Clinical trials

The purpose of this study is to determine if a single dose of amikacin (a type of antibiotic) can be used to effectively treat emergency department patients with uncomplicated cystitis (inflammation of the bladder). Participating in this study will allow the patient to treat their urinary tract infection (UTI) with a single intramuscular (IM (into the arm)) or intravenous (IV (into the vein)) shot of amikacin, rather than having to go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for antibiotics, and then take antibiotics for 3-7 days. A single dose of amikacin has been demonstrated to be safe, effective and well tolerated in other studies, but some patients may decline to participate because they do not wish to have an IV or IM shot, or because they don't want to speak on the phone with a research assistant three times over the next 30 days.

The proposed Virtual Reality as an Adjunct to Pain Management for Geriatric Patients in the ED (VRAP-ED) project will take place in the Emergency Medicine Department at Maimonides Medical Center. It seeks to enhance the analgesic practices for geriatric patients with acute painful conditions in the emergency setting. Although virtual reality (VR) has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing pain and anxiety in various clinical settings for juveniles and adults, the analgesic efficacy of VR for geriatric ED patients lacks established data. The project will use a geriatric-focused VR platform. The project intends to improve pain management for almost 200 geriatric patients by evaluating the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) in reducing pain and its impact on anxiety \& stress reduction. The research project will conduct a randomized clinical trial to investigate the analgesic efficacy and impact on anxiety \& stress by using VR as an adjunct to the standard of care (SOC) for pain management in elderly patients presenting to the ED with acute musculoskeletal pain. This will be investigated through a prospective, randomized, non-blinded clinical trial conducted over two years. Eligible patients will be randomly assigned to either the control (SOC) or intervention (SOC+VR) groups. The expected outcomes of this research study will provide insight into the feasibility of using VR in a busy emergency setting for one of the most commonly encountered painful syndromes and to assess the analgesic efficacy as well as the satisfaction of VR application by both patients and ED clinicians.

Rimegepant (Nurtec) is an orally administered small molecule CGRP receptor antagonist with efficacy in the acute treatment of migraine. Rizatriptan benzoate (MAXALT), is a selective 5-hydroxytryptamine1B/1D (5-HT1B/1D) receptor agonist. Rizatriptan binds with high affinity to human cloned 5-HT1B and 5-HT1D receptors which leads to activation of these receptors results in cranial vessel constriction, inhibition of neuropeptide release and reduced transmission in trigeminal pain pathways with resultant relieve of the headache. Teh investigators hypothesize that the administration of Rimegepant ODT would provide better analgesic efficacy than Rizatriptan ODT with respect to analgesic efficacy at 60 min and 120 minutes in ED patients with acute headache. This is a prospective, randomized, double-blind superiority trial evaluating and comparing analgesic efficacy and safety of Rimegepant ODT 75 mg to Rizatriptan ODT 10 mg in adult patients presenting to the Emergency Department of Maimonides Medical Center with acute migraine headache.

In situations where intravenous access is not readily available or is unobtainable and the intranasal route is not feasible, another non-invasive route of ketamine administration, such as inhalation via breath-actuated Nebulizer (BAN), is becoming a viable alternative. The BAN allows the controlled, patient-initiated delivery of analgesics in a measured and titratable fashion. (18) Ketamine has been studied as a nebulized drug in a lot of different settings and for a lot of different reasons, such as to treat acute pain after surgery (like a sore throat after being intubated), as a pre-medication for general anesthesia, to treat cancer pain, and as a therapy for asthmaticus. Our research team has published two case series of 10 adult patients who were given nebulized ketamine (via BAN) for a variety of acute traumatic and non-traumatic painful conditions. The patients showed a 60% decrease in pain and a small number of side effects. Furthermore, our group published a randomized, double-blind trial of 120 adult patients evaluating the analgesic efficacy and safety of nebulized ketamine at three different dosing regimens for acute pain in the ED (0.75 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg, and 1.5 mg/kg), showing similar analgesic efficacy between the three different dosing regimens for short-term (up to 120 minutes) pain relief. Lastly, we recently completed a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy clinical trial comparing the analgesic efficacy and safety of nebulized ketamine and intravenous ketamine in managing acute pain in adult ED patients, with data currently being analyzed. Nebulized fentanyl given in the ED to adults with acute traumatic and non-traumatic pain syndromes at a dose range of 1.5-4 mcg/kg showed the same or even better pain-relieving effects than IV fentanyl and IV morphine alone. Our objective is to compare the analgesic efficacy and rates of side effects of a 0.75 mg/kg dose of ketamine administered via breath-actuated nebulizer (BAN) to a dose of 3 mcg/kg of fentanyl administered via breath-actuated nebulizer (BAN) in adult patients presenting to the ED with acute painful conditions.