❓Clinical Trial: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)


The CAHmelia clinical trials are exploring a new investigational treatment for classic CAH.

CAHmelia 203 and CAHmelia 204 are clinical trials to test tildacerfont in adults with classic CAH, which may offer you and your loved ones hope of a brighter future – one where you may not have to choose between symptom management and long-term health.
Tildacerfont is a new type of oral, once-daily investigational treatment – one that is not a steroid – that is currently being tested in adults with classic CAH. By reducing the amount of androgens your body makes, tildacerfont may improve your classic CAH symptoms.
This investigational treatment will not replace your steroid treatment but may allow you to manage your disease with lower amounts of steroids at normal or near-normal doses.

Who can take part in this trial? You may be able to take part if you:Are at least 18 years of ageHave a confirmed diagnosis of classic CAH due to 21-OH deficiencyHave been on the same daily dose of steroids (GCs and/or mineralocorticoids) for at least 1 month before starting the trialBoth trials are now open for enrollment.
Tildacerfont is an investigational treatment not authorized for use in people outside the clinical trial.
For more information, go to: clarahealth.com/studies/cahmelia

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👍 Research Opportunity! All of Us

I just signed up for this because it may be helpful for researchers at the NIH and elsewhere to learn more about Cushing’s, cancer, whatever else they can learn from my history.
Over 35 years ago, I agreed to be a part of a study at NIH so they could learn more about Cushing’s.  I consider this to be a larger, easier part of what I did back then.

From my bio: https://cushingsbios.com/2018/10/28/maryo-pituitary-bio/

As luck would have it, NIH (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland) was doing a clinical trial of Cushing’s. I live in the same area as NIH so it was not too inconvenient but very scary at first to think of being tested there. At that time I only had a choice of NIH, Mayo Clinic and a place in Quebec to do this then-rare pituitary surgery called a Transsphenoidal Resection. I chose NIH – closest and free. After I was interviewed by the Doctors there, I got a letter that I had been accepted into the clinical trial. The first time I was there was for 6 weeks as an inpatient. More of the same tests.

There were about 12 of us there and it was nice not to be alone with this mystery disease. Many of these Cushies (mostly women) were getting bald, couldn’t walk, having strokes, had diabetes. One was blind, one had a heart attack while I was there. Towards the end of my testing period, I was looking forward to the surgery just to get this whole mess over with. While I was at NIH, I was gaining about a pound a day!

The MRI still showed nothing, so they did a Petrosal Sinus Sampling Test. That scared me more than the prospect of surgery. (This test carries the risk of stroke and uncontrollable bleeding from the incision points.) Catheters were fed from my groin area to my pituitary gland and dye was injected. I could watch the whole procedure on monitors. I could not move during this test or for several hours afterwards to prevent uncontrollable bleeding from a major artery. The test did show where the tumor probably was located. Also done were more sophisticated dexamethasone suppression tests where drugs were administered by IV and blood was drawn every hour (they put a heplock in my arm so they don’t have to keep sticking me). I got to go home for a weekend and then went back for the surgery – the Transsphenoidal Resection. I fully expected to die during surgery (and didn’t care if I did) so I signed my will and wrote last letters to those I wanted to say goodbye to. During the time I was home just before surgery, a college classmate of mine (I didn’t know her) did die at NIH of a Cushing’s-related problem. I’m so glad I didn’t find out until a couple months later!

November 3, 1987, the surgeon, Dr. Ed Oldfield, cut the gum above my front teeth under my upper lip so there is no scar. He used tiny tools and microscopes. My tumor was removed successfully. In some cases (not mine) the surgeon uses a plug of fat from the abdomen to help seal the cut. Afterwards, I was in intensive care overnight and went to a neurology ward for a few days until I could walk without being dizzy. I had some major headaches for a day or two but they gave me drugs (morphine) for those. Also, I had cotton plugs in my nostrils. It was a big day when they came out. I had diabetes insipidus (DI) for a little while, but that went away by itself – thank goodness!

I had to use a foam product called “Toothies” to brush my teeth without hitting the incision. Before they let me go home, I had to learn to give myself an injection in my thigh. They sent me home with a supply of injectable cortisone in case my level ever fell too low (it didn’t). I was weaned gradually off cortisone pills (scary). I now take no medications. I had to get a Medic Alert bracelet. I will always need to tell medical staff when I have any kind of procedure – the effects of my excess cortisone will remain forever.

I went back to the NIH for several follow-up visits of a week each where they did all the blood and urine testing again. After a few years NIH set me free. Now I go to my “outside” endocrinologist every year for the dexamethasone suppression test, 24-hour urine and regular blood testing.

Health discoveries come from research. Research starts with you.

Join the largest and most inclusive health research initiative of its kind. You could help researchers find answers to the most pressing health questions.

The All of Us WEAR Study has begun!
As a part of this optional study, you could receive a new Fitbit® to wear. All of Us will be able to get the data the Fitbit collects to help researchers understand how behavior impacts health.

Want to help others, too?  Sign up at https://go.joinallofus.org/

📞Webinar on The 20-minute Mini Back Scope Adrenalectomy (MBSA)

 

Dr. Friedman will host Tobias Carling, MD, PhD, FACS
Surgeon-in-Chief & Founder
Carling Adrenal Center
Hospital for Endocrine Surgery
www.adrenal.com
Who will talk on:
The 20-minute Mini Back Scope Adrenalectomy (MBSA)

The Carling Adrenal Center is the world’s busiest adrenal surgery center, operating on patients from all 50 states and all over the world.

Dr. Carling is the most experienced adrenal surgeon in the United States, and by far the world’s most knowledgeable surgeon-scientist when it comes to adrenal gland function and disease, adrenal tumors and cancer, and all forms of adrenal gland surgery. Dr. Carling has more experience with advanced minimally invasive adrenal and endocrine operations than any surgeon in the United States. A fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Carling is a significant member of both the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) and the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons (IAES).

Dr. Carling spent 17.5 years at Yale University and the Yale University School of Medicine where he served as the Chief of Endocrine Surgery, Associate Professor of Surgery, Program Director of the Yale Endocrine Surgery Fellowship and the Founder & Director of the Yale Endocrine Neoplasia Laboratory, a supreme scientific program focused on the molecular pathogenesis of tumors arising in the adrenal, thyroid and parathyroid glands.

Dr. Carling moved his world-renowned adrenal surgery program to Tampa, Florida in early 2020 to start the Carling Adrenal Center. Here, patients needing adrenal surgery have access to the best practices and best techniques the world has to offer.

Dr. Carling works closely with Dr. Friedman and will be able to perform a Mini Back Scope Adrenalectomy with a referral from Dr. Friedman.
Sunday • November 7• 6 PM PST

Via Zoom Click here to join the meeting or
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4209687343?pwd=amw4UzJLRDhBRXk1cS9ITU02V1pEQT09
OR
+16699006833,,4209687343#,,,,*111116#
Slides will be available before the webinar and recording after the meeting at slides

Your phone/computer will be muted on entry. There will be plenty of time for questions using the chat button.
For more information, email us at mail@goodhormonehealth.com