Active clinical trials for "Abscess"

This is a prospective study involving all patients treated at the University of Kentucky for spinal epidural abscess over a 2-year period. Based on ongoing referrals of patients with SEA, we expect that 200 patients will be enrolled during this time window. We propose to study all available clinical, pathological, radiological, and socioeconomic data of patients diagnosed with a spinal infection with or without a history of drug abuse over this study period. All patients' charts will be prospectively reviewed starting at the time of presentation for a period of 1 year.

Brain abscess is a focal bacterial or fungal infection of the brain. Treatment is neurosurgical drainage of pus followed by long-term antibiotic treatment. In spite of successful treatment of the infection, long-term cognitive problems or mental fatigue may ensue. The reason for this dysfunction may be a continuing inflammatory state or damage to brain tissue caused by the abscess. The investigators will evaluate these possibilities with the use of [18F]deoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in patients who have been treated for brain abscess and who experience cognitive problems and/or fatigue. FDG-PET may identify both inflammation and altered neuronal activity (the latter indicating damage to brain tissue).

Most perianal abscesses (PA) result from an infection originating in anal crypts that extend into anal glands in the intersphincteric plane. Patients commonly present to the ER and usually require surgical intervention, which poses a burden on the healthcare system. If left undrained, a PA can expand into the adjacent tissues as well as progress to systemic infection. One of the major complications of PA are perianal fistulae; the creation of a tract between the anal canal and the perianal skin that is lined with granulation tissue or skin cells. Up to 1/3 of patients with a PA will develop a fistula; which occurs if a PA drains spontaneously through the perianal skin, and the infection becomes chronic. If this happens, surgical intervention is needed and abscesses may reoccur. Post incision and drainage (I&D) antibiotics in PA have been used to address complications but their use is still controversial and there are no specific recommendations on their use to prevent the formations of fistulae. Recent findings from a systematic review (6 studies, N=817 patients) published in 2019 demonstrated that antibiotic use following I&D of PA was associated with a 36% lower odds of fistula formation, though the quality of the evidence was low. As there are no established prophylactic treatments for fistulae, and because they are difficult to treat, further study of this simple intervention seems warranted. In this trial, adults with a PA requiring I&D will be randomly assigned to receive standard of care with antibiotics or standard of care without antibiotics after I&D. This trial will be conducted under the IMPACTS (Innovative, Multicentre, Patient-centred Approach to Clinical Trials in Surgery) program umbrella and will follow IMPACTS methodology. For the Vanguard trial, the aim is to determine the feasibility of conducting a definitive trial. Future outcomes of interest are incidence of fistula formation (defined as drainage of the perianal region at or after 2 months), need for re-intervention (i.e., any intervention on the perianal region), quality of life, healthcare utilization, healing time and mortality.

In the Emergency Department (ED), patients frequently seek medical treatment for cutaneous abscesses. Traditional incision and drainage (I&D), with or without packing of cutaneous abscesses has long been the accepted standard of care. This procedure is often very painful for the patient. Additionally, compliance with wound care and follow-up can present barriers to proper care and healing. Research has suggested that incision and loop drainage of an abscess may be another effective treatment for simple cutaneous abscess. Thus far, research into this procedure has been limited to the pediatric population with small sample sizes. In these previous studies, this technique was found to be an effective and less painful treatment for abscesses. Research has not been done in the adult population using this procedure. If this procedure is found to be as effective and less painful in the adult population, then it should be considered as a potential preferred I&D method for cutaneous abscess in the ED.

The purpose of this study is to better understand why children develop methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin infections that require surgical drainage and whether antibiotics are helpful after the infection is drained in the operating room.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of doripenem compared with meropenem in children hospitalized with complicated intra-abdominal infections.

Cutaneous abscesses (boils) are collections of pus or infection in the skin, and are a frequent reason for emergency department visits. The only proven cure for abscesses is cutting them open and allowing the infection to drain, but this procedure is often painful. Currently, the usual method of pain control is to inject a numbing medication (lidocaine) into the site, but this injection itself is often painful and sometimes does not offer full pain relief. Although there has been some research into the use of non-injected numbing agents as another option, no studies have looked at the use of numbing sprays (vapocoolant) in this context specifically. The hypothesis of this study is that numbing spray is as good as injected numbing medication at relieving pain in patients having small abscesses opened and drained. This theory will be tested by taking two groups of patients having small abscesses drained in the Emergency Department, and assigning one group to get a numbing injection, and the other to get a numbing spray. Their levels of pain and satisfaction will be recorded before, during, and after the procedure, and the two groups will be compared.

This study aims to describe the safety and efficacy of adjunctive nitrous oxide to lidocaine anesthesia in decreasing pain in adults during incision and drainage (I&D) of cutaneous abscesses in the emergency department (ED). Incision and drainage has been considered one of the more painful procedures performed in the ED. Standard care recommends a minimum of local anesthesia, however, there is no consensus on the appropriateness of pain management during ED painful procedures, such as incision and drainage. Oligoanalgesia continues to be a problem for ED health care providers. Despite extensive research in mechanisms of pain, factors relating to inadequate pain management, and evidence-based pain management strategies, implementation of effective pain management in the ED is still lacking. Nitrous oxide is a weak sedative agent with analgesic and anxiolytic properties. Rapid onset and short duration of action, ease of use, and favorable cardio-respiratory profile makes it an ideal agent for analgesia in the ED and may provide a novel strategy for pain management in I&D. While it has been studied an adjunct to laceration repair in children and labor in women, the use in the ED setting is not known. Adult patients capable of consenting, with simple cutaneous abscess requiring incision and drainage are the targeted population. Eligible patients who consent to the study will be randomized to one of two groups: nitrous oxide/local anesthesia or oxygen/local anesthesia. Primary endpoints assessed will be pain scores using the VAS at baseline, ten minutes after NO administration, immediately post I&D procedure, and ten minutes after procedure completion. Additionally, secondary endpoints of patient and physician procedure satisfaction scores, total time of nitrous oxide used, and presence of adverse events, including respiratory depression defined by peripheral SaO2 below 92%, ETCO2 level above 50, a rise or decrease of 10% above or below baseline, the loss of the ETCO2 waveform for more than 15 seconds. The vital signs, medical conditions, demographics, and abscess dimensions will also be collected.

The investigators propose to conduct a, two armed, randomized, controlled pilot study to assess the clinical effects of a) open incision, drainage with daily packing changes, compared to b) Ultrasound guided needle aspiration, in drainage of uncomplicated cutaneous abscesses below the skin surface of adult emergency department patients using concealed allocation in evaluating patient satisfaction.

The objective of this study is to establish the efficacy of tPA when used in pediatric intra-abdominal abscesses immediately after percutaneous drainage, irrespective of the ultrasound appearance or consistency of the drained fluid.