Clinical Trials

Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease is a childhood hip disorder which is common enough to be a significant public health problem (affects 1 in 740 boys between ages 0-14), but uncommon enough to have a sufficient number of patients from a single institution to perform a definitive prospective study comparing the results of current treatments. The present study will establish a database of prospectively identified patients with Legg-Calvé-Perthes (LCP) Disease and collect information regarding their presentation, treatment, and outcomes in the course of receiving currently available treatments. This study seeks to compare the outcomes of current treatments in the management of different age groups (ages 1-6, 6-8, 8-11, >11) of patients with Perthes disease at two- and five-year followup and at skeletal maturity. For each age group, two to three common treatment regimens currently used by practicing pediatric orthopaedic surgeons will be compared. The intervention a patient receives is determined through physician treatment expertise, and is not pre-determined by the study.

The purpose of this study is to establish the prevalence and severity of specific morbid indicators of disease severity such as specific organ system involvement, degree of cognitive disability, and case-fatality associated with various congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG), and establish a dynamic platform to effectively disperse clinically relevant findings to families, non-expert clinicians and researchers, as well as provide a verified method to link these individuals to experts in CDG.

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, usability, and preliminary outcomes of a treatment protocol (FBT-PC) for PCP management of adolescent restrictive eating disorders.

The postnatal diagnosis of Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is suggested by a prolonged QT interval on 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG),a positive family history and/or characteristic arrhythmias and confirmed by genetic testing.  LQTS testing cannot be performed successfully before birth as   fetal ECG is not possible and direct measure of the fetal QT interval by magnetocardiography is limited. Genetic testing can be performed in utero, but there is risk to the pregnancy and the fetus. Although some fetuses present with arrhythmias easily recognized as LQTS (torsade des pointes (TdP) and/or 2° atrioventricular (AV) block, this is uncommon, occurring in <25% of fetal LQTS cases. Rather, the most common presentation of fetal LQTS is sinus bradycardia, a subtle rhythm disturbance that often is unappreciated to be abnormal. Consequently, the majority of LQTS cases are unsuspected and undiagnosed during fetal life, with dire consequences. For example, maternal medications commonly used during pregnancy can prolong the fetal QT interval and may provoke lethal fetal ventricular arrhythmias. But the most significant consequence is the missed opportunity for primary prevention of life threatening ventricular arrhythmias after birth because the infant is not suspected to have LQTS before birth. The over-arching goal of the study is to overcome the barriers to prenatal detection of LQTS. The investigators plan to do so by developing an algorithm using fetal heart rate (FHR) which will discriminate fetuses with or without LQTS. Immediate Goal: The investigators propose a multicenter pre-birth observational cohort study to develop a Fetal Heart Rate (FHR)/Gestational Age (GA) algorithm from a cohort of fetuses recruited from 13 national and international centers where one parent is known by prior genetic testing to have a mutation in one of the common LQTS genes: potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily Q member 1 (KCNQ1), potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily H member 2 (KCNH2), or sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 5 (SCN5A). The investigators have chosen this population because 1) These mutations are the most common genetic causes of LQTS, and 2) Offspring will have high risk of LQTS as inheritance of these LQTS gene mutations is autosomal dominant. Thus, progeny of parents with a known mutation are at high (50%) risk of having the same parental LQTS mutation. The algorithm will be developed using FHR measured serially throughout pregnancy. All offspring will undergo postnatal genetic testing for the parental mutation as the gold standard for diagnosing the presence or absence of LQTS.

The purposes of this study are to validate noninvasive hemoglobin monitoring in postoperative orthopedic pediatric patients, to evaluate patient, parent, and provider preference of noninvasive hemoglobin monitoring compared to invasive blood draw, and to evaluate cost effectiveness of noninvasive monitoring in comparison to invasive blood draws.

The purpose of this study is to produce and characterize patient-specific cardiac tissue for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) using reprogrammed cell technology.

The purpose is to put the information into a very large database, which can then be used to improve patient care and achieve the best health outcomes possible for children with IBD.

The aim of this study is to examine the role of mast cell mediators in children with allergic disorders in a two part study. Part 1 of the study will prospectively obtain the values of mast cell mediators, including 2,3 dinor 11β-PGF2α, n-MH, and LTE4 in the urine of a healthy pediatric reference population. Part 2 of the study will prospectively evaluate the urine concentrations of mast cell mediators in a cohort of pediatric allergic disorder patients including asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, eczema, urticaria, systemic anaphylaxis, and mast cell disorders, as well as POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). Comparisons of these values in the disease cohort will be made utilizing the pediatric expected reference intervals established in Part 1. Further analysis will determine if one or several urine mast cell mediators are elevated in a particular allergic disorder.

Aims, purpose, or objectives:

1) Develop hypotheses related to how the human genome and genetic variants affect hearing loss in children and adults.

2) Understand phenotypes of hearing loss on a deeper level by combining and analyzing information from audiometric, genetic, and radiologic data.

3) Explore genetic variants with an unknown significance to develop an understanding of their potential significance and explore other genes may influence an individual's hearing ability.

The purpose of this study is to understand how electrical stimulation of the brain can modulate and suppress interictal epileptiform activity as a step on the path to developing new therapies for epilepsy.