Active clinical trials for "Critical Illness"

This study evaluates the effect of a transcutaneous electrical stimulation in critically ill patients compared to a sham electrical stimulation to decrease the incidence of diaphragm dysfunction before mechanical ventilation weaning.

This study evaluates the impact of prospective clinical surveillance with the use of triggers to identify risk of adverse events with prompt adoption of interventions on the stabilization time of critically ill patients.

The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of a novel cleaning device in keeping silver-coated endotracheal tubes free from bacterial colonization.

Critically ill surgical patients are observed to have a functional iron deficiency which contributes to anemia, iron-deficient erythropoiesis, and an increased red blood cell transfusion requirement. Previously, iron supplementation has been studied in this population with the administration of enteral ferrous sulfate and intravenous iron sucrose but without robust results in resolving serum and bone marrow iron debts. Ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) is novel iron-containing complex that allows for the administration of a large dose of iron over a short infusion period to allow for sustained delivery of iron to target tissues with minimal hypersensitivity reactions. While there has been reported increased efficacy and comparable safety of FCM when compared to iron sucrose in the outpatient setting, there is no data comparing these two medications in surgical critical illness. The aim of this pilot trial is to compare two novel dosing schemes of these medications for treatment of functional iron deficiency in surgical ICU patients. The investigators hypothesize that iron supplementation with FCM, as compared to both iron sucrose and placebo, is more effective and equally safe for replacing the serum iron debt.

Critically ill patients are on high risk for increased serum glucose levels, leading to more comorbidity and higher mortality risk. In patients with severe sepsis and septic shock hyperglycemia is a typical finding. However the need of insulin therapy is associated with an increased risk of hypoglycemia. Newly developed technologies for continuous glucose monitoring in critically ill patients may improve glycemic control and reduce glucose variability. The investigators will perform continuous glucose monitoring in critically ill patients on ICU. Measurements will be done for a period of 72h per patient. The investigators aim is to evaluate accuracy feasibility and acceptance of these methods. To analyze accuracy sensor glucose levels will be validated due to arterial blood gas measurements with the blood gas analyzer. The investigators will investigate the influence of several factors like oedema, perspiration, BMI, body temperature, pH-value application of vasoconstrictors on accuracy and feasibility of the particular system. Furthermore Nursing staff will be given a questionnaire to identify acceptance.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a nutritional strategy is effective in critically ill patients with cancer diagnosed with refeeding syndrome.

Partial blood oxygen and carbon dioxide pressures obtained in critical ill neonates by transcutaneous sensors will be compared to respective values obtained by medically indicated arterial and capillary blood gas analyses. The influence of blood withdrawal method, sensor operational temperature and application time, presence of cyanotic heart malformations and/or intra or extra cardiac right to left shunt, vasoactive drugs, elevated non-conjugated bilirubin, and skin and soft tissue oedema, skin colour and perfusion conditions will be elucidated as well as sensor's safety. Study duration will be 48 hours with sensors applied and additional 4 hours of further surveillance for thermal injury.

PROTECT Pilot objective is to assess: 1) the feasibility of timely enrollment and complete, blinded study drug administration, 2) the bioaccumulation of LMWH in patients with acquired renal insufficiency and its association with bleeding, 3) the feasibility of scheduled twice weekly lower limb ultrasounds, and 4) recruitment rates for a future randomized trial.

Patients surviving critical illness experience significant skeletal muscle dysfunction and weakness. Muscle atrophy suffered during critical illness has a long-term impact on the functionality and mobility of these individuals. As a result, individuals surviving critical illness have a significant reduction in quality of life, even up to 5 years post discharge. Research including large randomized controls demonstrates that rehabilitation focused on active mobilization may positively influence patient outcomes. Thus, early mobilization is an important intervention that has many purported benefits. Current rehabilitation practice in the intensive care unit (ICU) and recommendations from clinical practice guidelines such as the Society of Critical Care Medicine, PADIS Guidelines support these interventions to reduce the detrimental effects of immobilization during critical illness. Early mobilization is routinely thought of as standard of care for patients admitted for acute respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis. However, a significant number of recent randomized controlled trials implementing early rehabilitation and mobilization interventions fail to demonstrate immediate or long-term benefits.10,11,18,19 Interesting, active mobilization and rehabilitation analyzed in systematic review had no impact on mortality and "no consistent effects of function, quality of life and ICU or hospital length of stay."18 There are a few potential explanations for interventions not leading to reduction in impairment or functional benefit. Scientific Premise: From our preliminary data (Figure 1) and my clinical experience, a significant cause of the physical impairments in these patients is reductions in muscular power. Muscular power is a critical determinant of functional mobility.20 Preliminary data demonstrate that lower extremity muscle power is significantly reduced in this population and furthermore, these deficits are strongly correlated to physical function. Muscle power training is a potential therapeutic intervention that could lead to more robust improvements in physical function. This concept has been explored extensively in community-dwelling older adults. A recent systematic review of controlled trials demonstrates that power training is superior to traditional resistance training at improving functional performance when comparing the two training modalities.21 Furthermore, power training is feasible for older adults and clinical populations of Parkinson's Disease, Stroke, and frailty.22-27 Thus the feasibility and pragmatic nature of power training is not a concern. Of interest, a randomized controlled trial was completed in institutionalized frail nonagenarians (>85 years or older).27 In this study, no patients drop-out of study due to power training and significant benefits in function were achieved.27 Therefore, the investigators propose a interventional trial to study the effect of a standardized muscle power training program for patients admitted to the ICU for critical illness.

Circulatory shock is defined as an imbalance between oxygen supply and/or impaired oxygen use to maintain organ function. With growing evidence of lack of correlation between macro- and micro-circulation, use of "Whole Body" markers such as blood pressure (BP) or Lactates are often insufficient to assess the severity of the oxygen debt and/or tissue hypoperfusion. Thus, an approach incorporating tissue-perfusion based endpoints would represent a significant step up to guide optimal resuscitation of critically-ill patients and to reduce complications in high-risk surgery. Current monitoring techniques, that complement systemic hemodynamics by focusing on regional perfusion, still lack the required user-friendliness and/or clinical relevance to be routinely used at bedside. Therefore, assessment of the adequacy of tissue perfusion and oxygenation is suboptimal, and implementation of the above-mentioned approaches of resuscitation is still a challenge. Urethral perfusion is likely to be early and significantly impaired during low-flow states and thus represents a good "candidate" as a surrogate site to assess the perfusion of visceral organs. Besides, urethral mucosa can be investigated in a less invasive and simpler manner than "deeper" organs. Nowadays, no practical methods or devices are available to monitor perfusion in the pelvic area. Thus, recent development of a new monitoring device of urethral perfusion could fill this need and enable enhanced management of patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) and Operating Rooms (OR). The device consists of a modified Foley catheter equipped with a photoplethysmographic sensor: the IKORUS UP probe. The probe will be used by intensivists or anesthesiologists on high-risk surgical patients, i.e. patients with comorbidities undergoing major vascular, thoracic and/or abdominal surgery.