Active clinical trials for "Critical Illness"

Patients suffering from critical illnesses who are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are often affected by multiple organ failure. Among those dysfunctions, it is very important to mention the neuromuscular system failure, known as Intensive Care Unit-Acquired Weakness (ICU-AW). In non-cooperative patients, the simplified electromyography (called Peroneal Nerve Test, PENT) allows diagnosing the Critical Illness Polyneuropathy (CIP) and/or the Critical Illness Myopathy (CIM), which are two causes of ICU-AW. The ICU-AW can involve both nerves and muscles, but so far there has been no evidence about the involvement of the third element of the neuromuscular system: the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). The gold standard technique to study the function of the NMJ is the Desmedt test, a particular type of Electroneurography (ENG); the Single Fiber Electromyography (SF-EMG ) might be a valid and more sensitive technique for this analysis. The spreading use of Neuromuscular Blocking Agents (NMBAs) has led to the introduction of the Train-Of-Four acceleromyography (TOF) monitoring in ICU; however, there is a lack of information on its reliability in critically ill patients. Some conditions related to critical illness, like the ICU-AW, could make TOF monitoring unreliable. The aims of the study are: To estimate the prevalence of NMJ disorders acquired during critical illnesses using SF-EMG. To assess the reliability of TOF in critically ill patients. The study will evaluate patients with critical illnesses hospitalised in the General Intensive Care Unit (UOC Anestesia e Rianimazione 2, Spedali Civili di Brescia). To diagnose CIP and/or CIM, PENT will be performed after 72 hours from the admission in the ICU and every 72 hours. To evaluate NMJ disorders, SF-EMG will be performed in patients with an abnormal PENT. To evaluate the reliability of TOF, the test will be performed before, during and after NMBAs treatment and in all studied patients, independently from NMBAs administration; the presence of neuromuscular blockade will be evaluated clinically and/or using instrumental tests like Desmedt test. Statistical analysis will be performed to represent the prevalence of NMJ disorders in the general intensivistic population and the reliability of TOF in terms of specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of the neuromuscular blockade.

The EuRIDICE trial will study whether haloperidol as a first line treatment for ICU delirium reduces delirium duration (and severity). Adverse outcomes typically associated with delirium will also be studied and include long term cognition, functional outcome and quality of life. Further, patient and family experiences and cost-effectiveness will be assessed. Finally, safety concerns associated with the use of haloperidol in this vulnerable population will be studied.

The use of extracorporeal blood purification therapies (EBPT) is becoming increasingly widespread worldwide in everyday clinical practice, particularly in the critical care setting. Nonetheless, most of the clinical trials aimed at exploring the effect of EBPT on patients' long-term outcomes have failed to demonstrate consistent results regarding 28 day- or hospital- mortality rates. The aim of this observational prospective registry is to evaluate if there is a cluster of critically ill patients that mostly benefits from extracorporeal blood purification therapies with oXiris membrane.

Survival following a critical illness continues to improve with ongoing developments in medical management, however evidence shows that this patient group is at a high risk of suffering long term disability. The objectives are to determine if there is a link between the amount of exercise performed in intensive care on the presence of delirium, long term cognition and disability whilst ensuring that patient reported outcomes correlate with actual measured results, and to obtain information on recovery from patients and/or relatives to determine themes.

The purpose of this study is to assess the treatment effect of intravenous TAK-954 in improving the average daily protein adequacy received through enteral nutrition in critically-ill participants developing EFI.

To observe and identify determinants of recovery from intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICUAW) following a severe cardiorespiratory failure requiring extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Additionally, to discover the effects of ICUAW on physical function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after critical illness. CLEVERER is a clinical observational pilot study.

The intensive care unit (ICU) team needs to know what effects acetaminophen has in critically ill patients. Acetaminophen is better known as Tylenol. It is the drug given to reduce fever. Most research that has looked at how safe and effective this drug is, has been done with healthy people. Those studies tell us it is safe and works well to bring down fever. This may not be true for the ICU patient. Some research found acetaminophen was not as good at reducing fever as expected in the ICU. Fever helps to fight infection so it may help patients get better, but it is also stressful. When you have fever, you to need more oxygen, and your heart beats faster. If you have a fever after brain injury, you are less likely to make a full recovery. In patients with brain injury, a weak heart or trouble breathing we should treat fever. If we can predict how well acetaminophen will reduce fever, we can decide if this drug is enough, or other treatments are also needed. If you do not have problems with your brain, heart, or lungs, it is safe to not treat fever. When you give this drug to treat fever, the body cools itself by sweating, and bringing hot blood to the skin's surface. These changes do not affect healthy people. Research suggests ICU patients may be at risk for sudden drop in blood pressure. Our study will answer 2 questions: 1) When acetaminophen is given to treat fever in ICU patients, are they more likely to have a drop in blood pressure? 2) How much will acetaminophen reduce fever in ICU patients? We will study ICU patients with a fever who can safely get, or not get this drug. This information will help us decide when and how to treat fever in the ICU.

The premise of this study is that enteral tranexamic acid will help to maintain small bowel integrity, which is often compromised by critical illness due to inadequate cardiovascular perfusion (i.e., shock), and that maintenance of small bowel integrity will decrease morbidity in critically ill patients.

Hypomagnesemia (low magnesium) is an electrolyte imbalance commonly found in up to 65% of critically ill patients. Possible consequences of hypomagnesemia include neuromuscular and neurologic dysfunction, heart arrhythmias, and alterations in other electrolytes. Data has shown that critically ill patients with hypomagnesemia have a significantly higher mortality rate than patients with a normal magnesium level. The most simple and commonly used test to diagnose hypomagnesemia is a serum magnesium level. Based on the magnesium level and symptoms of hypomagnesemia, patients may be replaced with either oral or intravenous (IV) magnesium. When replacing magnesium via the IV route, approximately half of the dose is retained by the body while the remainder is excreted in the urine. The low retention rate is due to the slow uptake of magnesium by cells and decreased magnesium reabsorption by the kidneys in response to the delivery of a large concentration of magnesium. The purpose of this study is to determine whether an eight hour compared to a four hour infusion of IV magnesium sulfate results in a greater retention of the magnesium dose.

Patients with hepatic dysfunction are known to have a high mortality rate. Hepa Wash(R) is a newly developed liver and renal support system that is based on the use of recycled albumin dialysate. The new system has shown a high detoxification capacity in in-vitro and preclinical studies. The aim of the study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Hepa Wash system in patients with hepatic dysfunction in the intensive care unit.