Skip to main content

Osteoarthritis clinical trials at University of California Health

18 in progress, 11 open to eligible people

Showing trials for
  • JointStem in Patients Diagnosed as Knee Osteoarthritis

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    This study is a double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled, multi-center, superiority study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of JointStem, autologous adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSC), in patients diagnosed as knee osteoarthritis. Following a 2-week screening period, approximately 140 subjects will be randomly assigned into one of the following two arms in a 1:1 ratio (1 JointStem : 1 Placebo). After each subject completes 48-Weeks visit (Visit 8) and the data management team confirms all individual data have no issue, the individual database will be locked and the blinding will be open for the statistical analysis.

    at UCLA

  • Biofeedback Retention in Individuals With AKA

    open to eligible people ages 18-70

    More than two million Americans are currently living with a full or partial limb loss, and an additional 185,000 amputations occur each year. The majority of amputations occur in the lower limbs. There are many potential causes for amputation, but the majority can be attributed to vascular diseases, such as diabetes, traumatic injury, and cancer. For these individuals, prosthetic devices play an important role in restoring mobility and enabling them to participate in everyday activities. However, when learning to use these devices, patients often alter their movement patterns to compensate for pain or discomfort, a decreased ability to feel what their prosthetic limb is doing, and/or a fear of falling. By changing their movement patterns, patients will tend to am their intact leg, which has been shown to lead to long-term joint damage and chronic injury. For perspective, 75% of United States veterans living with amputation are diagnosed with a subsequent disease affecting their muscle, bone, and/or joint health. Therefore, therapy sessions, known as gait retraining, are an integral part of teaching prosthesis users to walk in a safe and efficient manner. With recent advances in wearable technology, researchers and therapists have begun exploring the use of biofeedback systems to assist with this retraining. In these systems, wearable sensors are used to measure how the patient is moving in real-time, and can provide information on how much time they spend on each leg and how much each joint moves during walking. Biofeedback refers to the process of communicating the information from these sensors back to the patients instruct them whether they need to change their movements. Previous research has shown that these systems have excellent potential for helping patients with physical disabilities improve their quality of motion. However, relatively little research has explored how well individuals with above-knee leg amputations respond to biofeedback during gait retraining. Importantly, the question of whether the new movement patterns taught using biofeedback will persist after training has finished remains unanswered. Therefore, the primary objective of this research is to determine whether biofeedback is a feasible tool for gait retraining with above-knee prosthesis (including a prosthetic knee, ankle, and foot) users. To answer these questions, forty individuals currently using above-knee prosthetic systems will undergo a single session of biofeedback training. Half of these populations will be from the civilian population, and half will be military veterans. During this training, the biofeedback system will apply short vibrations - similar to those generated by cellphones - to their skin every time that the patient reaches the desired degree of hip rotation during walking. Participants will be instructed to keep increasing their hip motion until they feel a vibration on every step. Before training, they will be instrumented with a wearable motion captures system, pressure sensors embedded in their shoes, and a wearable heart rate monitor. Using these devices, researchers will measure the participants' walking patterns without biofeedback determine their current ability. Once training is complete, their walking patterns will be measured again, first while using the biofeedback system, and then again fifteen minutes and thirty minutes after the biofeedback system has been removed. The data measured during these tests will enable researchers to calculate functional mobility scores that are used to evaluate the quality of a patient's walking, and then compare how these scores change before, during, and after biofeedback training. The knowledge gained through this research constitutes a critical step towards identifying optimal biofeedback strategies for maximizing patient mobility outcomes. The findings will be essential for the development of gait retraining protocols designed to reduce the incidence of chronic injury, and enable patients to achieve their full mobility potential. Building on these results, the next research phase will be to incorporate biofeedback training into a standard six-week gait retraining protocol to evaluate its long-term effectiveness as a rehabilitation tool. Unlike traditional gait retraining, which requires patients to visit clinics in-person for all sessions, the wearable, automated nature of biofeedback training will allow patients to continue gait training from home. This ability will enable patients to continue training activities between sessions, and ultimately may be able to substitute for some in-person visits. This potential for remote therapy has exciting implications for improved access to care for individuals living long distances from their rehabilitation providers, or those suffering from social anxiety, as well as during global health pandemics where in-person visits are difficult.

    at UCSF

  • Biologic Therapy to Prevent Osteoarthritis After ACL Injury

    open to eligible people ages 18-35

    Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are extremely common. On average, 50% of individuals suffering an ACL injury will develop radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) 10 to 20 years after injury. Unfortunately, ACL reconstruction does not prevent risk of future OA. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) levels in the human knee joint increase transiently after an ACL injury. In animal experiments, if interleukin-1 levels are increased in the joint, this alone causes arthritis to occur. Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) is a naturally occurring inhibitor of IL-1. However, in ACL injuries the balance of these two proteins is disturbed transiently after injury, with the effects of IL-1 dominating this balance. In a large animal model of ACL injury, injection of IL-1Ra into the knee joint after ACL injury significantly decreased the amount of arthritis that was later observed. Thus, the investigators hypothesize that early injection of IL-1 inhibitor (IL-1Ra) into the knee joint of patients suffering recent ACL injury will decrease the incidence of cartilage damage later in life. After appropriate IRB approval, a total of 32 active patients will be randomized into one of two treatment groups. Group 1 will receive removal of the knee joint fluid (aspiration of hemarthrosis) using a needle and syringe within 1 to 2 weeks of injury. Following aspiration of the knee joint, an injection of 5 milliliters (mls) of sterile saline (as a placebo control) will be administered. In addition, a second knee aspiration procedure and an injection of 5mls of sterile saline into the injured knee joint will be performed at 3 to 5 days after the initial injection. Group 2 will receive aspiration of the knee hemarthrosis as described in group 1 as well as intra-articular administration of 150mg (~5mls) of anakinra (rhIL-1Ra) within 1 to 2 weeks of ACL injury. In addition, a second knee aspiration and intra-articular administration of 150mg (~5mls) of anakinra (rhIL-1Ra) will be performed at 3 to 5 days after the initial injection. Thus, all patients in this randomized placebo-controlled trial will undergo two injection procedures prior to surgery. Investigators will analyze subjects self-reported function and pain scores as well as urinary levels of cartilage breakdown products over time. Additionally, MRI studies will be used to compare MRI findings among patients in these 2 treatment groups. Urine samples will be obtain prior to surgery, at the time of surgery and at multiple time points after surgery (3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 months after surgery). Subjective outcome measure assessments (surveys) will be completed by participants prior to surgery and then again at 6, 9, 12 and 24 months post-operatively. MRI studies will be obtained at 1 year and 2 years following surgery. Additional, MRI studies at time points are optional and highly encouraged. These additional MRIs are at no cost to the patient.

    at UCLA

  • Conventional Instrumentation, Computer Navigation, and Robotic Assistance Techniques in TKA

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    Knee osteoarthritis is a debilitating disease that can cause severe knee pain and significant limitations to patients' activities of daily living. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA), also known as knee replacement surgery, is a well-established and successful procedure for treatment of end-stage knee osteoarthritis. Over the years, TKA surgical techniques and implant technology have improved, resulting in better patient outcomes and implant survivorship. Despite continuous improvements being made to this high demand procedure, malalignment of component position is a well-known cause of post-operative complications, including knee pain, component loosening, and failure requiring revision surgery. Advanced techniques that utilize computer navigation or robotic-arm assistance have been developed in an attempt to avoid malalignment. Both technologies were created with the goal of improving the precision of implant positioning and implant sizing in order to improve lower limb alignment and joint line alignment. The OrthoAlign KneeAlign computer assisted navigation system is a commercially available device that uses gyroscopic limb position sensing technology mounted to intramedullary and extramedullary jigs to measure bone resection cuts in TKA that ultimately dictate implant position. The Zimmer Biomet ROSA Knee System is a commercially available, FDA-approved robotic assistant for performing TKA. It uses pre-operative x-rays to create a three-dimensional image of the patient's knee anatomy, which is used to create a pre-operative template of the implants to be used and provides intra-operative guidance for bone cuts during the TKA. The robotic system also assesses the soft tissue envelope around the knee and can assist with the soft tissue balancing of the knee arthroplasty. Alternatively, it can also be used in an imageless mode where bone cuts are performed based on intra-operative mapping using anatomic landmarks. To date, there have been no prospective studies comparing the implant positioning and patient outcomes directly of the KneeAlign system with the ROSA system and conventional TKA instrumentation techniques.

    at UCLA

  • Anti-inflammatory (ITIS) Diet in Knee Osteoarthritis

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    To study the effect of anti-inflammatory diet on clinical and biological outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis

    at UCSD

  • Anti-inflammatory Diet in Osteoarthritis

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    In a previous exploratory study, the investigators observed an effect on disease activity outcomes of anti-inflammatory diet. The investigators also observed change in microbiome and circulating metabolites. The current study will determine whether or not the addition of anti-inflammatory diet improves the clinical outcomes in participants with Osteoarthritis, and the role of microbiome and circulating metabolites.

    at UCSD

  • Genicular Artery Embolization Vs Observation for Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis

    open to eligible people ages 40-79

    The purpose of this clinical trial is to determine whether genicular artery embolization (GAE) is an effective way to treat knee pain from osteoarthritis. Pain from arthritis is often due to underlying inflammation in the joint. The inflammation is associated with increased abnormal blood flow going to the specific area of pain. If the investigator can reduce the blood flow, the inflammation can be reduced and the pain can be controlled. The GAE procedure is an experimental procedure to decrease the blood flow (embolize) to the specific region of the knee that is causing the pain. This will be done by infusing microscopic spheres into the specific blood vessel (genicular artery) supplying the area of pain in the knee. This is done through a procedure which is called an angiogram, which is done entirely through a pinhole at the creased of the thigh, using twilight (conscious) sedation. The investigators have already completed an initial trial at UCLA, and shown that this procedure is safe and effective. The purpose of this new trial is to compare outcomes of people undergoing the GAE procedure to those who do not undergo the procedure. A total of 100 patients will be enrolled, and 2/3 of the patients will be randomly selected to undergo the GAE procedure. 1/3 will not undergo the procedure. This is known as a randomized trial. During the trial, all subjects will also get MRIs and fluid withdrawn from their knee joints at various timepoints in order to precisely figure out how the procedure works on a closer (microscopic) level.

    at UCLA

  • Pharmacodynamics of GNSC-001 Intra-articular Injection for Knee Osteoarthritis

    open to eligible people ages 40-75

    The goal of this clinical study is to determine if a single injection of 1 or more dose levels of adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy (GNSC-001) is safe and tolerated compared to placebo in participants with painful osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.

    at UCSD

  • IMMUNA(IMM01-STEM) in Patients With Muscle Atrophy Related to Knee Osteoarthritis.

    open to eligible people ages 50-75

    An open-label dose escalation study to assess the safety and tolerability of IMMUNA(IMM01-STEM) in participants with muscle atrophy related to knee osteoarthritis

    at UC Irvine

  • Sequenced Strategy for Improving Outcomes in People With Knee Osteoarthritis Pain

    “Join the SKOAP research study about non-surgical pain treatments for Knee Osteoarthritis!”

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    There is an urgent public health need to reduce reliance on opioids for effective long-term pain management, particularly in knee osteoarthritis (KOA). This effectiveness trial will compare commonly recommended treatments to reduce pain and functional limitations in KOA.These results will lead to improved patient selection for treatment and inform evidence based guidelines by offering well-tested, effective, non-surgical alternatives.

    at UC Davis UCSD

  • Patient Observational Pain and Activity Survey (POPAS) Study Using RS-4i Sequential Stimulator With Intersperse Technology in Axial Spine and Peripheral Joint Pain

    open to eligible people ages 18-89

    Spine pain and joint pain are among the most common worldwide ailments and directly contributes to disability as well as increased duration of care. Spine and joint pain affect work sick leave, production and increased financial costs to healthcare. Non-invasive treatments for spine and joint pain can vary widely from lifestyle changes, physical therapy, oral medication, and select medical devices, that can improve pain level and help improve the quality of life of individuals. Thus, the general population suffers from an ailment that has multiple conservative treatment options with variable outcomes. Transcutaneous Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation (TENS) has been show to decrease pain and restore function. Interferential therapy (INF) is a specific signal type that is effective for reducing musculoskeletal pain. Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) uses a specific signal type to cause muscles to contract and therefore provide functional improvement. The RS-4i Plus is an FDA-regulated prescription TENS medical device that outputs an INF signal and a NMES signal, and a unique Intersperse signal, which combines NMES and INF into a single treatment. Therefore, the goal of this study is to determine if use of the prescribed RS-4i Plus in patients presenting with pain, axial or peripheral joint, can be efficacious in decreasing the patient's pain and improving their activity measured at one month, three months, and six months of use.

    at UC Irvine

  • CNTX-6970 in Subjects With Knee Osteoarthritis Pain.

    “Volunteer for research and contribute to discoveries that may improve health care for you, your family, and your community!”

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CNTX-6970 for the treatment of pain related to OA of the knee compared to placebo. CNTX-6970 is being developed as a new treatment for chronic pain, including painful osteoarthritis of the knee.

    at UC Davis UCSD

  • Autologous Adipose-derived Stromal Vascular Fraction for Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis

    Sorry, not currently recruiting here

    This study is a pivotal study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single injection of autologous adipose-derived SVF produced using the GID SVF-2 device system for treatment of pain with concomitant improvement in function associated with osteoarthritis of the knee joint.

    at UC Davis

  • Amniotic Suspension Allograft in Patients With Osteoarthritis of the Knee

    “Volunteer for research and contribute to discoveries that may improve health care for you, your family, and your community!”

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    This study is being conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ASA compared to placebo in the management of osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms of the knee.

    at UC Davis UCLA

  • Fluoroscopic Versus Ultrasound Guidance for Cooled Radiofrequency Ablation of Geniculate Nerves in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Control Trial

    Sorry, not currently recruiting here

    Cooled radiofrequency ablation (cRFA) of the knee geniculate nerves is a promising treatment option for knee osteoarthritis, but has variable efficacy. Fluoroscopy is the typical guidance of choice, but uses bony landmarks to target these nerves which have variable positions around the knee. Alternatively, ultrasound allows for targeting based on visualization of bony landmarks, the nerves, and their accompanying vascular structures, and thus may offer greater accuracy. However, there are few studies which directly compare the clinical efficacy of these two guidance options. This study will compare these two options.

    at UC Davis

  • Zimmer Trabecular Metal Total Ankle PMCF

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The primary objective of this study is to obtain implant survivorship and clinical outcome data for commercially available Zimmer Trabecular Metal Total Ankle implants used in primary or revision total ankle arthroplasty. The assessment will include implant survivorship and clinical performance measured by pain and function, quality of life data, radiographic parameters and survivorship.

    at UC Davis

  • Outcomes Study of the Trabecular Metal (TM) Reverse Shoulder System

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The objectives of this study are to obtain survival and outcome data on the Trabecular Metal Reverse Shoulder System when used in primary or revision reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.

    at UCSF

  • Clinical Follow-up of the Echo Bi-Metric Microplasty Stem for Total Hip Arthroplasty

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The primary objective of this study is to characterize survivorship of the Echo Bi-Metric Microplasty stem in unilateral or bilateral primary total hip arthroplasty at 5 years postoperative.

    at UCSD

Our lead scientists for Osteoarthritis research studies include .

Last updated: