View clinical trials related to Critical Illness.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to test if a 6-week programme of exercise improves physical function and health related quality of life in patients following intensive care who are discharged from hospital. In this study the investigators will compare the physical function and health related quality of life of patients who attend the programme with patients who do not. The 6 week exercise programme will be run by physiotherapy staff, and will mostly take place in a hospital gym. The investigators will measure patients' physical function, exercise capacity, level of breathlessness and their quality of life before and after the 6-week programme, and 6 months later. The investigators will also interview patients to ask their views about the acceptability, enjoyment and satisfaction with the exercise programme. If this study shows that the physical function and health related quality of life are improved in those who took part in the exercise programme, then it will provide useful information which will help the development of services for patients after critical illness. The results will also provide information which will help us design future clinical trials for this patient population.
Introduction: Protein loss during critical illness is an important problem and is shown to predict overall survival. In animal studies, infusion of leucine is shown to increase the synthesis of muscle protein by 30-40% and decrease protein degradation by 30%. Objectives: Compared to saline, an amino acid or 3hydroxybutyrate infusion in the femoral artery will promote protein synthesis and inhibit breakdown assessed with local a/v phenylalanine and tyrosine tracer kinetics in healthy volunteers. These effects will include distinct alterations in muscle signal events, in particular mTOR. Methods: n = 10 healthy male subjects are equipped with catheters in aa. femorals and vv. femorals bilaterally under local anaesthetics. Each study comprises a 3-hour basal period and a 3-hour period with hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp. During the test, samples of arterial and venous blood and 4 muscle biopsies are obtained. The intervention contain continues saline infusion compared to either amino acids (Vamin) or 3hydroxybutyrate solution FFa-3OHB. Perspectives: This study elucidates the direct effect of aminoacids and ketone bodies on muscle protein metabolism in humans and contribute to further development of nutritional therapy in human catabolic states.
The purpose of this study is to compare the accuracy and precision of two non-invasive methods of measuring cardiac output in critically ill children (<18 yrs). The participants will include any patient admitted to Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) requiring a trans-thoracic ECHO (TTE) as part of their treatment plan. Measurements of intermittent cardiac output will be obtained and compared on participants using standard 2-D TTE and Ultrasound Cardiac Output Monitor (USCOM).
The aim of the study is to verify the effect of HAART in critically ill HIV infected patients. The current practice is to begin antiviral therapy after ICU discharge, when the condition of the patient is more stable. The investigators hypothesis is that the investigators can improve outcome of these patients with earlier antiviral therapy in the ICU. The investigators just have retrospective studies in this scenario. After admission to ICU, patients are assigned to one of two arms: early HAART (within 5 days of ICU admission) or conventional therapy (initiation of HAART after ICU discharge). The following data will be collected: demographic variables, CD4 count, viral load, drug toxicity, opportunistic infection, hemodialysis, mechanical ventilation and vasoactive drug. The patients will be followed to determine ICU mortality, hospital mortality and 6-month mortality.
There is increasing awareness that high-quality care in the intensive care unit also includes care of visiting family members according to their needs. The investigators therefore want to assess family satisfaction using a questionnaire that was specially developed for this setting and recently validated for German-speaking participants.
The purpose of this pilot study is to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerance profile of the enteral feeding product VITAL AF (a semi-elemental, high protein, and high omega-3 fish oil) when compared to Osmolite 1.2, a standard feeding product in critically ill and/or post surgical patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). If enough patients are recruited, inferences about impact on outcomes may also be drawn.
The purpose of this study is to find out whether adult patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with septic shock who are given hydrocortisone compared to placebo (a dummy solution), will have an improved rate of survival 90 days later. Septic shock is the result of an infection, which triggers a complex response by the body (the inflammatory response) that causes a decrease in blood pressure and subsequently one or more organ systems to fail when blood supply to these organs is reduced. This may result in poor recovery and death. About a quarter of the people who suffer septic shock that is not rapidly reversed, will die. When patients are admitted to Intensive Care with sepsis and/or septic shock they receive a number of therapies. These include fluids given through a drip, antibiotics, drugs to boost your blood pressure and other organ systems. In addition to these therapies, steroids (hydrocortisone) are sometimes administered. Whether steroids are useful or not in the treatment of severe infections has been studied for more than 50 years. Previous research has suggested that the use of low dose steroid may have shortterm benefits in improving the circulation. However, there is no agreement amongst doctors around the world about whether treatment with or without low dose steroids improves the overall recovery and survival in patients with septic shock. This study would allow doctors to make informed decisions about whether the addition of low dose steroid therapy is better for patients with septic shock in intensive care. The study will include 3800 intensive care patients who have septic shock. Each enrolled patient will be randomised to receive either Hydrocortisone 200mg or placebo daily for 7 days as a continuous intravenous infusion while in intensive care. The patient will be followed for 90 days. If the patient is discharged prior to 90 days a telephone call will be made for the followup information. At six months the patient will be contacted again for completion of a quality of life questionnaire.
Hypotension and bradycardia are often observed following induction of dexmedetomidine or propofol sedation.Cardiac preload decrease by sedative agents was often considered as one of main causes for this hypotension.The investigators hypothesized that hypotension after induction of sedation is caused by decrease of preload by sedative agents,and passive leg raising (PLR)test could predict this event.Dexmedetomidine or propofol infusion in patients with circulatory failure decrease cardiac preload and enhance preload-dependency and fluid responsiveness.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the pro-oxidant toxicity of iron injections in critically ill patients and in healthy volunteers. The investigators hypothesize that the inflammatory state of critically ill patients will reduce the oxydative stress induced by iron injections, compared to the one induced in healthy volunteers. It will be an open "proof-of-concept" study aimed at evaluating iron toxicity in critically ill patients (n=40) as compared to healthy volunteers (n=40). The investigators will compare the oxidative stress (principal judgment criteria= 8-iso-PGF2α) following a 100 mg injection of iron (at T0, T2, T6 and T24 hours post injection) in both groups and the investigators will compare the effect of repeated injections in the critically ill patients.
Epidural analgesia (EA) has been mainly investigated during the perioperative period. In the intensive care unit settings, EA should be proposed in critically ill patients, such as postoperative or trauma patients, typically. Recent findings also support anti-inflammatory, vascular or respiratory effects for EA, beyond its analgesic effects. However, data on EA safety and feasibility in the intensive care unit settings are still lacking. The purpose of this observational prospective study is to describe the safety and feasibility of this analgesia technique in ICU patients.