The purpose of this study is to determine whether a new medical technology can help reduce post-operative total knee or hip pain when combined with a Cognitive-Behavioral intervention (CBI).
This new medical technology, is called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), it uses a very small amount of electricity to temporarily stimulate specific areas of the brain thought to be involved in pain reduction. The electrical current passes through the skin, scalp, hair, and skull and requires no additional medication, sedation, or needles.
This study will investigate the effects of tDCS, the Cognitive-Behavioral (CB) intervention and their combination on pain among veterans following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA). You may benefit in the form of decreased pain and opioid requirements following your knee or hip replacement surgery. However, benefit is only likely if you are randomized to one of the 3 (out of 4) groups.
This study hopes to determine the effects of these interventions and their combined effect on post-operative pain, opioid use and functioning during the 48-hour post-operative period following a total knee or hip replacement.
This is a research study to find out if a new form of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is as effective and safe as a current form. The new form of ECT is called Frontal (Ultrabrief Right Unilateral) ECT. If enrolled in this this study, participants will be randomly assigned (like flipping a coin) to receiving Frontal ECT or the current standard form of ECT called Temporal (Ultrabrief Right Unilateral) ECT.
The purpose(s) of the research is to test a new medication in combination with a talk therapy for Veterans experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and who may have alcohol use disorder (AUD). The study consists of 12 weekly therapy sessions. Once per week before each therapy session, an intranasal dose of investigational medication will be administered. The study also involves 3 and 6-month follow-up appointments and the administration of questionnaires at each visit.
This study is being done on patients who have heart failure, a condition where the heart muscle weakens and enlarges and cannot pump blood effectively. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and effectiveness of a new device called the AccuCinch Ventricular Restoration System and compare it to treatment with standard heart failure medications alone. The AccuCinch Ventricular Restoration System consists of anchors, which attach to your heart muscle, sliders to connect the anchors and a thread like cord that goes through the anchors and is cinched to make your enlarged heart smaller so it can pump more efficiently. The device is implanted in one of the lower pumping chambers of the heart (called left ventricle). The study will have two groups, the treatment group in which participants undergo the device implant in addition to taking heart failure medications and the control group in which participants are treated with heart failure medications alone. Participation will last up to 5 years.
This study will include volunteers diagnosed with a form of heart failure that is characterized by a weakened heart muscle that appears to be pumping in a normal manner. This condition is called "heart failure with preserved ejection fraction" or HFpEF. For these individuals, it has been determined that the health problems and symptoms experienced may be due to a significant increase in the pressure of one of the chambers of the heart. This pressure build-up causes a variety of symptoms, including tiredness, difficulty breathing, and reduced ability to exercise/walk.
This study is to help evaluate a new device (the "Satera Ablation System") designed to reduce the build-up of pressure described above. The Satera Ablation system is a catheter used to ablate or destroy the splanchnic nerve on one side of the body. The Sponsor believes by destroying this nerve there may be some reduction in the symptoms caused by HFpEF. The procedure using the Satera Ablation System will be performed in the catheterization lab and does not involve surgery. Participants will stay overnight in the hospital following the procedure for observation.
The length of subject participation in the study will be approximately 24 months and includes 5 office visits, 1 phone call and 2 procedures. Participants in this research study will be randomized to either the treatment group or the control group and have a 2:1 chance of receiving the research treatment with the Satera Ablation System at the time of randomization.
This study will help us learn more about how safe and effective the Satera Ablation System is in treating the symptoms of patients with HFpEF.
This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with recurrent or new head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Patients either have had a recurrence (the tumor has comeback) or a new head and neck cancer in a different area of the head and neck (second primary) which has been removed by surgery. The study drug used is called pembrolizumab. The purpose of this study is to see if adding pembrolizumab to radiation or if using pembrolizumab by itself after surgery compared to the usual approaches with chemotherapy and radiation will increase life expectancy. Participants can expect to be on this study for up to 12 months and then followed for 5 years.
The purpose of this research is to test out a new way of treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) with low intensity focused ultrasound pulsation (LIFUP). If the subject agree to participate in the research study, the participation will last approximately 10.5 hours over seven (7) days. The visits are as follows: 1- consent and MRI, 2- and 3- focused ultrasound will be delivered outside of the MRI environment, 4- MRI plus focused ultrasound, 5- assessments 1 week post focused ultrasound, and 6- one month follow-up assessments. Research studies are voluntary and include only people who agree to take part.
This study is for patients who have advanced cancers, such as head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and others. This study is testing a new treatment for these types of cancer. The new test drug is called ficerafusp alfa. Pembrolizumab is an approved drug by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the diseases described in this study and will be used as approved. The type of cancer a patient has will determine whether he/she will get ficerafusp alfa alone or ficerafusp alfa in combination with pembrolizumab. Participants will receive either ficerafusp alfa alone, ficerafusp alfa in combination with pembrolizumab or ficerafusp alfa, depending on your cancer until the cancer gets worse, they experience bad side effects, or until they withdraw consent, or until the Investigator considers it is in his/her best interest to discontinue the study drug.
This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. The usual approach for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are not in a study, is lenalidomide and dexamethasone in combination with bortezomib or daratumumab. This approach is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The purpose of this study is to see if patients who have a small amount of cancer left after initial treatment (called minimal residual disease (MRD)), could benefit from adding a new drug to the usual treatment. The study approach, using a combination of four drugs, is investigational and not approved by the FDA. Patients can expect to be on this study for up to 2 years. Patients will then be followed by their doctor for up to 15 years after completion of the study or until disease progression..
This study aims to improve access of Veterans with epilepsy living in rural areas to the most important diagnostic procedure for the care of patients with epilepsy: the routine electroencephalogram (EEG). We will test a new method for recording EEG which uses a novel dry electrode system headset that does not require an EEG technologist to operate. The headset integrates the EEG electrodes and amplifier into a compact system which is easily placed on the head. This approach could make it possible for a nurse or nurse assistant with minimal training to record an EEG in a rural community based outpatient clinic (CBOC) as part of an epilepsy telemedicine outreach program along with clinical interviews. We will compare performance of this dry electrode system to standard EEG when it is used by EEG technologists in three VA medical centers. This project has the potential to improve access of Veterans to the EEG procedure and decrease cost to the Veterans Health Care System.