Active clinical trials for "Dyspnea"

Study to assess the possible effects of the use of a point-of-care thoracic ultrasound protocol for hospital medical emergency teams (MET)

Rationale: Half of the patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) have moderate to severe dyspnea. This dyspnea has a negative impact on the duration of mechanical ventilation, on patients' comfort and could be involved in the genesis of post-traumatic stress syndromes, a frequent complication of intensive care. Modifying ventilation parameters does not always relieve dyspnea and administering morphine prolongs the duration of mechanical ventilation. Dyspnea has, in addition to its sensory component, an emotional component. The possibility to distract the patients' attention or to modulate their emotions in order to relieve their dyspnea could therefore represent an innovative therapeutic alternative devoid of side effects. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of auditory and sensory extra respiratory stimuli on the sensation of dyspnea in intensive care patients undergoing mechanical, invasive or non-invasive ventilation. Methods: 45 intensive care patients under artificial ventilation will be exposed, according to their randomization arm, to the following two stimuli for a duration of 10 minutes: standard relaxing music piece versus "pink" noise; fresh air on the face versus fresh air on the thigh. The effect of this stimulus will be compared to a randomized control, these two conditions will be separated by a wash-out period. An pressure support (+5) increment will be performed to ensure comparability of subsequent experimental sequences and their effect on dyspnea. Dyspnea will be assessed in terms of intensity (visual analog scale) and characterized sensorially. Will also be evaluated during the different conditions: pain, anxiety and stress (sympathetic/parasympathetic balance) and extra-diaphragmatic electromyographic activity. Ethical framework: research involving the human person at risk and minimal constraints (physiology study that does not entail any risk for the patients). Expected results and prospects: the investigators hypothesize that pleasant extra-respiratory sensory stimulation significantly reduces the intensity of dyspnea in artificially ventilated patients without any change in ventilator settings and pharmacological intervention. This reduction in dyspnea is associated with decreased anxiety and stress levels. This study will bring new, easy-to-use and side-effect-free tools to the therapeutic arsenal for the relief of dyspnea in mechanically ventilated patients.

"Episodic breathlessness (or dyspnea) is one form of chronic refractory breathlessness characterized by a severe worsening of breathlessness intensity or unpleasantness beyond usual fluctuations in the patient's perception. Episodes are time-limited (seconds to hours) and occur intermittently, with or without underlying continuous breathlessness. Episodes may be predictable or unpredictable, depending on whether any trigger(s) can be identified. There is a range of known triggers which can interact (e.g. exertion, emotions, comorbidities or external environment). One episode can be caused by one or more triggers." ( definition by an international expert consensus [Simon et al. 2013]). Approximately half of patients with cancer complain about breathlessness with the highest prevalence in pulmonary malignancies. Episodic breathlessness is reported by 81% of breathless cancer patients with significant impairment on quality of life and limitations on activity. Although episodic breathlessness show some similar characteristics like episodes of pain (breakthrough cancer pain, BTCP; median duration 30minutes), they are often shorter: 91% last less than 20minutes (min). Other evidence supports these findings with duration between 2-15minutes which is a real challenge for the treatment of episodic breathlessness. In the majority of cases, episodic breathlessness occur 1-4 times per day and peak intensity is rated moderate or severe. There is evidence for the effectiveness of opioids for the relief of chronic refractory breathlessness. There is no evaluated and proven standard treatment for the relief of episodic breathlessness at the moment but immediate-release morphine (IRM) as solution or tablet is most frequently used in clinical practice to treat episodic breathlessness. Time to onset of action of IRM is about 20-30min for pain. Fentanyl is a potent opioid and shows good evidence for the treatment of BTCP through its quick onset of action (5-15min) and short duration of action (50-60min). Because of its pharmacodynamic properties fentanyl might be appropriate and effective for the relief of episodic breathlessness. However, the efficacy of fentanyl for the relief of breathlessness and time to onset is unknown. This pilot study aims to evaluate relative efficacy, feasibility and time to onset of two different opioids (fentanyl and morphine) in order to improve the management of episodic breathlessness.

COVID-19 has a high spread rate, millions of people have been infected around the world. Patients complained of different symptoms as fever, dry cough and fatigue which is mild in about 80% of cases, but the severity of the case may progress to develop a respiratory distress or respiratory failure, which may require the need for intensive care unit (ICU)

This study evaluates a pharmacological intervention to relieve dyspnea in intensive care unit patients. Indeed, opioids can be particularly beneficial since 1) dyspnea and pain share many similarities, 2) the benefit of opioids on dyspnea has been clearly demonstrated in other populations. However, to date, data regarding the impact of morphine on dyspnea in intensive care unit patients admitted for acute respiratory failure are scarce. There may be a reluctance of physicians to prescribe opioids that is not scientifically justified. The study will focus on patient reported outcome (PRO) criteria. The ultimate goal of this pilot study is to design the protocol of a future pragmatic trial.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. The Danish Lung Association estimates that 320,000 Danes live with COPD, of which approximately 50,000 with severe COPD. In 2017, records showed that 23,979 admissions in Denmark were related to COPD; of these patients, about 20% were readmitted 2-30 days after discharge. The main symptom is dyspnea, which is often accompanied by anxiety. Primary treatment is; oxygen, bronchiolitis, prednisolone, morfica, NIV, and anxiolytics. Researchers at Hvidovre Hospital have developed an oxygen robot that continuously monitors the patient's SaO2 (oxygen saturation) and automatically administrates the oxygen depending on it. The preliminary results show that patients with robot-administrated oxygen were within defined SaO2 range in 85.7% of the time versus 46.6% when oxygen was nurse-administrated. The research was conducted as a multicentre Randomized Controlled Trial focusing on physiological end-points. There is a lack of knowledge about the patient perspective of treatment with the oxygen robot. The purpose of this study is: 1. To examine the effect of robot-administered oxygen on patients' perception of dyspnoea, including the emotional response in the form of anxiety and depression The perspective is to be able to provide a holistic response to whether robot-administered oxygen can be a better method of treating and alleviating dyspnoea.

Bronchiolectasis is the manifestation of chronic bronchitis characterized by saccular dilatation of the terminal bronchioles & bronchiectasis refers to abnormal dilatation of the bronchi. In bronchiolectasis more proximal bronchi may or may not show radiological changes. Airway dilatation can lead to failure of mucus clearance and increased risk of infection. Pathophysiological mechanism of bronchiectasis/bronchiolectasis include persistent bacterial infections, deregulated immune responses, impaired mucociliary clearance and airway obstruction. Treatment is directed at reducing the frequency of exacerbations, improving quality of life. Although no therapy is licensed for bronchiectasis by regulatory agencies, evidence supports the effectiveness of airway clearance techniques, antibiotics and mucolytic agents. Enhancing effective expectoration of stagnated bronchopulmonary secretions, usually with physiotherapy support, is key to management. There are different methods for delivering chest physiotherapy, such as the active cycle of breathing technique, postural drainage, (PEP) and oscillating PEP devices. The objective of the study is to compare the effects of PEP & Incentive spirometry techniques on bronchiolectasis patients. The study will be a randomized clinical trial. Total 24 subjects will be assigned randomly into two groups by using convenient sampling technique. Baseline treatment will be same (chest physiotherapy) in both groups. Group A will use PEP and Group B will use incentive spirometry technique for total 60 repetitions (15 repetitions 2 sets, two times per a day) 5 sessions per week and total 4 weeks. Dyspnea severity index and cough & sputum assessment questionnaire (CASA-Q) would be used as an outcome measurement tools. Measurements will be taken at Baseline, and at the end of the 4 weeks treatment session. After assessing the normality, data will be analyzed by using parametric and non-parametric tests.

This study is designed to determine the individual threshold of minimal clinical change (MCID) for each component of the Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP) questionnaire in COPD patients undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common smoking related lung disease. The main symptom in breathlessness. Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) - a supervised group exercise and education class - is an effective intervention in COPD to reduce symptoms, improve exercise performance and prevent exacerbations. However some COPD patients are unable to to effectively exercise as they are limited by their breathlessness, despite optimal medical management. By reducing their physical activity to avoid the onset of breathlessness, they become deconditioned and then further attempts at exercise make them more breathless, leading to an inactivity cycle. There is a growing evidence base regarding the use of hand hold fan therapy or air therapy to relieve breathlessness at rest. Limited studies have looked at the use of fan therapy during exercise, and its role on exercise capacity and recovery time, provisional results which indicate it may also be useful during activity. Logically you might expect patients who are less breathless to be able to exercise more, or recover quicker. This study aims to investigate the effects a hand held fan will have on sensation of breathlessness and exercise capacity in patients with COPD. This will involve participants undertaking a standardised field walking test ( 6 minute walk test) with and with out the fan and then comparing the distance covered and how they felt during and after exercise. This will better inform how we structure exercise and advice to these patients in the future to empower patients limited by breathlessness.

Breathlessness is an overwhelming symptom affecting tens of thousands of Australians every day. For many people, it persists even when all the underlying causes have been optimally managed (chronic breathlessness). In these circumstances, it often occurs at rest or with minimal exertion. Evidence from a number of clinical studies suggests that a small, regular dose of morphine helps to reduce safely the sensation of breathlessness. However, it is not well established which patients derive more benefit and what is the net clinical effect of this treatment (weighing benefits and harms). This is a phase III, multi-site, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe chronic breathlessness which will explore several important questions: Are regular, low doses of morphine at four possible doses over 3 weeks more effective than placebo at improving breathlessness? Does increasing the dose in people who already are experiencing some benefit provide even greater reduction in worst breathlessness? Does the medication have any effect on daily activity and quality of life? What are the common or serious side effects of this intervention? Does the benefit from the medication outweigh the side effects it produces? Are there specific characteristics of people who are more likely to receive benefit from extended release morphine? Participants will receive once daily extended release morphine (plus laxative, docusate with senna), or placebo (placebo laxative) in addition to their usual medication for up to 3 weeks at increasing doses. Participants will have a medical interview and physical examination to collect some general health information, and baseline measurements including; daily activity, symptoms, and quality of life. A small amount of blood may be required to check eligibility. Further blood samples may be taken at week 1 and 3 to enable testing on how individuals respond to opioids, further consent will be obtained for these samples. Data on benefits, side effects, and medical care will be collected during comprehensive weekly visits. Participants will also fill out a simple diary twice daily for weeks one to three of the study, and for one day each week during an optional 6 month extension stage. The outcome of this study may enable better management of symptoms and activity in people COPD with medicines that are shown to be effective and safe.