Clinical trials

Circulating biomarkers, such as miRNAs and proteomics, undergo identifiable and measurable changes during and following treatment for cancer, compared to pre-treatment baseline. Some of these changes may be associated either with known treatment parameters or predictive for cardiac or lung toxicity. The aim is to identify and validate changes following treatment for cancer, compared to pre-treatment baseline, as well as differential miRNA expression in two-group comparisons (patients receiving radical RT/chemoRT for thoracic cancers versus IO-based complex SACT).

Patients having surgery under general anaesthesia require insertion of a breathing tube to keep the airway open. The technique of inserting a breathing tube through the nose into the trachea (airway) is known as nasotracheal intubation. This is the ideal airway for surgical procedures performed inside the mouth, such as complex teeth extractions and operations on the jaw. Traditionally, the breathing tube is initially inserted blindly into the nasal cavity. Then, a video laryngoscope (a camera device) or a direct laryngoscope is used to visualise and guide the passage of tube into the trachea. This approach can be associated with difficulty passing the tube and has a high incidence of nasal trauma and nosebleed. Alternatively, a flexible fibrescope ( flexible camera device) with pre-loaded tracheal tube is passed through the nostril first under vision, gently advanced through the nasal passage and then to the trachea. Once it is correctly placed in the trachea, the breathing tube is railroaded over it. This procedure allows the clinician to visualise the nasal passage and to choose most patent nostril and hence is likely to reduce risk of nosebleed as compared blind passage of tube through the nose. A videolaryngoscope has a camera on the blade that projects the image onto a monitor screen. As this is a rigid device, it can only be inserted through the oral cavity and allows the advancement of tube into the trachea. Both these techniques are currently used in the clinical practice. However, there are no studies to inform anaesthetists whether there are any differences in the incidence of nosebleed. The investigators therefore wish to do a randomised comparison between flexible fibrescope and videolaryngocope to assess if use of the former is associated with any reduced risk or severity of nosebleed.

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a life-threatening heart rhythm disorder. Special pacemakers called implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) help treat VT episodes, however they do not prevent the VT episodes from occurring. Catheter ablation for VT is a minimally-invasive and established procedure for preventing VT recurrence. This involves placing wires in the heart to find the diseased areas that are responsible for the VT episodes. The diseased areas are shown on computer-generated maps and are later removed via controlled tissue heating (ablation). A major challenge during the VT ablation procedure is locating the diseased area responsible for the VT episodes. Several methods have been described to locate the diseased heart area, however these methods are not always effective. In this study, we aim to improve the identification of the diseased heart areas responsible for the VT episodes using a novel method. Our research group have developed, tested and peer-reviewed this improved method of locating diseased areas by looking for signals called decrementing evoked potentials (DeEPs). Ablation will target DeEPs shown on the computer-generated maps. We will assess if VT can be triggered at the end of the procedure. Patients will be monitored over 12 months to see if ablation of DeEPs leads to a reduction in VT episodes. We aim to recruit 77 patients with established heart disease of any cause, who have suffered VT episodes with ICDs. Suitable patients will be identified and recruited from inpatient and outpatient settings. A quality-of-life questionnaire will be completed by patients before and after the ablation procedure. The procedure will be performed as routine standard of care, in the cardiac catheter laboratory across multiple recruiting cardiac centres in the UK providing well established VT ablation service. Overall, this study will contribute towards developing refined VT ablation techniques, aiming to improve patient outcomes.

To determine if robotic surgery can be performed for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, to ascertain the optimal robotic set up for multi-quadrant IBD operations and evaluate clinical outcomes in robotic compared to laparoscopic surgery.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of the biomechanical behaviour of human heart to explore the concept of myocardial fatigue in response to a temporal range of preload, afterload and drug-induced inotropy using in-vitro contractile assays.

This observational study aims to recruit up to thirty T1DM patients from a diabetic outpatient clinic at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire for a two-phase study. The first phase involves attending an inpatient protocol for up to thirty-six hours in a calorimetry room at the Human Metabolism Research Unit under controlled conditions, followed by a phase of free-living, for up to three days, in which participants will go about their normal daily activities without restriction. Throughout the study, the participants will wear commercially available wearable sensors to measure and record physiological signals (e.g., electrocardiogram and continuous glucose monitor). Data collected will be used to develop and validate an AI model using state-of-the-art deep-learning methods for the purpose of non-invasive glycaemic event detection.