Clinical trials

The purpose of this study The purpose of this study is to find out if it is safe to perform surgery on the parotid gland (the large salivary gland in front of the ear) without using a wound drain. A wound drain is a small plastic tube used to remove excess fluid from the surgical site after the operation. Currently, using a drain is the standard practice in Sweden, which often means patients must stay in hospital overnight. Researchers want to see if skipping the drain is just as safe and if it could allow more patients to return home on the same day as their surgery. What happens during the study Participants in this study will be randomly assigned to one of two groups during their surgery: Group 1: Will receive the standard treatment with a wound drain. Group 2: Will have the surgery performed without a wound drain. Apart from the use of a drain, all participants will receive the same surgical care. After the operation, researchers will monitor the healing process. Participants will be asked to fill out questionnaires about their health and any symptoms at one week and six months after their surgery. The goal of the study The main goal is to compare the safety of the two methods. Researchers will look at whether there is any difference in the number of complications, such as fluid build-up (seroma), bleeding, or infections, between those who had a drain and those who did not. The study also aims to evaluate if avoiding a drain improves the patient's quality of life and if it is a more cost-effective approach for the healthcare system.

The goal of this observational study is to learn more about the pain and stress experienced by newborn infants receiving mechanical ventilation (breathing through a machine). The main questions it aims to answer are: * Do different ventilator settings (modi) cause different degrees of pain and stress? * Can skin conductance measurement be used to evaluate the pain and stress caused by mechanical ventilation in newborns? * Can skin-to-skin care alleviate the stress caused by mechanical ventilation? Participants will be monitored according to clinical protocol with the addition of electrodes placed on the infant's foot, measuring changes in skin conductance.

Background and Purpose: Neck fractures affect over 1,100 people in Sweden each year, with the majority being frail older adults. Most neck fractures are stable and therefore treated without surgery, typically using a rigid collar. However, the collar only limits neck movement by 40-50% and can cause pressure sores, as well as difficulties with swallowing and breathing. Because of these issues, the latest Swedish national guidelines for pre-hospital and hospital spinal motion restriction have replaced the rigid collar with other methods. This raises the question of whether the rigid collar still has a role in the modern treatment of stable neck fractures. The aim of this study is to determine whether treatment with or without a rigid collar leads to equally good healing outcomes. Method: All adults diagnosed with a stable neck fracture deemed suitable for non-surgical treatment will be included in the study at the time of registration in the Swedish Fracture Register (SFR). Participating hospitals will be randomly assigned (1:1) to either use no collar at all or a rigid collar for 12 weeks. After an initial period of 1.5 years, the hospitals will switch to the opposite treatment group. A total of 616 participants are expected to be included within 3 years. At the one-year follow-up, investigators will evaluate how many participants in each treatment group that required a switch to surgical stabilization due to treatment failure. Secondary outcomes will include quality of life, neck pain, and the need for assistive devices in relation to disability and complications in both groups. Summary: Non-surgical treatment rarely fails, and the need to switch from non-surgical treatment to surgery is very uncommon. The rigid collar is often prescribed out of habit, without much consideration for its potential negative effects. If this study shows that the rigid collar is unnecessary for treating stable neck fractures, frail older adults-who often struggle with collar-related discomfort, malnutrition, and pressure sores-could avoid unnecessary suffering.

The goal of this observational study is to understand how oxygen consumption after heart surgery relates to blood flow problems and organ injury. The study focuses on patients over 18 years old who are having planned heart surgery with a heart-lung machine (cardiopulmonary bypass). The main questions the study aims to answer are: 1. How does oxygen consumption in the early hours after surgery relate to lactate levels (a sign of low oxygen supply to the tissues)? 2. How is oxygen consumption linked to signs of poor blood flow and organ injury (such as heart, kidney, liver, brain, and gut damage)? Researchers will measure oxygen consumption after surgery using a technique called indirect calorimetry. They will also track blood flow and oxygen use during surgery and check for signs of organ injury the day after the procedure. The study will include 65 participants. People with certain health conditions, like severe anemia, high lactate levels before surgery, or needing intensive care or extra oxygen supply before surgery, will not be included. By understanding how oxygen consumption relates to blood flow and organ injury, this research may help to better manage patients after heart surgery and reduce complications.

Background: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is characterized by neck pain, neck stiffness, weakness, paresthesia, sphincter disturbance and balance disorder. The mean age for symptoms is 64 years and more men than women, 2.7:1, are affected. The most common level is C5-C6. DCM is the predominant cause of spinal cord dysfunction in the elderly worldwide. Surgical options include stand-alone laminectomy, laminectomy and fusion and laminoplasty. The preferable surgical approach is though, a matter of controversy. The objective of this study is to compare stand-alone laminectomy to laminectomy and fusion. Methods/Design: This is a multicenter randomized, controlled, parallel group non-inferiority trial. A total of 300 adult participants are allocated in a ratio of 1:1. The primary endpoint is reoperation for any reason within 5 years of follow-up. Sample size and power calculations were performed by estimating the reoperation rate after laminectomy to 3.4% and after laminectomy with fusion to 7.9% based on data from the Swedish spine registry (Swespine) on patients with DCM. Secondary outcomes are the patient derived modified Japanese orthopaedic association (P-mJOA) score, Neck disability index (NDI), European quality of life five dimensions (EQ-5D), Numeric rating scale (NRS) for neck and arm pain, Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), development of kyphosis measured as the cervical sagittal vertical axis (cSVA) and, death. Clinical and radiological follow-up is performed at 3, 12, 24 and 60 months after surgery. The main inclusion criteria is 1-4 levels of DCM in the subaxial spine, C3-C7, with or without deformity. The REDcap will be used for safe data management. Data will be analyzed in the per protocol (PP) population, defined as randomized patients who are still alive without having emigrated or left the study after five years. Discussion: This will be the first randomized controlled trial comparing two of the most common surgical treatments for DCM; the posterior muscle-preserving selective laminectomy and posterior laminectomy with instrumented fusion. The results of the MyRanC study will provide surgical treatment recommendations for DCM. This may result in improvements in surgical treatment and clinical practice regarding DCM.

Hodgkin Lymphoma patients with limited stage are commonly cured with limited chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy. Studies have shown a risk of late toxicity from the radiotherapy, such as second cancer, heart failure and lung toxicity. With proton therapy the dose to normal tissue can be minimised without compromising the dose to the tumor. The aim of our study is to investigate whether proton therapy can be delivered in a safe way to Hodgkin Lymphoma patients with less late side effects than conventional radiotherapy, while retaining the high cure rate. This is a multicentre phase II study of PBS proton beam therapy in patients ≤60 years, with early stage Hodgkin Lymphoma treated with induction chemotherapy. The study is performed in a non-inferiority setting comparing with a historical population-based consecutive Swedish material. The control group was treated according to the same principles, except that the radiotherapy was delivered with photons.

The goal of this experimental interventional study is to learn if the psychological treatment Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT), is feasible to conduct and provide positive effects for adolescents with eating disorders and emotional overcontrol. Participants will be those at risk for developing severe and enduring eating disorder symptoms, as they have not responded fully to previous treatment attempts. Primary outcomes are feasibility and changes in eating disorder symptoms. Secondary outcomes are changes in unhelpful behaviors and experiences related to emotional overcontrol; including psychological inflexibility, suppression of emotions, and experience of loneliness. The participants will undergo the treatment with RO-DBT, which include an approximately 22 week long treatment consisting of individual psychotherapy and parallel skills training in group.

The goal of this observational longitudinal study is to investigate characteristics and factors associated with the development of Severe and Enduring Eating Disorders (SEED). In this project, the researchers will follow two prospective cohorts of patients with eating disorders (ED), one adolescent (ages 14-17) and one adult (ages 18+), in terms of change in and impact of clinical, psychological, and biological risk factors. Data will be collected at baseline, after treatment, two years after baseline, and thereafter five, 10 and 20 years after baseline. Participants will be asked to undergo a physical examination, leave blood samples, be interviewed, and fill in questionnaires. If the participants are minors, their care takers will also fill in the questionnaires. The study aims to explore how clinical, psychological, and biological risk factors-including comorbidity, personality characteristics, difficulties with emotion regulation (ER), cognitive inflexibility, loneliness, severe ED symptoms, and inflammatory activation-contribute to a chronic course of the disorder.

Renal perfusion and neutrophil-mediated inflammation will be assessed in the kidney in sepsis patients with acute kidney injury using positron emission tomography. For marked water will be used for renal perfusion and a newly developed PET tracer molecule (11C-GW457427) with specific binding to neutrophil elastase which provides a measure of the amount of infiltrating neutrophils in the renal parenchyma for inflammation. The study is performed in a PET-CT camera where anatomical imaging takes place at the same time as the PET examinations.

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the preliminary outcomes of concentrated exposure and response prevention for children with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in regular clinical practice. It is a non-randomised open label evaluation where children 6-12 years with OCD who are patients at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) at Uppsala University Hospital will be rectruited together with their legal guardians. The treatment will be delivered by trained therapists in regular outpatient care. The main question the study aims to answer is: What are the preliminary treatment effects of concentrated exposure and response prevention with regards to OCD-symptoms, functional impact, family accomodation and clinician ratings of severity and improvement? Participants will receive psychoeducation (in group format) and exposure and response prevention (9-12h concentrated to one week, individual format). Outcomes will be measured on structured interviews, clinician ratings, and validated questionnaires pre-treatment, post-treatment and at a six month follow-up.

The main aim of this study is to identify biological and psychological characteristics as risk factors in individuals with severe and enduring eating disorders (SEED). Specifically, the investigators aim to: 1. in a cohort of well-diagnosed eating disorder patients from 2005 followed up in National health registers, explore risk factors at baseline (recorded 2005-2007) for development of later SEED (the registry based cohort). 2. replicate the findings in a new sample of 50 adults with ongoing SEED. Participants will be assessed diagnostically and physically, and asked to fill out questionnaires and leave blood samples (the ongoing SEED sample compared with the register based cohort). 3. in a sample of 50 adults with SEED, explore demographic, biological, clinical, and psychological factors and examine the relation between these factors and symptom severity and functional impairment (the ongoing SEED sample). 4. explore participants perspectives on their symptoms and received care (the ongoing SEED sample).