JMIR Research Protocols

Covered stents commercially available are frequently used off-label in conjunction with fenestrated and branched aortic stent grafts, but there is a lack of dedicated devices.

Sexual health is often underaddressed in cancer care, especially among survivors of breast and gynecological cancer. In Colombia, treatment side effects, cultural stigma, and limited training among health care providers affect well-being. Although international guidelines promote patient-centered and culturally sensitive approaches, few interventions have been implemented in low- and middle-income settings.

Humanoid robots are being used more frequently in health care: in geriatrics and pediatrics, robots such as “Pepper” and “Nao” have been shown to enhance communication, emotional well-being, and patient engagement. During the pandemic, their role expanded, for example, to include remote monitoring and reducing the risk of infection. Given these applications, our study examines the integration of 2 advanced humanoid robots, Pepper and Nao, within the reception area of a geriatric hospital.

Complications following abdominal surgery have a very significant negative impact on the patient and the health care system. Despite the spread of minimally invasive surgery, there is no automated way to use intraoperative video to predict complications. New developments in data storage capacity and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm creation now allow for this.

Low back pain (LBP) is a common and disabling condition that is costly for health systems and society. Interprofessional primary care models may improve care quality and reduce this burden.

Diabetes-related foot ulcers (DFUs) are common in people with diabetes and a major cause of poor quality of life and disability. If not treated in a timely and appropriate way, DFUs may result in prolonged hospitalization and amputation. Currently, methods to predict the healing trajectory of DFUs lack accuracy. Thermal imaging has been proposed to overcome these limitations but has been unable to accurately predict delayed healing of DFUs in the early stages of ulcer management. This project aims to ascertain whether textural analysis of a thermal image can predict the healing trajectory of DFUs.

Osteoarthritis is a highly prevalent and disabling condition. In early stages, patients are asymptomatic or only experience activity-related pain. When pain intensifies, the disease has often progressed, with few treatment options besides knee arthroplasty. Recently, there has been a growing interest in acoustic emissions generated by poorly lubricated and/or damaged moving joint surfaces, as seen in osteoarthritis. Noninvasive analysis of knee sound could help identify patients with early-stage osteoarthritis at a low cost, without radiation exposure. Thus, preventive measures could be implemented earlier and delay the progression of osteoarthritis.

Despite increasing survival rates for childhood cancers, physical and psychological late effects are common. The end-of-treatment period is recognized as a complex transition period, and there are few evidence-based models of care to address patient and family needs during this early survivorship period. The EMERGE model of care has been developed to provide eHealth-delivered, multidisciplinary care to patients and families in the 12 months following treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common type of pediatric cancer.

Periodontitis causes progressive attachment loss, which in turn causes tooth mobility and, ultimately, tooth loss. Regenerating and rebuilding the lost periodontal tissue is the goal of periodontal regenerative surgery. Regeneration using AmnioGuard, advanced platelet-rich fibrin (A-PRF), and NovaBone Putty has been demonstrated to be successful in increasing clinical attachment level and decreasing probing pocket depth.

Leisure participation is an important rehabilitation goal for survivors of stroke. Following stroke, there is a reduction in leisure participation; however, the focus of rehabilitation is typically on remediation of personal care activities and mobility. Furthermore, previous systematic reviews and current clinical practice guidelines provide inconsistent recommendations for rehabilitation interventions to improve leisure participation. This highlights the need for a comprehensive and targeted review of the literature to help inform clinical practice.

Ocular massage has been reported to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) temporarily. This effect could be related to enhanced aqueous humor outflow; however, the mechanism is unclear.

Proactive end-of-life (EoL) conversations can help individuals, their significant others, and health care professionals be better prepared to confront dying and future EoL decision-making. Talking about EoL issues may be unfamiliar and difficult; tools are increasingly used to support such conversations. While using digital tools presents many advantages, the development processes of such are seldom robustly reported. The project outlined here has the overall aim of further developing and investigating promotion of early, proactive EoL conversations by cocreating and testing, together with potential community-based end users, a digital version of an existing tool, the DöBra cards.