Active clinical trials for "Sepsis"

The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety and efficacy of early administration of two different doses of dexamethasone in high risk septic patients.

Αim of ImmunoSep is to assess whether personalized adjunctive immunotherapy directed against a state of either fulminant hyper-inflammation or immunoparalysis is able to change sepsis outcomes. Patients will be selected by a panel of biomarkers and laboratory findings and will be allocated to placebo or immunotherapy treatment according to their needs.

Sepsis is a very important cause of death and morbidity in preterm infants. There are strong indications that preterm neonates with sepsis could benefit, next to antibiotics, from treatment with pentoxifylline (PTX). Knowledge about optimal dosing is however limited. This study is a dose optimization study using a step-up and step-down model. In order to find the optimal dose, the infusion of pentoxifylline in different dosages will be studied, next to antibiotics with 3 patients per dosage. After the dose optimization study an additional cohort of 10 patients will be treated with the found dosage as a validation of the dose.

Sepsis is life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. It is the most expensive healthcare condition to treat in United States and has a mortality rate of nearly 30%. It is widely known that exaggerated inflammation and imbalance between sympathetic and parasympathetic arms of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) contribute to progression and adverse outcomes in sepsis. The role of unchecked inflammation and unregulated ANS as a potential treatment target is an important gap in our knowledge that should be explored. Cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) is an intricate network where the ANS senses inflammation by vagus nerve afferents and tries to regulate it by vagus nerve efferents to the reticuloendothelial system. The central hypothesis of this pilot clinical trial is that transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (TVNS) at tragus of the external ear can activate the CAP to suppress inflammation and improve autonomic imbalance as measured by inflammatory cytokine levels and heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. The investigators plan to randomize patients with septic shock into active and sham stimulation groups and study the effects of vagal stimulation on inflammatory cytokines, HRV and a clinical severity score of sepsis. Both groups will continue to receive the standard of care treatment for sepsis irrespective of group assignments. The investigators hypothesize that 4 hours of TVNS will suppress inflammatory markers and improve the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic arms of ANS as measured by HRV, resulting in improved Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score (SOFA). The preliminary data generated from this pilot study will lay the foundation for a larger clinical trial.

The primary objective of this study is to compare 28 day mortality rates between septic shock patients with acute renal insufficiency treated via L-Carnitine (as an adjunct therapy) versus a similar group of patients not receiving L-Carnitine adjunct therapy.

This is a prospective randomized clinical study. The study will comprise the randomized decision to either A) primarily close the fascia after laparotomy for intra-abdominal infection (CLOSED); or B) leave the fascia open after laparotomy and apply a temporary abdominal closure (TAC) device (OPEN) with a vacuum drain. Although debatable, both procedures (CLOSED or OPEN abdomen) are acceptable based on current suggested standard of care. Thus, high quality data to direct clinical decision making in this highly lethal condition is urgently required.

Background: Electrical stimulation has been used in critical patients as an adjunct strategy of early rehabilitation. In septic or septic shock patients there are reports of only two studies in the literature, with conflicting results. Objective: To evaluate the effects of electrical stimulation in the prevention of muscle mass loss in patients admitted to the ICU with sepsis or septic shock. Methods: This is a randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trial. Thirty-six patients with a diagnosis of sepsis or septic shock (including patients with sepsis due to the new coronavirus - COVID-19) will be randomly assigned to experimental group and sham group. They will be evaluated in relation to muscle mass, peripheral muscle strength and functional status. They will also be submitted to the collection of inflammatory, metabolic, damage and muscular trophism markers. Expected results: Electrical stimulation is expected to be able to prevent loss of muscle mass in patients admitted to the ICU with sepsis or septic shock. In addition, it is expected to be able to preserve strength in this population without increasing the pro-inflammatory or metabolic response.

Briefly, this pilot clinical trial will evaluate preliminary safety and efficacy of the study drug (Smoflipid) at elevating cholesterol levels (primary outcome) in patients with sepsis and moderate organ dysfunction and will also evaluate measures of organ dysfunction, mortality, and biological activity (secondary outcomes).

Sepsis is a severe disease with a high mortality rate and lack of efficacious therapies. Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are drugs widely used to inhibit acid secretion by gastric cells and with a high safety profile. Carta and Rubartelli (IRCCS San Martino - Genova) have recently reported that PPI, such as esomeprazole, inhibit TNF-alfa and IL-1ß secretion. Moreover, they showed that a single administration of PPI protects mice from endotoxic shock with no adverse effects. PPI-SEPSIS is a randomized, double blind, controlled against placebo clinical trial to test if high-doses esomeprazole in septic patients reduces the severity of organs failure. In parallel, the investigators will evaluate ex vivo in monocytes from septic patients: redox state and response to inflammatory stimuli; ATP release; metabolic changes and pH; cytokine production; the effects of PPI on these parameters.

Data regarding optimal treatment for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae blood-stream infection are lacking. Observational studies show conflicting results when comparing treatment with combination beta-lactam-beta-lactamase inhibitor and carbapenems. The investigators aim to evaluate the effect of definitive treatment with meropenem vs. piperacillin-tazobactam on the outcome of patients with bacteremia due to cephalosporin-non-susceptible Enterobacteriaceae. The investigators hypothesize that piperacillin-tazobactam is non-inferior to meropenem.