Active clinical trials for "Sepsis"

The investigators aim to examine how the skeletal muscles of the human volunteers respond to experimental septic conditions to aid understanding of muscle wasting and its biology.. Six healthy men aged 18-30 will be randomly assigned to two metabolic study visits. On the first visit, while resting on a bed, they will have four cannulae inserted including one in the upper thigh, for blood sampling and the infusion of insulin, glucose and normal and tracer amino acids (which allow us to measure muscle protein metabolism). Subjects will receive either injection of purified bacterial product called lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce flu-like symptoms or normal saline according to randomization followed by a metabolic test to stimulate muscle synthesis and glucose transport. Three small samples of muscle will be obtained under local anaesthetic from the thigh to measure molecular events in muscle. By performing these measurements, the investigators will determine the consequences of LPS on muscle production and carbohydrate metabolism.

The care of patients with sepsis and trauma requires the delivery of appropriate definitive care in the early stages of the illness. Hospitals with limited resources, those in rural and underserved areas of South Carolina, may be unable to consistently provide optimal care to these patients. In addition, the shortage of specialists nationally makes it more difficult for these hospitals to recruit and retain the specialists needed. Patients in these areas continue to pay the rural penalty of poorer outcomes. This study provides specialists' level care through telemedicine consults to rural emergency departments in rural areas of SC to improve outcomes for these patients. The CREST study is a project that specifically addresses the need to bring health care to rural communities in SC, as well as evaluates methods and tests technology to implement this care in rural communities. The CREST study uses telemedicine remotely from MUSC to rural community hospitals to provide rural community physicians care from specialists for trauma and sepsis, which are both high acuity, difficult to treat conditions. CREST is a multi-site trial of telemedicine services to meet rural patients' and providers' need for expert evaluation and management of sepsis and trauma. The specific aims of CREST are: To test the hypothesis that a telemedicine program including education and clinical consultation between a tertiary care academic medical center and rural, local hospitals will significantly improve key treatment decisions and outcome measures in sepsis and trauma. To test the hypothesis that the differences in ISS and time to antibiotics for trauma and sepsis patients exposed to telemedicine intervention and those without the intervention matched on propensity scores are not due to unmeasured confounders. CREST seeks new solutions to rural health disparities, to advance technology, create and retain jobs and address important research opportunities by combining implementation of a novel, trans disciplinary clinical program with rigorous, mixed methods scientific evaluation including clinical, process, and economic outcome measures. The impact on both science and quality healthcare outcomes is broad and CREST has far reaching implications for addressing rural health disparities for acute, life-threatening illnesses.

Major microvascular blood flow alterations have been documented in patients with severe sepsis. It was also demonstrated that the microcirculation improved in survivors of septic shock but failed to do so in patients dying from acute circulatory failure or with multiple organ failure after shock resolution. Early, effective fluid resuscitation is a key component in the management of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock with the goal of improving tissue perfusion. The best fluid in this early resuscitation phase has been and still is under debate. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of Three different Fluids(Albumin 5%, Normal Saline, HES 130 kD) on microcirculation in severe sepsis/septic shock patients using Sidestream Dark Field (SDF) Microscopy and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) analysis.

The investigators enrolled 144 subjects admitted to ICUs: 60 patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and 84 patients with sepsis. Tests for serum sTREM-1, PCT, and CRP levels and blood culture were performed on the day of admission and with the occurrence of FUO (>38.3ºC) during hospitalization. Based on the results of blood culture, the subjects were divided into bacteremia (33 patients) and non-bacteremia groups (51 patients). Based on 28-day survival, bacteremia patients were also divided into survivor (22 patients) and non-survivor groups (11 patients). Serum sTREM-1 and PCT levels were summarized as medians (interquartile ranges) and CRP levels were presented as means ± standard deviations. To explore the early diagnostic value of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (sTREM-1), procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) serum levels for identification of sepsis and bacteremia and the prognosis among patients with a fever of unknown origin (FUO) in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to discuss the clinical application of the results.

Patients with severe sepsis or septic shock suffer from life-threatening infections. Fast and adequate therapy with antibiotics is crucial for survival. Current guidelines recommend the application of broad-spectrum antibiotics within 1 hour after diagnosis. However, recent studies showed that such treatment is delayed for several hours. In this study, medical staff of participating hospitals is trained to achieve a duration until antimicrobial therapy of less than 1 hour. Tools of change management are used. The data are compared to a control group (hospitals without intervention). It is hypothesized that a multifaceted educational program decreases duration until antimicrobial therapy and improves survival.

There are no clear markers to identify sepsis and acute lung injury at early stage in clinical settings which would result in improved survival of the patients. In collaboration with the research team led by Dr. Zhang at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, we have initiated a pilot study looking for biological markers to detect severe sepsis and ARDS. We have found that human neutrophils peptides (a-defensins), certain coagulation variables and cytokine levels are very sensitive markers to differentiate severe sepsis, ARDS from cardiovascular diseases in ICU patients. These findings may provide valuable information for therapeutic guideline in clinical practice. The present study will focus on testing 'biological markers' to identify patients with sepsis and acute lung injury. We will examine the roles of three components of markers including inflammation, neutrophil activation and coagulation. We are hoping that this proposed translational research will help develop novel therapeutic strategy in sepsis and acute lung injury patients.

MicroRNA has been demonstrated to play a crucial role in regulating cell processes. Recently, microRNA was identified to exist in human serum or plasma, and it might be related to certain diseases. Several microRNAs are involved in sepsis, such as miR-146, miR-155, and so on. But whether serum miR-146 is present in serum of septic patients remains unknown. The present study was designed to identify the existence of specific microRNAs, which might be new markers for sepsis and its prognosis.

Patients with alcohol use disorders are often cared for in the intensive care unit (ICU). We estimate that close to half of the patients we care for in our ICU have alcohol use disorders. One of the reasons that patients with alcohol use disorders are frequently cared for in our ICU is because patients with alcohol use disorders are at higher risk of developing infections. The medical term for infections is sepsis. When an infection develops, patients with alcohol use disorders tend to get more severely ill compared to patients who do not have alcohol use disorders. Patients with alcohol use disorders are also at higher risk of dying when they develop severe infections. The purpose of this study is to determine why patients with alcohol use disorders become more severely ill when they develop infections. There are a number of reasons why this is possible. One reason is that a hormone called cortisol is higher in individuals with alcohol use disorders (who do not have infections). This hormone is also higher in patients who are at increased risk of dying from severe infections. One of the aims of this study is to see if cortisol levels are higher in patients with alcohol use disorders compared to those who do not have alcohol use disorders. Another reason why patients with alcohol use disorders are at increased risk of developing infections is because their immune system is not functioning properly. A second aim of this study is to see if certain markers of immune function are different in patients with alcohol use disorders compared to patients without alcohol use disorders. Patients with alcohol use disorders are also more likely to become confused when they are in the ICU. This condition is called delirium. Delirium is marked by abrupt onset of altered level of consciousness, disorganized thinking, and inattention that changes over time. Delirium tremens is one form of delirium. About 80% of our ICU patients develop delirium, and many patients who do not have alcohol use disorders develop the disorder as well. Patients with alcohol use disorders who have high cortisol levels have a higher chance of developing delirium compared to patients with normal cortisol levels. A third aim of this study is to examine the relationship between delirium and cortisol in both patients with and without alcohol use disorders.

The purpose of this study is to determine if levels of ischemia modified albumin (IMA) in blood are elevated in patients with suspected infection and are predictive of severity of illness in patients with sepsis. In order to compare subjects with infection to those without infection who are representative of the ED population at each site, a group of non-infected control patients will be enrolled. Each hospital will enroll subjects with age (by decade) and sex matched controls to reflect the population of subjects suspected of infection.

The purpose of this pilot study is to (1) examine the changes in gene expression in patients who suffer from severe sepsis and whose shock (inadequate oxygen delivery to vital organs) state does not respond to fluid and vasopressor administration, (2) to show that our sampling method of isolating RNA provides reliable and consistent data, (3) provide a basis for future gene expression studies in critically ill patients