Active clinical trials for "Status Asthmaticus"

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of oral montelukast (Singulair) given with other standard asthma medications and treatments in the treatment of children with status asthmaticus. Status asthmaticus is an acute asthma attack that does not respond to standard intermittent treatments but requires a continuous medication to aid in breathing. While new medications have been used to better manage chronic asthma, acute asthma exacerbations continue to be a significant cause of hospitalization and even death in children. Oral montelukast is a very safe medication that is used to manage chronic asthma in children, but it has not been studied for use in status asthmaticus. If oral montelukast, given with other standard therapies, can reduce the treatment length associated with severe, acute asthma exacerbations in children, it could potentially improve both the morbidity and burden of pediatric asthma.

Beta(2)-adrenergic receptor (BAR) agonists are the most important group of drugs used in the treatment of asthma. In children unresponsive to inhaled BAR agonist therapy, higher dose systemic BAR agonist therapy is frequently the next step in treatment. Despite the widespread use of intravenous BAR agonist therapy for pediatric status asthmaticus, there is controversy regarding the efficacy of this therapy. A number of studies have established that genetic variations of the BAR have important effects in modulating responses to BAR agonist therapy for asthma. In particular, changes in amino acid position 16 of the BAR gene are thought to be the most functionally important. Patients encoded for two glycine amino acids, rather than arginine, at this position appear to have more severe asthma and to respond differently to acute BAR agonist therapy. Our hypothesis is that genotypic differences may contribute to poor response to acute BAR agonist treatment. We propose to conduct a prospective observational study to determine the influence of a patient's BAR genotype on the response to acute BAR agonist therapy. Our specific hypothesis is that children with genetic polymorphisms of the gene encoding the BAR will have a decreased response to acute high-dose continuous BAR therapy (both inhaled and intravenous) compared to other children. Our primary outcome is ICU length of stay. Secondary outcomes are to assess the rate of improvement in clinical asthma score based on genotype, and to attempt to correlate asthma phenotype with genotype by comparing demographic data and hospital course.

Single center, open-label, non-randomized study to assess the pharmacokinetic profile of methylprednisolone in healthy children 2-20 years of age admitted for asthma exacerbation.

Research has shown that pleth variability can be used to assess asthma severity in children with status asthmaticus. The investigators would like to use an FDA-cleared monitor (Masimo Radical 7) which measures Pleth Variability Index (PVI) to see if the degree of PVI can be used to help triage patients who present to the pediatric ED in status asthmaticus.

This study will prospectively assess the impact and relevance of several risk factors for children with severe acute asthma (SAA) or acute wheeze that have been identified in retrospective studies. Secondary we will assess short-term medical and psychosocial functioning in patient (and parents) admitted to a PICU for SAA/acute wheeze versus a control group admitted to a MC for SAA/acute wheeze.

Terbutaline is a medication that is used to treat serious asthma attacks (status asthmaticus). The purpose of this study is to determine if terbutaline is effective and safe when given as a continuous intravenous infusion to children ages 2 years to 18 years of age. Children participating in this study are inpatients in the Intensive Care Unit with a diagnosis of status asthmaticus and are receiving terbutaline as part of their routine care. Blood samples and physiological assessments will be used to determine how the body is using terbutaline and how well it is working.