
Use of Diagnostic Measures in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Routine Practice and...
Pulmonary DiseaseChronic ObstructiveThis study will evaluate the diagnostic measures (including blood eosinophil counts) commonly used by lung specialist's in routine clinical care of subjects with COPD in Germany and how these diagnostic tests influence the physician's treatment decisions. The study will be conducted in three parts. In the first part, lung specialist's, who will not participate in the survey, will develop doctor's questionnaire. The second part is an interventional cross-sectional study, wherein approximately 30 lung specialists will be enrolled and data on their perspective on diagnosis and treatment of COPD subjects will be collected via the revised doctor's questionnaire. The third part is a retrospective non-interventional study where each doctor will collect retrospective data from selected subjects with COPD from the time of informed consent up to 12 months before. The retrospective data will be collected from subject files of approximately 250 subjects with COPD.

Comparison of 3-Minute Step Test (3MStepT) and 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) in COPD Patients
COPDChronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseThe aim of this study is to compare oxygen desaturation during two tests: the 6 minute walk test and the 3 minute step test, for COPD patients.

Using Thoracic Ultrasound to Detect Interstitial Lung Disease in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis...
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Associated ConditionsLung Diseases1 moreBackground: Pulmonary diseases are significant contributors to morbidity and mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). One of the most common pulmonary manifestation in RA is interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). Consequently, RA-ILD may be prevalent in approximately 30% and clinically evident in about 10% of RA patients. Since the median survival for patients with manifest RA-ILD is only 6.6 years, feasible methods of detecting early RA-ILD are warranted. Objectives: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of thoracic ultrasound (TUS), using a 14-zone protocol, for ILD in RA patients with respiratory symptoms by using chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) as the reference standard. The secondary aim is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy for the blood biomarkers surfactant protein-D (SP-D) and microfibrillar-associated protein 4 (MFAP4) in the detection of ILD in this group of patients. Data collection: Participants will be included after signing the informed consent; data will be collected and stored in a REDCap database. Eligibility criteria for participants and settings where data will be collected: Patients eligible for inclusion are consenting adults (≥18 years) diagnosed with RA (according to the 2010 ACR-criteria for RA) and respiratory symptoms indicating RA-ILD, based on the presence of at least one of the following symptoms: unexplained dyspnoea, unexplained cough and/or a residual pneumonia or a chest X-ray indicating interstitial abnormalities in the lung. Whether participants form a consecutive, random or convenience series: Participants form a consecutive series of up to 80 individuals in total. Description of the index test and reference standard: Patients suspected of having RA-ILD will undergo a 14 zone TUS as index test performed by a junior resident in rheumatology, who is certified by the European Respiratory Society in performing TUS assessment. The anonymised images will be stored, and scored by the junior resident and two senior rheumatologists, who have also received training in TUS, as well as a TUS and ILD experienced pulmonologist. Chest HRCT will be the gold standard, i.e. the ILD reference standard. Estimates of diagnostic accuracy and their precision: The two basic measures for quantifying the diagnostic accuracy of the TUS (index) test are the sensitivity and specificity in comparison to the chest HRCT. Statistical tests will be conducted using the McNemar test for correlated proportions.

The Study of Sleep Disordered Breathing in Patients With Interstitial Lung Diseases
Obstructive Sleep Apnea-hypopneaThis was a cross-sectional observational study to evaluate the prevalence and predictive factors of SDB in ILD and to analyze the relationship between polysomnography (PSG) findings, pulmonary function, disease severity, parenchymal involvement, and sleep questionnaires ESS and SBQ. This study included 69 patients who were diagnosed with diffuse parenchymal lung diseases by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) chest. All patients were subjected to clinical examination, HRCT, spirometry, full-night polysomnography, and echocardiography.

An In Silico Trial to Evaluate Prospectively the Performance of a Radiomics Algorithm for UIP Compared...
Idiopathic Pulmonary FibrosisInterstitial Lung Disease1 moreThe purpose of this study is to compare AI performance to doctor's performance in the evaluation of IPF/UIP and ILDs without UIP(proven by biopsy).

The Prevalence of Lung Cancer in Patients With Interstitial Lung Disease
Lung DiseasesInterstitial1 moreThe investigators will evaluate the prevalence of lung cancer associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) utilizing the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) database, spanning the period from January 2011 to December 2011. The database (HIRA-NPS-2011-0001) was based on random sampling of outpatients from whole population. Patients with ILDs, IPF, connective tissue disorder (CTD), and COPD were identified based on the International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) diagnostic codes.

A Study of Inhaler Use in the Community
AsthmaChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease1 moreThis is a prospective cohort observational study of inhaler adherence in a community care setting (ie. general practice clinics and pharmacies in the community).

Nanoparticles Analysis in Lung and Bronchi During Various Pulmonary Interstitial Diseases and Relationships...
Interstitial Lung DiseasesNanoparticles (NP) are particles whose length, width and height are less than 100 nanometres. Over the past decade, industrial applications of NP have increased dramatically. Despite their widespread use, their true impact on human health remains unknown and poorly studied. NP exposure in humans primarily occurs via inhalation through the respiratory system. The aim of this study is to estimate the relationships between the nanoparticle load in the lung and bronchi and some interstitial lung diseases. In the aftermath of human exposure to asbestos, the pathological consequences of environmental exposure to nanomaterials could be evaluated upon a mineralogical analysis of pulmonary samples.

Preventing Repeat Hospitalisations in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)...
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)The purpose of this study is to determine whether the investigators can predict which patients are at risk of a re-exacerbation of COPD within 30 and 90 days using changes in lung capacity during the initial exacerbation.

EBUS Score Validation for Malignancy
Lung NeoplasmsLung DiseasesSurgical removal of a tumour in the lung offers the best chance for survival in early stage lung cancers. One main criteria of surgical eligibility is the absence of cancer spread to the lymph nodes; rendering the staging process extremely important. The evaluation of these lymph nodes is thought to be best completed using Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS), a procedure in which several lymph nodes are sampled and send to pathology to determine whether or not it is malignant. More recently, studies have observed that there are clear differences in the characteristics of cancerous and benign (non-cancerous) lymph nodes, and so there has been great interest in creating a list of criteria that can determine whether a node is malignant. This study aims to prospectively validate a previously proposed score based on observed characteristics of lymph nodes during an EBUS procedure relating to pathology-confirmed results. To test this, the results of the lymph node samples and the observed score will be compared for agreement. If the investigators find that the scoring system can accurately predict which lymph nodes are cancerous, it would provide the evidence to establish the score as a standard procedure during cancer staging.