Margate

A multicentre observational study, ctDNA aims to provide the evidence base for metatstatic disease being caused by vascular methods of spread by determining if there is a link between EMVI status and ctDNA

A randomised phase II multicentre trial, IMPRESS will determine whether the use of MRI imaging in staging sigmoid cancers results in a change to the treatment plan by identifying more high risk tumours compared to those patients who were staged using CT imaging. The proposed intervention will be additional radiological and pathological assessment and the reporting of supplementary diagnostic information which would not otherwise have been available. This may affect treatment according to local MDT protocols and also affect the provision of prognostic information to patients in subsequent discussions.

Patients who have survived a myocardial infarction (MI) are at increased risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD) caused by ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. A severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) as a rough overall measure of impaired heart function after MI was shown to indicate a higher risk for SCD. Based on this observation, two landmark randomised trials, MADIT II and SCD-HeFT, were conducted between end of the 1990s and early 2000s. These trials compared the survival of patients with severely reduced LVEF who received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator with the survival of patients being on medical therapy alone. They reported a significantly better survival of patients in the defibrillator arm and led to international guideline recommendations for routine implantation of defibrillators in survivors of MI with severely impaired LVEF as a means for primary prevention of SCD. Since then, the management of these patients has changed dramatically with the advent of a series of novel drug classes that reduce not only mortality but specifically SCD leading to a substantial decrease of the sudden death rates as well as of the rates of appropriate defibrillator therapies implanted for primary prevention of SCD. At the same time, the complication rates associated with the defibrilllator therapy remain significant without obvious decrease. Thus, the risk-benefit of routine defibrillator implantation for primary prevention of SCD in patients with severely reduced LVEF has substantially changed since the conduction of the landmark trials that established this therapy. Due to the inherent risks and considerable costs of the defibrillator, a novel randomised adequately powered assessment of the potential benefit or harm of the defibrillator in survivors of MI with reduced LVEF under contemporary optimal medical treatment (OMT) appears imperative. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate that in post-MI patients with symptomatic heart failure who receive OMT for this condition, and with reduced LVEF ≤ 35%, OMT without ICD implantation (index group) is not inferior to OMT with ICD implantation (control group) with respect to all-cause mortality.

RESOLVE is a pragmatic, cluster-randomised, open-label study designed to evaluate in real-world conditions the comparative effectiveness of two default dialysate sodium concentrations. Dialysis sites will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to a default dialysate sodium concentration of 137mmol/l or 140mmol/l. 'Default' is defined as the use of the allocated dialysate sodium for ≥ 90% of delivered dialysis sessions in the unit. All other care will be according to standard local practices as determined by the site. Outcomes will be assessed on individual patients dialysing at those sites. Sites will be asked to consent to participation while waiver or opt-out consent will be sought for individual patients. It is anticipated that site accrual will occur over 5-7 years with average study duration expected to be approximately 2-5 years. The actual length of the study will be end-point determined.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) that is of sufficient severity to require admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) is associated with substantial mortality. Patients with pneumonia who are being treated in an ICU will receive therapy that consists of many different treatments, as many as 20 or 30. These treatments act together to treat both the infection and its effects on the body. When treating a patient, doctors choose from many different treatments, most of which are known or believed to be safe and effective. However, doctors don't always know which treatment option is the better one, as individuals or groups of individuals may respond differently. This study aims to help doctors understand which treatments work best. This clinical study has been designed in a way that allows the information from patients already in the study to help new patients joining the study. Most studies aren't able to do that. REMAP-CAP has been designed to: * Evaluate multiple treatment strategies, at the same time, in the same patient. * Reach platform conclusions when sufficient data is accrued, rather than when a pre-specified sample size is reached * Utilise data that is already accrued to increase the likelihood that patients within the trial are randomised to treatments that are more likely to be beneficial * New questions can be substituted into the trial as initial questions are answered, meaning that the trial can be perpetual or open-ended * Interactions between interventions in different domains can be evaluated It is reasonable to presume that any pandemic respiratory infection of major significance to public health will manifest as life-threatening respiratory infection including Severe Acute Respiratory illness and severe Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) with concomitant admission to hospital, and for some patients, admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Previous pandemics and more localized outbreaks of respiratory emerging infections have resulted in severe CAP and ICU admission. Previous pandemics and outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases have outlined the urgent need for evidence, preferably from Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), to guide best treatment. However, there are substantial challenges associated with being able to organize such trials when the time of onset of a pandemic and its exact nature are unpredictable. As an adaptive platform trial that enrolls patients during the interpandemic period, REMAP-CAP is ideally positioned to adapt, in the event of a respiratory pandemic, to evaluate existing treatments as well as novel approaches.