Active clinical trials for "Lung Diseases"

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.

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.

The aims of this study is : to assess the bronchodilator (DUOVENT HFA) response of parameters measured by the forced oscillations (FOT) and in particular the reactance parameters related to the presence of a limitation of expiratory flows to compare the response of the reactance parameters to bronchodilators with the conventional spirometric parameters (FEV1) and inspiratory capacity (IC), and according to the severity of the disease to assess and compare the relationship between the response to bronchodilators in terms of IC on the one hand and on the other hand in terms of FEV1, reactance parameters (measured by FOT), resistance parameters (measured by plethysmography and FOT) Assess and compare the relationship between dyspnea intensity assessed by various scales and conventional respiratory function parameters (spirometry, plethysmography, diffusion indices) and parameters measured by FOT

Critically ill patients often succumb to acute respiratory disease (rapidly developing disease affecting the lungs). The lungs are the commonest organ to fail and require support in the intensive care environment. However, no accurate methods exist that can be used at the bedside to tell what is causing deterioration in a person's lungs. There are various examples of acute respiratory diseases that can occur as a result of numerous different causes, have a high risk of death and cannot be treated easily with drugs. When trying to accurately diagnose and classify these lung diseases there is a risk that the type of respiratory disease is misdiagnosed, missed or the level of severity is not captured. By using the field of optical molecular imaging and employing novel techniques and technologies, the investigators hope to demonstrate here that a bespoke chemical probe administered in micro doses (tiny doses) directly into the distal lung can rapidly and accurately detect activated neutrophils (cells of the immune system that are implicated in the development of these severe conditions), and so work towards a bedside test which could be used to diagnose, monitor and classify the disease in patients who are critically ill in the future. The population for this study are in intensive care where patients are normally intubated (have a breathing tube) due to the severity of their illness, this may be because of respiratory problems or respiratory problems can rapidly develop. Participants will have the chemical probe administered into their lungs and pictures taken through the tube already in place. As this probe lights up when it comes into contact with neutrophils the investigators will be able to tell if neutrophils are present. This will inform a larger study in which it's hoped that the method can be used to inform clinical decisions. The first procedure will take place within two days of initiation of mechanical ventilation and the direct contact with the study team will be completed within nine days.

First, the investigators will image patients with hyperpolarized xenon (Xe) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to develop the technique of hyperpolarized xenon MRI at the University of Virginia (UVA). Magnetic Resonance (MR) sequences will need to be developed and optimized for the equipment at UVA. These sequences will need to be evaluated in healthy adults for comparison with results obtained and in adults with lung diseases to optimize the sequences for the detection and evaluation of lung diseases. The MR pulse sequences need to be optimized for the parameters of a human MR coil and the gas exchange characteristics in healthy and diseased lungs. Second, the investigators propose to exploit the power of Xe129 MRI as a diagnostic tool to monitor therapeutic responses of a combination inhaler, Advair, which contains a long-acting beta-adrenoceptor agonist (LABA) and an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) - two major classes of the current COPD therapeutics. The investigators will characterize the functional changes of the lungs with COPD at baseline, and investigate the responses of the lungs to the treatment after a three-month trial. Also the investigators will compare corresponding results obtained by Xe129 dissolved phase (DP) MRI to the results obtained by gadolinium-based dynamic contrast-enhanced perfusion MRI (perfusion MRI) and high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the lung to indirectly validate the Xe129 DP MRI technique. The investigators anticipate that the results from this project will greatly improve the investigators understanding of the lung functional responses of COPD subjects to current therapeutics. Also, the investigators expect that this project will provide evidence to consider Xe129 MRI as a diagnostic strategy to assess and monitor therapeutic responses of existing and new pharmaceuticals, and thus Xe129 MRI will stimulate development of novel therapies for COPD in the future

A feasibility RCT comprising two groups: Intervention (SELF-BREATHE in addition to standard NHS care) Control group (standard / currently available NHS care)

one-centered, open, non-randomized, controlled clinical trial will focus on a comprehensive study of the clinical, functional and molecular biochemical characteristics of the natural course of COPD in combination with peripheral atherosclerosis

The purpose of this study is to examine if a new and simple method involving complete photo-protection of multivitamins only (since sampling through infusion) will result in a significant reduction of peroxide contamination of parenteral nutrition compared to standard method of parenteral nutrition preparation and infusion in extremely preterm infants.

Lung involvement in Sjögren's syndrome is common and causes reduced quality of life and increased mortality. Sjögren's syndrome-related lung diseases (SS-RLD) are classified and treated as the primary lung diseases they resemble. Whether this approach is optimal has not been evaluated thoroughly. A critical gap in knowledge is knowing whether SS-RLDs have a unique clinical course and response to therapy. Given the underlying immune system dysfunction in Sjögren's syndrome, the investigators hypothesize that patients with SS-RLD will be more likely to respond to immunosuppressive therapy than patients with the matching primary lung disease. To address this hypothesis, the investigators will prospectively screen for Sjogren's syndrome in patients presenting to pulmonary clinics and compare the clinical course and response to therapy in Sjogren's syndrome positive and negative patients.

More patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) die from cardiovascular disease than direct pulmonary complications. Inflammation and oxidative stress, characteristic in COPD, are likely contributors to the reduction in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and vascular endothelial dysfunction in COPD patients; however, this has yet to be determined. Thus, the overall objective of this proposal is to identify the role of NO bioavailability in contributing to vascular endothelial dysfunction in patients with COPD and to provide insight into the molecular mechanisms involved. Our central hypothesis is that inflammation and oxidative stress, both independently, contribute to the reduction in NO bioavailability and vascular endothelial dysfunction in patients with COPD.