Active clinical trials for "Critical Illness"

Beyond supportive care, there are currently no proven treatment options for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and related pneumonia, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).Investigators have seen recently from experience in Western countries with best health care systems that pandemics cannot be managed in hospitals. Investigators have seen ICUs crowded to capacity, healthcare workers being exposed and going to quarantine or dying after exposure to large doses of viral inoculums. Investigators recommend that institutions should register for Clinical trials and consider emergency use of TPE. In Pandemics, time is of essence to avoid mortality by intervening early with available evidence, preferably as part of clinical trial.Since the outbreak of corona virus disease (COVID-19), main treatment modalities have been antivirals, interferons, glucocorticoids, anti-coagulants and supportive treatment in addition to traditional Chinese medicine. There are also clinical trials exploring hydroxyquinoline / chloroquine sulphate, azithromycin, immunoglobulins, Vitamin-C, washed microbiota, nebulized interferon, teicoplanin as well as Mesenchymal stem cells. However, most of these trials were small and remain in the experimental phase with currently no effective / specific antiviral with robust scientific evidence as regards the mortality reduction in COVID-19.In an attempt to treat COVID-19, investigator will use different investigational treatment either alone or in combination to see mortality and morbidity benefit on the basis of limitted evidence available so far. These investigational modalities include Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), Convalescent Plasma (CP), Remdesivir, Tocilizumab and Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy in addition to standard supportive treatment.

Admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) due to illness has been shown to have a dramatic effect on the human body and mind. Following discharge from an ICU, patients suffer from varying degrees of weakness and muscle wasting. It can take many months before their strength returns to something like before they were ill. This weakness can have important consequences on an individual, affecting their ability to perform routine tasks (e.g. housework, shopping), and whether they can return to work or not. Not surprisingly, this inability to perform activities they used to do prior to their illness can have knock on effects on their mental well being and confidence. What the investigators hope to see through this study is whether or not patients can recover their ability to perform exercise more quickly following an ICU admission if they undergo an exercise-based rehabilitation programme. The investigators also hope to see whether taking part in a rehabilitation programme has any affect on physical and mental well being. The investigators hope to use a simple exercise test on a bicycle to assess subjects ability to exercise shortly after leaving hospital. We will then repeat the test after a period of physiotherapy lead rehabilitation to see if they have received any benefit from the programme. The investigators hope to show that by undergoing an exercise-based rehabilitation programme subjects will recover their ability to exercise more quickly than those who do not. By means of questionnaires the investigators hope to see what effect the rehabilitation programme has had on participants physical and mental well being.

Malnutrition is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality of patients managed in intensive care unit. Early recognition and treatment of adult malnutrition are recommended in acute care settings especially for patients requiring mechanical ventilation. Biochemical indicators like serum concentrations of albumin and prealbumin (transthyretin) have a tradition of being used as markers of nutritional status but remains influenced by nonnutritional factors. A recent assessment of quadriceps muscle diameter with ultrasound method has gained interest for screening and follow-up of muscle weakness at the bedside in critically ill patients. In this light, the MALICUS project aims to investigate the validity of ultrasound as measurement tool for assessing malnutrition acquired in intensive care unit. Skeletal muscle is central to cytokine regulation and it contributes 85% of total body glucose clearance. Some research findings suggest that muscle wasting is a smoldering inflammatory state partially driven by cytokines and oxidative stress but these conclusions need to be investigated in context of critically ill patients and perioperative settings. The investigators search to determine impact of inflammatory biomarkers (IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α) and oxidative stress (evaluated by quantifying the global anti-oxidative defenses in patient with an original method (Patrol® test) based on the use of excited molecular oxygen (singlet oxygen) as a source of ROS on erosion of lean body mass measure with quadriceps muscle ultrasound. Consequently, in an ancillary study of the MALICUS project, the investigators wish to investigate interaction between acute inflammation and muscle wasting.

The main objectives of the prolonged resuscitation paralysis are usually adaptation to mechanical ventilation, lower insufflation pressures and cough suppression. The use of monitoring during the prolonged neuromuscular blockade is the subject of recommendations. Its interest is subject to a recommendation grade B and its use in prevention of overdose is associated with a recommendation of Grade C. However, many practitioners continue to objectify the depth of neuromuscular blockade and reversal by simple clinical evaluation. This is a subjective estimate of the depth of neuromuscular block. Resuscitation in several pharmacokinetic parameters are taken into account. First, the drug distribution volume is usually increased in the Intensive Care patient and requires an increase in initial doses to obtain the same pharmacological effect. Then, unlike a short-term administration, the administration of neuromuscular blocking agents on days causes diffusion in peripheral compartments. Their diffusion coefficients are slower which contributes to the increase of the elimination period after interruption of the administration of curare. There is therefore a risk of residual paralysis. Secondarily, the curare needs can be influenced by thermoregulation, water and electrolyte disorders and acid-base, administration of certain drugs, the inter- and intra-individual variability and tachyphylaxis (form tolerance of particularly rapid installation during a few close administration, linked to the proliferation of cholinergic receptors). The value of monitoring neuromuscular blockade in intensive care is the prevention of overdose and in finding the lowest effective dose.

Continuous enteral feeding is the most common type of nutrition used in critically ill patients despite being non-physiologic, as all mammalian alimentary tracts have been designed for intermittent ingestion of nutrients. The small numbers of randomized controlled studies that have compared intermittent gastric feeds (IGF) to continuous gastric feeds (CGF) in intensive care units have demonstrated that IGF is safe, feasible and have the shorter time to goal nutrition. Studies of healthy adults have also demonstrated that the mean glucose concentration (MGC) is lowered when bolus enteral feedings are used instead of continuous feeds; these changes in glucose-insulin metrics might be beneficial to a critically ill patient population where stress hyperglycemia is common. This study will compare the effects of CGF and IGF in a critically ill medical patient population. Glucose-insulin dynamics for each type of enteral feed will be analyzed by performing a randomized crossover study to compare the effects of CGF and IGF on MGC, total insulin infused, glucose variability (GV), episodes of hypoglycemia and maximum glucose concentration values.

Acute lower gastrointestinal dysfunction is a kind of much common complication which occurred in critically ill patients. Once it developed, enteral nutrition would be disturbed. In this study, investigators suppose that early application of a sufficient amount of pectin ahead of enteral nutrition, may promote recovery of acute lower gastrointestinal dysfunction in critically ill patients, and exert its good effect on early EN support. Investigators designed this prospective randomized controlled trial to test and evaluates the effect whether EN feeding with or without a pectin start would be safe or with advanced clinical outcomes.

Published guidelines recommend at least 2 gm/kg/day of protein for critically ill surgical patients. It may not be possible to achieve this level of intake using polymeric enteral nutritional formula and protein or amino acid supplementation will be necessary. This was a retrospective cohort study in which the investigators reviewed critically ill trauma and surgical patients treated with supplemental enteral protein according to a protocol aimed to deliver a total of 2 gm/kg/day of protein. The investigators studied detailed nutritional data from a 2 week period after admission and obtained additional data through discharge to determine caloric intake, protein intake and complications. The investigators also compared urine nitrogen excretion and visceral protein (transthyretin) concentrations between those who received early supplementation with those who did not.

Background: Head and neck cancer patients are in high risk to suffer from malnourishment, a risk that increase in postoperative condition and with the use of enteral nutrition (EN). Until now patients who are suffering from indigestion in the ICU received treatment in the form of prokinetic drugs, drags that can lead to serious side effects and only can partially improve digestion. Acupuncture was used successfully in several clinical trials to improve postoperative indigestion in cancer patients without any reported adverse events. This study aims is to design a double blind settings in order to investigate acupuncture effect in combination of prokinetic drugs in the prevention of indigestion in postoperative oral and hypo-pharyngeal cancer patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Methods: Single center, double blind randomize control trial will compare between two equal groups. A total of 28 patients that will meet the inclusion criteria: Age 30-80, Post plastic surgery for oral cancer or hypo-pharyngeal cancer, Apache score below 20 needed EN. Patients will be randomly divided into specific acupuncture (ACU) or non-specific acupuncture (CON) for 3 treatments in 3 days by a blind acupuncturist along with prokinetic drugs. The main outcome measurement will be the amount of days a patient need to reach Total Energy Expenditure (TEE). Expected outcome: The results will shed light on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in a double blind design for posts-surgery ICU cancer patients. In addition, the study presents a revolutionary double blind design that if will prove as successful might influence the way double blind acupuncture studies are performed today.

This study arises from the need to optimize antibacterial drug usage to face increasing drug resistance among gram-negative pathogens in intensive care units. Gram-negative organisms are responsible for 70% of drug-resistant infections acquired in the intensive care unit. Meropenem is a β-lactam, carbapenem, antibacterial agent usually administered by intermittent infusion. As β-lactam efficacy is determined by the time in which the drug concentration exceeds the minimum inhibiting concentration of the target pathogen, intermittent infusion of this short half-lived drug can lead to precipitous drops in serum drug levels, an occurrence linked to emergence of resistant pathogens. The investigators hypothesize a beneficial effect of a continuous meropenem infusion on mortality and emergence of drug resistant pathogens. All patients enrolled will receive 1 g of meropenem bolus. After that, subjects will be randomized to receive a continuous infusion of study drug 3g/day or a bolus administration of the same amount of drugs. The investigators expect a reduction of mortality and emergence of extensive or pan drug resistant pathogens from 52 to 40% in the continuous infusion group.

This single-center prospective cohort study conducted at the adult trauma ICU of the Montreal General Hospital (MGH) affiliated with the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) aims to determine the incidence and associated risk factors of augmented renal clearance (ARC) in critically ill trauma patients of 50 years old and above.