Clinical trials

The purpose of this study is to identify gene changes that cause DCM and gene differences that influence the development and severity of DCM. These genetic studies may identify a change in a gene that has already been linked with DCM, a change in a gene not previously associated with DCM, or these studies may identify a gene or genes that affect the development and severity of the DCM. With this knowledge we hope to have a better understanding of how genes and gene changes cause DCM.

There are two equally important primary hypotheses, which will be tested in two independent parallel, randomized clinical trials.

One trial will test the primary hypothesis that intensive medical management differs from the combination of CEA and intensive medical management in preventing the primary endpoint in patients with high-grade asymptomatic carotid stenosis.

One trial will test the primary hypothesis that intensive medical management differs from the combination of CAS and intensive medical management in preventing the primary endpoint in patients with high-grade asymptomatic carotid stenosis.

In both trials, the primary endpoint is stroke or death within 44 days after randomization or ipsilateral ischemic stroke thereafter at the 4-year time point of follow-up.

C-TRACT is a large, well-designed study of new treatments for vein damage caused by blood clots. The goal of the study is to understand whether new image-guided procedures (endovascular therapy or EVT) reduce the severity of Post-Thrombotic Syndrome (PTS) and improve quality of life. The long-term safety and costs of the EVT procedure(s) will also be considered. Volunteers will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) to either high quality PTS care (lifestyle interventions, compression therapy, and medical therapy) or high quality PTS care AND endovascular therapy (stent placement to re-open blocked veins and, if needed, endovenous ablation to eliminate backflow in veins with leaky valves). After randomization, patients will be asked to return to their clinical research center for study visits at 2 Months, 4 Months, 6 Months, 12 Months, 18 Months, and 24 Months.

The purpose of this study is to measure patient satisfaction with telecommunication visits during adjuvant chemotherapy as opposed to the more typical in-person visit. Telecommunication is defined as communication over a distance using technology. For the purposes of this study, patients will engage in video conferencing with their physician as well having in-person clinic visits. This research is being done because telecommunication visits are being considered as an alternative for in-patient visits; however, the data is currently limited. This clinical study will help investigators to evaluate feasibility and satisfaction of the visits done by telecommunication.

This research study is designed to better understand the molecular determinants of response to immunotherapies including pembrolizumab and nivolumab. We hope to learn the relevance of tumor neoantigens in the recognition of cancer cells by the immune system. The ultimate goal is to rank and filter these neoantigens and correlate with response to immunotherapies.