Active clinical trials for "Pneumonia"

Objective: To compare the clinical effectiveness and hospital costs, the initial empirical treatment, Oxacillin / Ceftriaxone and Amoxicillin / Clavulanate in children with Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) severe. Methods: Clinical prospective randomized study in children aged two months to five years of age with a diagnosis of severe CAP, according to criteria of World Health Organization (WHO), admitted to the Pediatrics Ward of the Hospital of the Medical School of Botucatu- UNESP. We excluded children with comorbid disorders (primary and secondary immunodeficiency) with acute or chronic kidney disease, referred patients receiving antibiotics proposal and history of allergy to antibiotics proposed. We included 104 children who were randomized into two groups to receive: Oxacillin / Ceftriaxone IV (GCO, n = 48) and Amoxicillin / Clavulanate IV (GAA, n = 56). Patients of the GAA, after clinical improvement, has been receiving the same oral antibiotic, and maintaining clinical stability, were discharged from hospital, the GOC received any IV treatment. The outcomes analyzed were time to clinical improvement (fever and tachypnea), duration of oxygen therapy, hospitalization time, need to expand the antimicrobial spectrum progression to pleural effusion / empyema (DP / E) and hospital costs. Treatment failure was determined by the need to expand the antimicrobial spectrum after 48 hours of hospitalization.

Study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of oral CEM-101 compared to oral Levofloxacin in the treatment of adults with moderate to moderately severe community-acquired bacterial pneumonia.

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of glucocorticoids as an adjuvant therapy in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) (Fine V). The hypothesis of the study is that glucocorticoids can modulate the excessive inflammatory response in patients with severe CAP without any significant side effects, showing a benefit in the percentage of non-response to the empiric antimicrobial treatment.

This Phase IIB proof-of-concept study would examine the effects of an investigational product called N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on the basic processes that cause inflammation in CF lung disease. We hope to learn more about the causes of lung disease in cystic fibrosis by studying the characteristics of the inflammation in the lungs of patients who have CF.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination treatment of tacrolimus and corticosteroid in polymyositis/dermatomyositis patients with interstitial pneumonitis with comparison against corticosteroid-treated historical controls.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is a common form of support for patients admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of industrialized countries with respiratory distress (1). Nasal CPAP (NCPAP) is effective in correcting hypoxemia and contributes to reducing the number of children requiring endo-tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation (2). CPAP is most frequently delivered to neonates using conventional mechanical ventilators, and thus there is minimal or no cost saving. There are other ways of delivering CPAP, such as Bubble-CPAP, which requires a source of gas flow (typically 6-8 L/ minute in a neonate), an air-oxygen blender, a humidifier and a T-piece.(3). The expiratory arm is inserted in a bottle of water and the level of CPAP delivered is equivalent to the length of the expiratory tubing that remains under water. Robust equipment is now available at a fraction of the cost of mechanical ventilators. Bubble-CPAP has potential advantages over the mechanical ventilation, such as lower cost, ease of application by nursing staff, lower risk of complications, and has been proposed as an inexpensive method of delivering CPAP in developing countries (3). High flow air/oxygen mix is useful in reducing the indication of mechanical ventilation (4); however, there is a lack of randomized studies comparing it with bubble CPAP or with standard flow O2 supplementation by nasal prongs. High flow air/oxygen mix uses flows of 2 litre per kg per minute of blended air/oxygen mix, usually with a low fraction of inspired oxygen (say 25-40%). It is easy to apply, but requires additional equipment to standard oxygen therapy, and closer monitoring. "High flow" delivers uncertain levels of CPAP, so it is not clearly superior to bubble-CPAP, and there have been no controlled comparative trials of these two techniques. Pneumonia and malnutrition are two of the most common co-morbidities in children in developing countries (5). In hospitals in resource-poor settings, children with severe malnutrition and pneumonia often present with respiratory distress with or without severe hypoxaemia and impending respiratory failure (6). They initially receive O2 supplementation through nasal prong or face mask. Support from bubble CPAP might help to effectively treat hypoxaemia, improve respiratory function, avoid the need for mechanical ventilation and its complications, and reduce mortality. Almost half of the patients admitted in the intensive care unit of the Dhaka hospital of ICDDR,B present with hypoxaemia, many with impending respiratory failure. Children with pneumonia also invariably have severe malnutrition with or without diarrhoea (Chisti MJ, MMed thesis, unpublished data). They often need mechanical ventilation, with attendant costs, complications and high mortality rates. However, no published data are available about the use of bubble-CPAP in children with pneumonia and malnutrition and there have been no controlled trials of CPAP in developing countries. The Hypothesis is: In children with severe pneumonia and hypoxaemia the probability of treatment failure (see definition below) will be significantly lower when respiratory support is initially provided by bubble-CPAP or high-flow, humidified air/O2 mix by nasal prongs, compared to standard oxygen flow.

The goal of the study is to determine whether providing early treatment with a glucocorticoid drug, called methylprednisolone, will improve survival in critically ill patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Pneumonia develops when bacteria and other agents invade the lungs. The body's immune system creates a response to produce inflammation to kill the bacteria. A moderate amount of inflammation is beneficial. But, in patients sick enough to be admitted to the ICU, inflammation is frequently out of control. When the body cannot regulate inflammation vital organs (brain, heart, lung, kidney, liver) may be damaged, contributing to death or residual organ damage for those who survive. Glucocorticoids help reduce inflammation. Recent studies have shown that when the body is unable to produce sufficient amounts of glucocorticoids, inflammation can get out of control. Under these circumstances, glucocorticoids given in small doses may help aid the body's ability to reduce inflammation and improve recovery. In a small preliminary trial, glucocorticoid treatment, in addition to standard antibiotic treatment, sped up recovery from pneumonia. It also decreased the length of hospital stay, and increased survival. This Cooperative Studies Program (CSP) study will be the first large-scale, prospective, randomized clinical trial evaluating whether or not this treatment improves recovery. In this study, at each site, patients with severe CAP will be assigned to one of two treatment groups. One group will receive methylprednisolone and the other will receive a placebo (an inert substance that will look like the drug). The investigators have chosen a total duration of treatment of 20 days (7 days full dose followed by slow reduction over 13 days) to prevent relapse of inflammation and allow the body to recover its own ability to produce glucocorticoid. All patients will also receive standardized management of CAP in accordance with current practice guidelines. The study will take into consideration when assigning the treatment each participating site, and whether or not the patient requires mechanical ventilation at the time of assignment. Patients will be followed clinically for 180 days. The primary outcome is all cause 60-day mortality. Secondary outcomes are (1) in-hospital morbidity-mortality, including ventilator-free days, multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS)-free days, duration of ICU and hospital stay, and hospital discharge; and (2) posthospital discharge morbidity-mortality, including cardiovascular complications, functional and general health status in the first 180 days, rehospitalization, and mortality at 1 year. Serial blood samples will also be collected and stored for future translational research relating longitudinal inflammation markers to clinical outcomes. This study will advance knowledge on the relationship between inflammation and long-term outcome in severe CAP.

The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of CPAP application by a helmet and O2 administration by a Venturi mask in terms of achievement of criteria for endotracheal intubation during severe acute respiratory failure caused by pneumonia

Over a period of years there have been numerous reports from many developing countries including Pakistan showing a rising treatment failure rate with first line drugs (amoxicillin and cotrimoxazole) in non-severe pneumonia in children. The reasons for this rise in treatment failure rates are not entirely clear but one of the reasons is thought to be increasing antimicrobial resistance of H. influenzae and Strep. pneumoniae to first line drugs. There is microbiological data which suggests that this resistance can be overcome by increasing the dose of amoxicillin. The investigators propose to treat non-severe pneumonia with double dose amoxicillin in an attempt to demonstrate a decrease in treatment failure rates. This will be a multicentre, double blind randomized controlled trial in children 2-59 months of age with non-severe pneumonia comparing the clinical outcome between the standard and double dose groups. It has been felt that the WHO criteria for treatment failure in children with pneumonia are too stringent and have never been systematically evaluated in the community. The investigators also propose to modify WHO criteria and field test them in this trial in an attempt to demonstrate that less stringent treatment failure criteria would have an impact on the overall treatment failure rates in pneumonia. Hypothesis: Therapy outcome with double dose of oral amoxicillin is not different than the standard dose of amoxicillin, when used for three days for the treatment of non-severe pneumonia in 2-59 months old children.

This study will investigate the safety and efficacy of ertapenem versus ceftriaxone in pediatric patients with urinary tract infections, skin infections, or community-acquired pneumonia.