Active clinical trials for "Dyspnea"

Difficulty in breathing or increased rate of breathing are common causes of admission to intensive care unit. This may be due to heart failure, or other causes such as infection in the lungs. Treating doctors usually perform Chest X-ray, ECG, and other tests to know if breathlessness is due to heart failure or other cause. Doctors also give medicines to treat heart failure, or other conditions of the lungs based on the symptoms and investigation results. BNP is released by heart which is not functioning well. However BNP levels are also high in case of severe infection.Hence there is equipoise in utility of BNP measurements among critically ill patients, and it is not a current standard of care. The current cost of this test (about 1000 rupees per measurement) is high, and hence its utility needs to be carefully examined before a widespread use. The investigators intend to test the hypothesize that that on-admission BNP measurements, help clinicians identify CHF early, which may modify therapeutic decisions, and improve outcomes. The current study is designed with an objective to determine if on-admission BNP value and availability of its test results to treating physicians will reduce in-hospital, and 30-day mortality and in-hospital morbidity.

Establishing new biochemical markers in the differential diagnostics and risk stratification in heterogeneous patient collectives is becoming more and more important. The markers should be objective, reliable, reproducible, quick and cost effective as well as specific and sensitive. Concerning the differential diagnostics of "dyspnea", NT-pro-BNP plays the most important role for the evaluation of a cardiac origin. However, a corresponding biochemical marker for pulmonary stress is lacking. The aim of the study at hand therefore was the evaluation of surfactant protein B in the differential diagnostics of pulmonary and cardiac diseases.

The purpose of the study is to describe patient characteristics and drug usage among patients that are prescribed ticagrelor for the first time and to compare them with patients who are prescribed clopidogrel and prasugrel for the first time. A further purpose is to ascertain and estimate the crude incidence rate of bleeding, arrhythmias, heart failure, acute renal failure, acute liver failure, dyspnoea and gout among new users in the three cohorts of ticagrelor, clopidogrel and prasugrel.

Substance P is released from sensory nerves and transmits pain information into the central nervous system. As pain and dyspnea share many characteristics, including similar neurological pathways, it is possible that substance P may contribute to the sensation of dyspnea. The hypothesis of the study is that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will provide lower ratings of breathlessness during resistive load breathing with oral aprepitant, a medication that blocks the activity of substance P, compared with placebo.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new questionnaire to capture the patient experience of COPD. The information collected will be used to validate the Shortness of Breath with Daily Activities Questionnaire.

Primary Objectives Mid Region pro Adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) is superior to BNP for the prognosis of heart failure (HF) patients and adds incremental value in predicting outcomes for patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with shortness of breath. Mid Region pro A-Type Natriuretic Peptide (MR-proANP) is non-inferior to BNP for the diagnosis of HF in patients presenting to the ED with shortness of breath.

RATIONALE: Gathering information about experiences of episodic breathlessness in patients with advanced disease may help doctors learn more about the disease. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying experiences of episodic breathlessness in patients with lung cancer or other advanced disease.

Although there are numerous data demonstrating the impact of Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) on respiratory functions, there is a lack of studies investigating the effects of respiratory functions on parameters such as sleep quality, dyspnea, and fatigue. The primary objective of the study is to examine the influence of changes in respiratory muscle functions in ILD on sleep quality, dyspnea, and fatigue parameters. The secondary objective is to investigate the effects of respiratory muscle functions in ILD on parameters such as cough, pain, exercise capacity, peripheral muscle strength, anxiety, depression, and quality of life.

Pulmonary embolism, or clots blocking the blood vessels of the lungs, is a common clinical condition requiring treatment with blood thinners. In most patients, recovery is complete. A small proportion of patients, however, develop complications (high blood pressure in the lung circulation, i.e. pulmonary hypertension). Persisting breathlessness during activity is a common symptom in many of these patients and leads to a reduced ability to engage in daily physical activity. The reason for this activity-related breathlessness remains uncertain and is the main question of the proposed study. Using new sophisticated technology, the investigators will determine the root causes of perceived breathing difficulty. The investigators will test the idea that breathlessness is fundamentally the result of increased drive to breathe from control centers in the brain. The investigators will measure drive to breathe by measuring the electrical activity descending from the brain to the main muscle of breathing - the diaphragm. The investigators will discover if the increased drive to breathe is due to accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood as a result of poor blood perfusion of areas of the lung due to the effects of blockage by clots. The investigators also will investigate whether weakness and fatigue of the muscles of breathing, as a result of the high breathing demands that are present in patients with blood clots in the lungs, contribute to breathlessness. With this information it is hopeful that better treatment options will be developed to relieve this distressing symptom.

The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the effects of weight loss on the lungs in older adults. Different types of tests to understand the effects of the EMPOWER interventions on lung function will be administered.