Active clinical trials for "Lung Diseases"

Chronicle obstructive pulmonary disease is a worldwide cause of mortality and morbidity. This systemic disease progressively leads to dyspnea, muscle wasting and exercise capacity impairment. Pulmonary rehabilitation is a cornerstone in the management of these systemic effects. Unfortunately, access to pulmonary rehabilitation is limited for many people who would benefit from it, primarily because of a lack of pulmonary rehabilitation and assessment centers. Optimal assessment should include cardiopulmonary exercise testing to determine both the optimal training settings as well as any cardiopulmonary contraindications to pulmonary rehabilitation. However, this is not available in most centers and when it is, consultations are limited. Therefore, pulmonary rehabilitation is often delayed for several weeks and patients can lose motivation. In order to promote pulmonary rehabilitation, the incremental cardiopulmonary exercise testing could be replaced by field tests to individualize pulmonary rehabilitation prescription. The 6-minute stepper test is a new field tool. Its sensitivity and reproducibility have previously been reported in patients with chronicle obstructive pulmonary disease. It is easy to set up in the clinical setting and could be used to individualize pulmonary rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a prediction equation to set rehabilitation intensity for patients with severe to very severe chronicle obstructive pulmonary disease attending pulmonary rehabilitation, with the use of a simple, readily available field test. Therefore the investigators sought to determine, if it exists, a relationship between the plateau heart rate from the first and last 3 minutes of the 6-minute stepper test and the heart rate from the first ventilatory threshold from the cardiopulmonary exercise testing in order to individualize pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with severe to very severe chronicle obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic lung disease affecting an estimated 1 in 10 Canadians. Symptoms include persistent shortness of breath, cough and sputum production. The symptoms can be serious when people with COPD experience a flare of their disease and may lead to hospitalization or death. Improving other conditions that affect COPD control is one way to improve the health of people with COPD. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common breathing problem during sleep, and commonly co-exists with COPD. Although diagnosing and treating OSA is encouraged, it has not been highlighted in guidelines that recommend ideal COPD care. People with COPD and OSA have lower sleep quality and lower oxygen levels during sleep compared to people with OSA. Despite these differences, treatment of OSA in people with COPD is modeled after treatment of OSA in the general population, generally using treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) with the possible addition of oxygen through the CPAP machine. There are few studies looking at other types of treatment including noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in people with COPD and OSA. The majority of studies of NIV in COPD has been for people with other reasons to use NIV including acute respiratory failure or chronic hypercarbic respiratory failure and did not include people with risk factors for OSA or who had undergone overnight sleep studies. In Alberta, NIV is provided province wide for people who have both OSA who do not meet certain physiologic targets in their oxygen levels or breathing patterns after CPAP is applied on an overnight sleep study. NIV is provided preferentially to CPAP and oxygen, providing an opportunity to look at health outcomes when NIV is used instead of CPAP for the treatment of patients with COPD. Through this study, we will measure whether people with COPD and a sleep related breathing disorder such as OSA have fewer severe flares of COPD after starting CPAP or NIV. We will evaluate whether the number of Emergency Department visits, hospitalizations or deaths lowers after starting CPAP or NIV.

This study aims to use novel proton-based MRI techniques to assess lung function and structure in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and alpha-1-anti-trypsin deficiency (A1ATD). These novel MRI measures will be compared to matched contemporary clinical diagnostic tools, namely pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and computed tomography (CT) scans. MRI has the advantages of avoiding ionising radiation exposure (unlike CT scans) and can also provide regional measures of lung function (unlike PFTs which provide global measures of function). In addition, these MRI techniques do not require the use of any inhaled or injected contrast agents. Some patients enrolled in this study will be undergoing a lung volume reduction (LVR) procedure as part of their normal clinical care. LVR is an intervention for patients with severe lung disease and hyperinflation. It is a palliative therapy that helps to reduce lung hyperinflation through insertion of small valves in the airway or surgical removal of parts of the lung. This can lead to improvements in symptoms such as breathlessness and improve exercise tolerance due to better functioning of the lung. In this study, we will explore how lung MRI measures can be used to assess patients before and after an LVR intervention. This study will take place at the University of Nottingham in collaboration with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The study will last for 3 years and participants will be asked to attend a screening visit (lasting up to 1 hour) and either one or two study visits (each lasting up to 3 hours).

The current literature suggests that the mode of action of benralizumab is to deplete eosinophils through a mechanism of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. This direct cellular cytotoxicity may not explain all of the benralizumab effects. The investigators propose a set of studies to systematically examine the spectrum of effects of this drug on the immune system.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic disease of the lungs that affects more than 2.5 million Canadians. Patients with COPD experience episodes of lung attacks (or exacerbations). During these attacks, patients experience an intense increase in symptoms, such as breathlessness and cough. It is challenging to decide which patients should be put on treatments that would reduce the risk of such lung attacks. The digitization of health records in many clinics and hospitals means complex risk prediction algorithms can be used to predict the risk of lung attacks to enable personalized care. In this study, our team will implement a risk prediction tool (called ACCEPT) into the electronic health records in two teaching hospitals in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), Canada. A clinical study will be conducted to evaluate if the use of this tool results in patients with COPD receiving better care with better outcomes, and if they are more satisfied with the care they are receiving.

COPD patients often experience multiple symptoms (e.g. dyspnea, cough, and deteriorating quality of life) and have imposed a substantial economic and social burden on health care. The current proposal is to explore the information needs of COPD patients and to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a smartphone-based instant messaging self-management support program to improve the quality of life in patients with COPD.

Assess efficacy (as measured by annual rate of decline in FVC) and safety. The hypothesis is that nintedanib will be safe and effective therapy for patients with progressive fibrosing CMD-ILD over a period of 52 weeks. Test Article - Nintedanib 150 mg administered PO twice daily or matching placebo. A total of 160 patients meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either oral nintedanib 150 mg (n=80) or matching placebo (n=80) twice daily. A randomization scheme will be used that balances the group for potential confounders (proportion with PMF or small opacity-only PF-CMD_ILD and proportion of ever- or never-smokers). The dose of the study drug may be reduced to 100 mg twice daily or interrupted temporarily to manage adverse events (AEs).

Chronic and progressive dyspnea is the most characteristic symptom of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There are studies in the literature showing that electromyography activations of respiratory muscles increase in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that the severity of the perceived shortness of breath is associated with muscle activation. However, no study has been found comparing respiratory muscle activations during pursed lip breathing and normal breathing in the dyspnea reduction positions and supine position used in the treatment and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of different dyspnea reduction positions on respiratory muscle activations separately, to compare respiratory muscle activation during normal breathing, respiratory control and pursed lip breathing during these different positions, and to classify muscle activations according to the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Individuals with severe chronic pulmonary disease often life isolated with a high burden of symptoms. Nutritional risk and low quality of life are common, and both associated with increased societal cost and poor prognosis. COPD is a complex and progressive disease with changing clinical states that influences nutritional status and quality of life in different ways. The primary aim is to improve quality of life for individuals with severe COPD. 120 individuals are recruited from the outpatient clinic at Nordsjællands Hospital in Denmark to a randomized controlled trial with two parallel groups (intervention and control). The intervention will last for 3 months comprising four elements including nutritional plan, regular contact, informal caregiver/friendly reminder and a weight dairy. We expect that the intervention will improve quality of life, nutritional status and prognosis.

This study aims to answer the question whether daily oral vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk of respiratory or lung complications in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease. Respiratory problems are the leading causes of sickness and of death in sickle cell disease. The investigators hypothesize that daily oral vitamin D3, compared to monthly oral vitamin D, will rapidly increase circulating vitamin D3, and reduce the rate of respiratory complications by 50% or more within the first year of supplementation in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease. This study is funded by the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD).