, these processes will be investigated in patients with neurodegenerative speech disorders (primary progressive aphasia) to further inform the investigators understanding of the neural mechanisms that support speech motor sequence learning. Together these experiments will result in an improved account of the brain mechanisms underlying speech production in fluent speakers and individuals who stutter, thereby paving the way for the development of new therapies and technologies for addressing this disorder.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2023

open study

The goal of this study is to investigate the ability of [68Ga]CBP8 to detect collagen deposition in early interstitial lung disease.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2022

open study

This is a multicenter trial to establish the efficacy of cooling and the optimal duration of induced hypothermia for neuroprotection in pediatric comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. The study team hypothesizes that longer durations of cooling may improve either the proportion of children that attain a good neurobehavioral recovery or may result in better recovery among the proportion already categorized as having a good outcome.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2022

open study

This phase II trial tests whether the addition of radiation to the primary tumor, typically given with stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR), in combination with standard of care immunotherapy improves outcomes in patients with renal cell cancer that is not recommended for surgery and has spread from where it first started (primary site) to other places in the body (metastatic). Radiation therapy uses high energy photons to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Stereotactic body radiation therapy uses special equipment to position a patient and deliver radiation to tumors with high precision. This method may kill tumor cells with fewer doses of radiation over a shorter period and cause less damage to normal tissue. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab, ipilimumab, avelumab, and pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Axitinib, cabozantinib, and lenvatinib are in a class of medications called antiangiogenic agents. They work by stopping the formation of blood vessels that bring oxygen and nutrients to tumor. This may slow the growth and spread of tumor. Giving SABR in combination with standard of care immunotherapy may help shrink or stabilize the cancer in patients with renal cell cancer.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2023

open study

A prospective, single-arm, multi-center study designed to gather additional information on the LimFlow System.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2022

open study

This study is a prospective, multi-center, randomized, double blinded, placebo-controlled study of OCR treatment-discontinuation in patients with early RMS. All eligible participants will be initiated on OCR using the standard approved administration schedule of two 300 mg infusions separated by 14 days (i.e., Days 0 and 14) for a total of 600 mg, followed by 600 mg infusions at Month 6,12, 18, and 24. At Month 24, participants will be randomized (2:1) to one of two Arms with randomized treatment beginning at Month 30: Arm 1: placebo infusions every 6 months; or Arm 2: OCR infusions every 6 months. The treatment period will be for a total of 48 months.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2023

open study

In this research study we want to learn more about the use of indocyanine green (ICG) during bone or soft tissue mass resections. Indocyanine green (ICG) is a type of dye that is used in medical diagnostics. We want to determine if ICG-guided tumor resection is more effective in obtaining negative margins. Lastly, we want to assess traditional oncologic outcomes of local recurrence, time to metastatic disease, and overall and disease specific survival.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2022

open study

This research study is studying a combination of drugs as a possible treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). The names of the study drugs involved in this study are: - obinutuzumab - venetoclax - acalabrutinib

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2020

open study