Active clinical trials for "Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive"

The purpose of this study is to determine if a program of self management and case management reduces hospitalizations and urgent care visits for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

To study BAT activity and energy metabolism in patients with cachexia induced by cancer or chronic disease.

This is a multi-site collaborative study that will be done in the context of three Quebec hospitals' outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programs: Montreal Chest Institute; University of Laval, and Hopital Sacre-Coeur Montreal. The objectives are two-fold. First, to determine the Minimal Clinical Important Difference in intensity ratings of perceived breathlessness for each of the 3-min constant rate shuttle walking (3-MWT) and stair stepping (3-MST) protocols in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Second, to test the hypothesis that both the 3-MWT and 3-MST protocols are able to detect statistically significant and clinically-meaningful improvements in exertional breathlessness following an 7-12 week outpatient rehabilitative exercise training program in COPD.

This is a study to provide an in-depth validation of the 1-minute sit-to-stand test as a measure of exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Patients will perform the 1-minute sit-to-stand test and other validated exercise tests and questionnaires.

All measurements are performed on two consecutive days at the beginning of a pulmonary rehabilitation program in a randomized cross-over study design. On the first day, each patient is randomly assigned to perform either the 2 minute walk test or the 6 Minute walk test. On the second day each patient performs the test that was not performed on the first day. All walk tests are performed by the same investigator on the same track and time of day, following the 2002 guidelines of the American Thoracic Society. Patients wear a mobile pulse oximeter that continuously records heart rate and oxygen saturation during testing. Baseline values of oxygen saturation, heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion on the modified Borg scale (0 to 10) for dyspnea and leg fatigue are recorded at rest after 10 minutes of sitting.

It has been shown, that in patients with very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the additional use of non-invasive ventilation during pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) may enhance the benefits of PR. It is assumed that the non-invasive ventilation techniques provides a better recovery of the respiratory pump during the night. If non-invasive ventilation also decreases the metabolic demands during night is unknown and is aim of this study. During a 3 week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program a total of 85 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease stage IV will be recruited for this study. There will be a 4:1 distribution into 2 groups. 68 patients with an indication for the use of a non-invasive ventilation will be involved in the intervention group where non-invasive ventilation will be initialized. 17 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease stage IV without an indication for the use of non-invasive ventilation will be involved in a control group to detect the changes in nocturnal energy expenditure produced by pulmonary rehabilitation alone. All outcome measurements will be performed during day 1-3 and will be repeated after 12 days (with or without non-invasive ventilation) at day 15-17 of the pulmonary rehabilitation program. A sub-trial of this study is to validate night movement accuracy of the Dynaport activity monitor with the observations made by a night-vision camera in the sleep lab. This will be performed in study participants as well as in healthy volunteers.

Left ventricular failure (LVF) is a common cause of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). This association is frequently underestimated with regard to the difficulty of clinical diagnosis . The investigators expect that Valsalva Maneuver (VM) could be useful in this issue.

To evaluate the magnitude of the humoral immune responses to quadrivalent vs trivalent influenza vaccines in adults between the age of 50 and 64 years with a prior diagnosis of GOLD Stage C and D COPD vs. those patients without COPD.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of chronic morbidity and mortality worldwide. There is debate about diagnosis and management of COPD because it was described as complex syndrome accounting for various pulmonary and extrapulmonary abnormalities. As a result, there is consensus that both clinical evaluation and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) data by themselves do not adequately describe the complexity of the disease. The chest radiograph is the sole imaging examination recommended for the routine evaluation of these patients by the physicians guidelines (GOLD guidelines),which, however, are also debating on the utility of computed tomography (CT) in this setting. Indeed, a number of studies reported a dramatic increasing use of CT of the chest for COPD assessment, in both clinical and research settings. COPD assessment by CT seems to improve the accuracy and completeness of the clinical evaluation of these patients. Nevertheless, the clinical utility of CT has yet to be proved by prospective studies or defined by guidelines. Objectives: To evaluate the change in the diagnosis and management of COPD when multiple CT-derived information is added to pre-test evaluation. Methods: Four pulmonologists with various expertise in the field will review clinical data, PFTs results, and chest radiographs of 200 consecutive COPD patients diagnosed according to current guidelines. Therefore, after two months from the first evaluation, the pulmonologists will review the clinical and PFTs records with comprehensive information about low-dose CT (LDCT) previously performed in a week from the chest radiograph. Information about LDCT findings will include qualitative assessment by an experienced chest radiologist and quantitative analysis by means of an innovative 3D imaging dedicated software. Phenotype assessment and patient care decisions (e.g. therapeutic and follow-up strategies, need of additional tests etc.) will be recorded before and after assimilation of LDCT data. Expected results: This evidence-based prospective study will test the impact of chest LDCT on management of COPD patient. In addition, the level of agreement between pulmonologists in terms of diagnosis and therapeutic strategies will be assessed. Furthermore, the study will evaluate the need for additional tests referable to LDCT information and their impact on the health care system (e.g. in terms of additional costs).

The study is a two-part small scale, open-label, pilot study to evaluate feasibility and proof-of-concept for a respiratory assist medical device. The study population will consist of severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) subjects.