Active clinical trials for "Sepsis"

Adverse events are frequent in Neonatal Intensive Care Units' (NICU) patients and account for a high morbidity and mortality. Possible severe adverse events are central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), ventilator and catheter associated adverse events and medication errors. Severity of the patient's outcome after an adverse event can be classified using the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Preventing (NCC MERP) Index for categorizing medication errors. The study will test the hypothesis that rates of adverse events in NICU patients will be reduced by the implementation of an educational program for the NICU caregivers (nurses and physicians), consisting of strategies for recognizing and preventing adverse events in their unit. These strategies will be oriented to prevent CLABSI, medication errors, skin and nasal complications and ventilator and catheter-associated adverse events. This trial has a stepped wedge cluster design, in which the NICUs from 12 hospitals in France will be randomized to the timing of implementation of the educational program. In order to describe the adverse events occurring during the study period, an anonymous voluntary adverse event reporting system will be provided to the caregivers of the participating units. A nested study will examine how caregivers communicate with the patients' parents in case of adverse event (disclosure or not, and caregivers' reasons). The rates of adverse events will be measured retrospectively using a neonatal NICU trigger tool.

The administration of fluids intravenously is the first step in the stabilization of patients in septic shock. It is important to give the right dose of fluids, enough to improve the function of the cardiovascular system but not too much to drown the cells in water. In order to know that, the investigators use the "fluid challenge" which is the administration of a "small amount" of fluid in a short period of time in order to test the cardiovascular response to a dose of fluids. However, it is unclear how "small" this amount can be. The aim of this study is to find out the minimum volume required to perform an effective "fluid challenge". The investigators hypothesize that the changes in the mean pressure in the cardiovascular system (socalled mean systemic filling pressure or Pmsf) during the administration of small amounts of fluid can be used to detect the minimum volume required to effectively test the cardiovascular system with a fluid challenge. On the other hand, microcirculation may remain impaired despite the stabilization of the macrocirculation. The microcirculation can be much more dynamic than the macrocriculation, so it is essential to observe the changes of both over time. Patients admitted at the investigators' intensive care unit (ICU) due to sepsis can be included in this study. The sample will be divided in 4 groups according to the volume of the fluid challenge: 2 ml/kg, 3 ml/kg, 4ml/Kg and 5 ml/kg. The investigators will measure the Pmsf non-invasively using a pneumatic tourniquet inflated during one minute. Invasive arterial blood pressure will be observed during the inflation of the cuff in the arm to determine the Pmsf. The least significant change of Pmsf using this method is 14%. The minimal volume will be that one that achieve that change in Pmsf.

Background Sepsis is a common disease leading to high morbidity and mortality. Gut microbiota and/or gut permeability may play a crucial role in the development of organ dysfunction. Hypothesis The ingestion of a multispecies probiotic in early sepsis is able to modulate gut microbiota and/or gut permeability.

Majority of healthcare authorities believe that due to the methodological weakness and small number of patients in conducted therapeutic trials, the evidences are insufficient to support the efficacy of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) in prevention of preterm neonatal sepsis. The objective of this research is to determine the effect of intravenous immunoglobulin in prevention of preterm neonatal sepsis.

A diagnostic devise, namely HemoSpec, had been developed that integrates clinical information, along with information on circulating protein biomarkers and the morphology of white blood cells to achieve early diagnosis of sepsis. The current study is aiming to validate and improve performance of HemoSpec for the rapid assessment of the critically ill patient.

Though maternal and neonatal health are high priority areas for international development, maternal and neonatal mortality remain unacceptably high. Worldwide there are 1 million maternal and 4 million neonatal deaths every year and half of them occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Post-partum and neonatal severe bacterial infections, namely sepsis, are leading causes of maternal and neonatal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. Newborns can be infected during labour - when passing through the birth canal - and also during the first days/weeks of life, as a consequence of the close physical contact with the mother, when the latter carriers bacteria. As the mother is an important source of bacterial transmission to the newborn, treating mothers with antibiotics during labour should decrease their bacterial carriage and therefore lower transmission to the newborn. As carriage is a necessary step towards severe disease, this intervention should in turn result in the lower occurrence of severe bacterial disease and mortality during the neonatal period. In many high-income countries, pregnant women are screened during pregnancy for vaginal carriage of Group B Streptococcus, the bacteria responsible for the vast majority of neonatal sepsis in the developed world. If women are carriers, they are treated with intravenous antibiotics during labour to decrease the risk of severe disease to their off-spring. Although this intervention has been successful in developed countries, infrastructure and resource limitations in regions like sub-Saharan Africa prevent both screening and use of intravenous antibiotics. Also, in Africa several bacterial pathogens are responsible for neonatal sepsis and the antibiotics needed in the continent should cover a wider number of bacteria; and ideally cover also bacteria responsible for severe post-partum disease in the mother. We will conduct a large trial in West Africa, The Gambia and Burkina Faso, with the main objective of determining if a single dose of an oral antibiotic given to women during labour decreases newborn mortality. The trial will also assess the effect of the antibiotic on lowering newborns and maternal hospitalization during the first week's post-partum. We have selected an antibiotic (azithromycin) that in sub-Saharan Africa has already been used for elimination of other prevalent diseases such as trachoma. This antibiotic is safe, requires a single oral administration, has no special storage requirements and has the potential to eliminate most of the bacteria commonly causing severe disease in newborns and post-partum women in the continent. Very important this antibiotic is not widely used in clinical care in the continent, and therefore, any temporal increase of resistance induced by the intervention should not have implications on current treatment guidelines. Before going to the large trial proposed here (12,000 women to be recruited), we have generated robust preliminary data on the effect of the intervention in a proof-of-concept trial conducted in The Gambia (829 women and their offspring recruited). We found that in fact, babies born from mothers who had taken this antibiotic during labour were less likely to carry bacteria that can potentially cause severe disease. These babies were also three times less likely to have bacterial skin infections or umbilical infections, both highly common among African newborns. Besides, fever or mastitis (again both very common in the region) during the post-partum period were four times lower among mothers who had taken the antibiotic during labour. Such trial confirmed our hypothesis of impact on bacterial transmission but it was too small to assess the effect of the antibiotic on mortality and hospitalizations. The preliminary trial also showed that women from the azithromycin group were less likely to need antibiotics for treatment infections during the puerperal period, decreasing then the pressure on the scarcity of antibiotics available in the continent. The advantages of our approach are its simplicity, low cost and the possibility of protecting both mothers and babies with the same intervention.

Sepsis is life-threatening and dysregulated response to infection that results in endothelial activation and dysfunction that leads to systemic microvascular leak and multiple-organ failure. This study will identify patients that have sepsis with thrombocytopenia and randomize them to receive a unit of platelets or an equivalent volume of saline.

This feasibility study serves to determine if it is possible to perform a powered randomized control trial of high-dose intravenous vitamin C (ascorbic acid) as an adjunctive medication in the management of sepsis and septic shock in Rwanda. Further data will be collected including Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, Universal Vital Assessment (UVA) score, duration of vasopressors, mortality and other key indicators to possibly determine the impact of vitamin C on organ failure and clinical course. A total of 24 patients with a diagnosis of sepsis or septic shock will be recruited after obtaining informed consent at the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) and will be randomized in a 1:1 fashion to receive drug or placebo. Both treatment arms will receive standard treatment (intravenous fluids, antibiotics, vasopressors as needed, etc.) in addition to study drug or placebo. During the course of the study, any difficulties encountered will be recorded and will inform process improvements for a full randomized control, if it is indeed considered possible to perform the definitive trial.

Screening for sepsis has been recommended by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Clinical Practice Guidelines to facilitate early identification and early management of sepsis. However, the optimal tool remains unknown.The objective of this trial is to examine the effect of an electronic sepsis alert tool on reducing hospital mortailty in patients admitted to medical-surgical-oncology wards.

Ventilated ICU patients frequently have sepsis and the majority have delirium, a form of brain dysfunction that is an independent predictor of increased risk of dying, length of stay, costs, and prolonged cognitive impairment in survivors. Universally prescribed sedative medications-the GABA-ergic benzodiazepines-worsen this brain organ dysfunction. The available alternative sedation regimens, the shorter acting GABA-ergic propofol, and the alpha2 agonist, dexmedetomidine, have both been shown to be superior to benzodiazepines, and yet are different with regard to their effects on innate immunity, bacterial clearance, apoptosis, cognition and delirium. The MENDS2 study will compare propofol and dexmedetomidine, and determine the best sedative medication to reduce delirium and improve survival and long-term brain function in our most vulnerable patients- the ventilated septic patient.