Clinical trials

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravitreal topotecan for the treatment of patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment due to proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) or resulting from an open globe injury, and compare the outcomes to those who do no receive intravitreal topotecan. The main objectives it aims to achieve are: * to study the safety profile of intravitreal topotecan in the treatment of PVR * to evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal topotecan in treating PVR. Post-consent, participants will: * undergo vitrectomy (with or without scleral buckle) as part of standard treatment for retinal detachment. * receive intravitreal topotecan at the time of surgery, post-operative day 7 and post-operative day 28 (if randomized to receive the medication) * come in at post-operative day 1, 7, 28, 56, 84, 126 and 168 to undergo a complete ophthalmic exam along with a fundus photography and optical coherence tomography of the macula, have their intraocular pressure and visual acuity measured and their adverse events monitored, if any. Researchers will compare participants who receive intravitreal topotecan for PVR to those who do not to see if there is a significant variability in recurrence of retinal detachment, rate of retinal reattachment and PVR grade 6 months after surgery.

To demonstrate that intraoperative use of subtenon triamcinolone acetonide at the time of surgery without postoperative eye drops is non-inferior to the regimen of postoperative eye drops following primary pars plana vitrectomy for retinal detachment.

The goal of this intervention study is to determine if a new electronic stimulation device, similar to a TENS can improve balance and make walking easier in older individuals with reduced balance function. The main question aims to answer the following: Can using the device improve walking speed in older individuals? Participants will be asked to perform a number of tasks while wearing the device: Walk for 6 minutes * Stand in place while having balance measured (eyes open and closed) * Stand on a foam block while having balance measured (eyes open and closed) * Sit in a chair that will tilt +/- 20 degrees while wearing goggles that take videos of the participants eyes.

The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, provides information to the brain information about how head acceleration and orientation relative to gravity. Damage to the vestibular system is usually permanent and can contribute to a lower quality of life. The goal of this research is to to examine how vestibular implants (VI) may improve performance of cognitive tasks in patients with severe vestibular damage. These higher-level cognitive behaviors include (1) orientation relative to gravity, (2) navigation, and (3) neuropsychologic function. VI patients will be tested in these three cognitive domains across study sessions: pre-stimulation (VI implanted but stimulation OFF), following chronic stimulation (12 days, VI-ON), and then again 1 month later with the VI turned off. There will be both "true" stimulation experiments during which the VI will provide motion-modulated stimulation and also "placebo" stimulation (no motion cues, tonic stimulus). The order of these experiments will be randomized and separated by 3 months. Researchers will compare VI data in the three cognitive domains (spatial orientation, navigation, \& neuropsychologic function) with control data from non-implanted bilateral vestibular loss (BVL) and unilateral vestibular loss (UVL) patients and normal subjects.

The study is about the importance of each follow-up visit after activating a new cochlear implant in addition to evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of a new programming strategy from Cochlear Americas. Investigators are looking for patients who have recently selected Cochlear Americas as their cochlear implant manufacturer of choice for their upcoming surgery. The aim of this study is to determine if 1) patient outcomes remain stable when reducing follow-up appointments and 2) Cochlear's population mean mapping can produce similar outcomes with patients while additionally reducing appointment times. The hypothesis is that using population mean mapping and reducing the number of follow-up visits after activation will yield similar performance outcomes to a standard of care while decreasing the length of appointment times and number of appointments needed for each patient.

This pilot prospective, interventional, longitudinal study, aims to evaluate the potential benefits of the probiotic supplement Lactobacillus plantarum 299v in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). The study seeks to address the following questions: 1. Does central macular thickness on optical coherence tomography decrease after 4 months of supplementation? 2. Is visual acuity improved at 1, 2, 3, and 4 months following initiation of supplementation? 3. Is the number of anti-VEGF injections reduced following initiation of supplementation? Outcomes will be compared to a control group, using historic retrospective data. Participants will take Lactobacillus plantarum 299v orally twice daily for four months.

The main objective of this study is to determine the safety of Ex Vivo Cross Linking (CXL) of donor corneal tissue in participants who have undergone high-risk penetrating keratoplasty.

The purpose of this study is to test the potential for a liquid biopsy assay to detect residual disease after surgery in patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma as well as the potential for this assay to monitor response to immunotherapy treatment.

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the comparative efficacy and safety of Hydrus Microstent, incisional goniotomy, and excisional goniotomy when combined with cataract surgery in patients with mild and moderate open-angle glaucoma. The main questions it aims to answer are: * How do the intraocular pressure lowering effects of these three microinvasive glaucoma surgeries compare? * How do the safety profiles of these three microinvasive glaucoma surgeries compare? Participants will be randomized to one of these three microinvasive glaucoma surgeries in combination with cataract surgery.

This trial is studying the safety and tolerability of receiving an injection of adalimumab (Humira) during the Boston Keratoprosthesis (KPro) surgery.

interventional trial for off label use of high dose atorvastatin 80 mg in intermediate AMD patients and correlate recovery response measured by dark adaptation recovery time with drusen volume reduction measured by SD-OCT

To date, there is only limited knowledge about the distinct neural abnormalities that lead to the development of different forms of focal dystonia. The goal of this study is to dissect the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this clinical phenomenon using multi-level brain network analysis in patients with focal dystonia.

Despite the success of cochlear implants, devices surgically placed in the inner ears of patients with severe hearing loss, there remains substantial variability in the overall speech perception outcomes for the children and adults who receive them. The main goals of this project are: i) to improve our understanding of how cochlear implants affect the developing auditory system, ii) apply that knowledge to test new methods for programming children and adults, and iii) to study how long it takes listeners to adapt to new cochlear implant programs over the short- and long-term. The results will improve our understanding of how the deafened auditory system develops with cochlear implant stimulation and advance clinical practice to improve hearing outcomes in cochlear implant listeners.

This research involves retrospective and prospective studies for clinical validation of a DystoniaNet deep learning platform for the diagnosis of isolated dystonia.

The researchers will examine functional neural correlates that differentiate between laryngeal dystonia and voice tremor and contribute to disorder-specific pathophysiology using a cross-disciplinary approach of multimodal brain imaging.

The researchers will systematically evaluate current and novel clinical voice assessment tools and measures to elucidate distinct clinical phenotypes of those with laryngeal dystonia and voice tremor.

The goals of this project are 1) to determine the incidence of neurological voice disorders in patients with dystonia and essential tremor undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS), 2) investigate the neuroimaging and intracranial neurophysiology correlates of voice dysfunction in these subjects, and subsequently 3) determine the effects of DBS on voice function.

The main aim of the pilot study is to determine preliminary estimates of the safety, tolerability, and comfort of a dexamethasone-eluting therapeutic contact lens drug delivery system (TCL-DDS) for the treatment of recurrent cystoid macular edema. Secondarily, feasibility of the TCL-DDS system will be investigated. 1. Safety: To establish that a topical dexamethasone delivery system has an acceptable safety profile by determining the incidence and severity of ocular adverse events, as identified by eye examination through day 28 following treatment initiation. 2. Comfort and tolerability: to establish the subject tolerability and comfort of the TCL-DDS. 3. Feasibility: To establish- that a topical dexamethasone delivery system is a feasible treatment for recurrent cystoid macular edema.

This study has two main objectives. The first objective is to study the pharmacokinetics of topical netarsudil administration in the posterior segment of the eye, where netarsudil must exert its effect in order to prevent formation of tractional membranes. The second objective is to assess the safety profile of topical netarsudil in the pre- and post-operative periods. A secondary objective of the study is to begin to assess signs of efficacy in preventing formation of tractional membranes post-operatively.

This protocol will investigate whether topical application of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) eye drops decreases oxidative stress and confers cytoprotection in patients with FECD.

The investigators will develop and test different configurations of high-power prisms to expand the field of vision of patients with visual field loss to assist them with obstacle detection when walking. The study will involve multiple visits (typically four) to Schepens Eye Research Institute for fitting and testing with the prism glasses. The overall objective is to determine best designs and fitting parameters for implementation in prism devices for future clinical trials.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a new screening approach including an artificial intelligence algorithm that analyzes fundus photographs, measurement of eye pressure and visual field testing works to screen for glaucoma. Participants will: Have an image of their fundus (back of the eye) taken as part of their diabetic eye screening Have a measurement of their eye pressure If needed, have a test of their side vision using a headset

This study will test the ability of a personalized blood test to determine which head and neck cancer patients will have a recurrence after treatment.