Active clinical trials for "Emphysema"

The primary objective is to evaluate the performance parameters of the proposed DLAD (Carebot AI CXR) in comparison to individual radiologists.

Various indexes have been proposed to quantify both pulmonary emphysema and airways disease on chest CT scans. It is unknown whether these indexes should be consider in absolute values or as compared to predicted normal values. The purposes of the present study is thus : a) to measure these indexes at CT in healthy volunteers; b) to investigate their relations with gender, height and weight.

The goal of this study is to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) as a bedside diagnostic tool for lung pathologies in patients who are mechanically ventilated. In electrical impedance tomography low amplitude, low frequency current is applied on electrodes, and the resulting voltage is measured and used to computed the electrical properties of the interior of the chest as they change in time. The computed properties are used to form an image, which can then be used for monitoring and diagnosis.

Computed tomography (CT) studies considering bronchial dimensions in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have never considered nycthemeral variations. Airway calibre, in COPD patients, exhibits a nycthemeral variations with maximal values around noon and minimal values in the early morning, that persists under long-acting bronchodilator. Furthermore, no study has assessed the possible nycthemeral variations of CT scans parameters reflecting airway remodelling and emphysema extent in COPD patients. This is a prospective study whose purpose is to assess these variations and their relationships with pulmonary function testing (PFT) in COPD patients.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease has two heterogeneous conditions (chronic bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema phenotypes) with a different clinical presentation. The phenotype evaluation in COPD patient (trough clinical, functional and radiographic parameters) could influence final results in pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic management of the disease. The aim of our study is to investigate whether COPD patients with different disease phenotype (chronic bronchitis versus pulmonary emphysema) have a different response to PR.

The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms whereby lung function is decreased in COPD. The hypothesis is that in diseases such as COPD, inflammatory cells including neutrophils, macrophages and lymphocytes migrate to the lung and release either more or different types of inflammatory mediators and/or destructive enzymes compared to subjects without COPD. We aim to investigate these separate cell types in the blood of subjects with COPD and identify which genes are more highly expressed when compared to cells obtained from patients without COPD. We will also investigate the lung macrophages from these subjects to identify whether the same or different genes are expressed in these cells. We will isolate different leukocyte populations from the blood and extract ribonucleic acid (RNA) from these samples. The type and quantity of RNA in these samples is a reflection of the specific genes expressed in these cells. This RNA will be sent to Gene Logic and this company will test these samples to identify which genes have been expressed. Similar experiments will be performed using macrophages obtained following bronchoalveolar lavage of these subjects. We would aim to examine the responses of leukocytes from three groups of subjects, namely (i) non-smoking controls (ii) smokers without clinical or histological signs of COPD and (iii) smokers with COPD. The isolated leukocytes will either be immediately solubilized in solutions to purify RNA or we will then use these isolated cells in vitro and following stimulation investigate whether different genes are expressed or at a differential rate in the disease state. The objective is to identify which genes are specifically expressed in patients with COPD with a view to identify novel targets for drug therapy. We will examine both leukocytes derived from peripheral blood and macrophages obtained from bronchoalveolar lavage with the aim to determine whether differences attributable to disease can be identified in both circulating cells and those at the site of disease. This is a preliminary study to determine the profile of inflammatory mediator expression from leukocytes and as such power calculations to determine the number of subjects is not appropriate.

To investigate the diagnostic value of ultralow-dose computed tomography in the detection of pulmonary nodules and lung parenchym alterations (e.g. emphysema) compared to standard-dose-CT.

The study will include 60 healthy subjects (ex-smoker without any airflow limitation), 125 COPD GOLD (global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease) I , 125 COPD GOLD II, 125 COPD GOLD III and up to 20 patients with COPD and A1AT (Alpha1-Antitrypsin) deficiency (ZZ genotype). Soluble and imaging biomarkers will be investigated addressing different aspects of disease pathways postulated to be relevant for COPD progression.

Alpha 1-antitrypsin-deficient individuals develop severe destructive lung disease much earlier and their lung function declines faster than the general population of individuals with chronic obstructive lung disease. This study is designed to better understand the pathogenesis of lung destruction in alpha 1-antitrypsin deficient individuals and to characterize the pathobiology of early lung destruction. To accomplish this we intend to use bronchoalveolar lavage to determine and quantify the factors that initiate and sustain lung inflammation in alpha 1-antitrypsin deficient individuals with lung function above a force expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of greater than 50% of predicted.

This study is to evaluate the expression of biological markers in induced sputum and peripheral blood T lymphocytes of patients with combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE). The features of CPFE would be observed, including pulmonary function tests and fractional exhaled nitric oxide （FENO）.