View clinical trials related to Critical Illness.
Filter by:Intensive care patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome often show renal failure with the need for hemofiltration. Resolving renal failure after cessation of hemofiltration may or may not be accompanied by oliguria. Whether or not the administration of diuretics at that moment is appropriate is not known. The study randomises between furosemide or placebo when hemofiltration is stopped. Study endpoint is recovery of renal function.
There is a growing body of evidence in the literature regarding the adverse effects of hyperglycemia in critically ill patients. To target and maintain better blood glucose regulation we implemented an insulin protocol with target blood glucose levels between 81-110 mg/dL.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a jugular route leads to a lower rate of complications as compared with a femoral route for catheterization in patients admitted in several intensive care units in France who develop acute renal failure requiring hemodiafiltration or hemodialysis.
The investigators aim to compare the respiratory mechanics in acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory diseases syndrome (ARDS) patients with and without pleural effusion.
To assess the effect of addition of probiotic Lactobacilli to standard enteral feeding on infection rates and feeding efficacy in critically ill patients. The study hypothesis is that critically ill patients who receive the addition of probiotic lactobacilli to the enteral feed will lead to a reduced rate of hospital acquired infections. The null hypothesis is that there will be no significant difference in the rate of hospital acquired infection in critically ill patients who receive enteral feeding with or without the addition of probiotic Lactobacilli.
The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of different feeding solutions on patients with breathing difficulty being supported by a breathing machine. The aim of the study is to determine if high fat-low carbohydrate feeding reduces the carbon dioxide production in patients with respiratory failure.
The purpose of this study is to determine if naso-jejunal feeding (feeding beyond the stomach) improves the efficacy of enteral feeding (feeding into the gut) in critically ill patients. The study hypothesis is that in patients who fail to establish enteral feeding via the nasogastric route, introduction of nasojejunal feeding will lead to more effective enteral feeding than the current regime involving staged introduction of promotility agents.
Critically ill babies less than 1 month of age have deficient amounts of the antioxidant glutathione and a high incidence of disease associated with oxidative injury compared to healthy babies. These diseases include but are not limited to damage to the eyes, lungs, and intestines. Frequently becoming chronic and potentially life threatening, these diseases result in a significantly decreased quality of life to the infant along with increased costs to the infant's family and society. The amino acid cysteine comprises a third of the tripeptide glutathione and directly influences glutathione production. Older children ill with infection and stable, premature neonates administered cysteine supplementation to their diet have been previously shown to increase their glutathione production and concentrations. Furthermore, cysteine supplementation in the ill children resulted in a quicker resolution of their illness. Although most critically ill babies require IV nutrition (i.e., TPN) before and during their illness, commercially available TPN does not include cysteine as a significant nutrient. Cysteine has effectively become a safe and standard supplement to routine TPN in a few major hospitals in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of cysteine supplementation to increase glutathione production and concentrations in critically ill babies. Furthermore, the investigators want to evaluate whether cysteine supplementation results in less oxidative tissue injury and ultimately less severe illnesses. The study will enroll babies admitted to the UCLA Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and they will be chosen at random and in a blinded fashion to receive either cysteine or non-cysteine supplementation to their routine TPN. Small blood samples along with a single 6 hour infusion of a non-radioactive, stable isotope labeled amino acid will be used to measure the production of glutathione as well as other compounds in the blood to give a quantitative assessment to the severity of illness. Clinical information relevant to the babies' illness and subsequent recovery will be recorded. The results will be compared between cysteine vs. non-cysteine groups and before vs. after individual supplementation. By demonstrating the effect of cysteine supplementation on glutathione production, the incidence and/or severity of disease from oxidative injury in critically ill babies may be decreased if glutathione production is improved.
The purpose of this research study is to gather clinical and biologic information from severely injured patients to better understand and characterize the host response to injury and inflammation across several domains. This information may improve outcome prediction, improve clinical treatment of injured patients, and permit the construction of non-biologic computerized models of illness that can be utilized to represent the host response in future research efforts. This study is designed as the calibration of a mathematical model of this response with predictive capabilities. The central hypothesis governing this study is that adaptive immune elements are crucial to determining the outcome of complex inflammatory scenarios. We propose to test these hypotheses in the following interrelated Specific Aims: Specific Aim 1: To develop a robust mathematical model describing trauma/hemorrhage-induced inflammation in humans, its pathologic consequences, and possible therapies. Specific Aim 2: To translate the mathematical model to humans and create software aimed at individualized clinical decision-making. Specific Aim 3: To determine the prevalence of an IL-1 receptor-associated kinase (IRAK-1) variant haplotype located on the X-chromosome in an injured population, and to characterize differences in the pro-inflammatory response across gender, relative to the IRAK-1 haplotype. Specific Aim 4: To determine if increased arginase activity previously observed in isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of trauma patients is a consequence of the presence of contaminating activated granulocytes or a particular subset of an arginase positive monocyte subset.
Relative glutamine (GLN) deficiency may contribute to morbidity and mortality in surgical intensive care unit (SICU) patients. During critical illness, GLN utilization by the immune system, gut mucosa and other tissues exceeds endogenous production and plasma GLN concentrations decrease, which may contribute to cellular dysfunction and increase nosocomial infection risk and mortality. Conventional GLN-free parenteral nutrition (PN) has a limited impact on SICU outcomes and does not repair the GLN deficit. Recent pilot data show that GLN dipeptide-supplemented PN decreases nosocomial infections and improves clinical outcomes in SICU patients. The process of benefit is poorly understood, but animal and human data suggest that GLN treatment correlates with a) up-regulation of cytoprotective molecules in blood and tissues [e.g, GSH, specific heat shock proteins (HSPs) and GLN]; and b) improved epithelial barrier defenses and immune cell number and function. Properties of L-GLN limit provision in solution, but the GLN dipeptide alanyl-GLN (AG) confers stability and solubility in PN (AG-PN). Investigators propose a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, controlled phase III trial based on our pilot data to test the hypothesis that AG-PN improves clinical outcomes in SICU patients requiring PN after cardiac, vascular or colonic operations. Subjects will receive either standard GLN-free PN or isocaloric, isonitrogenous, AG-PN until enteral feeds are established. Specific Aim 1 is to determine whether AG-PN decreases hospital mortality, nosocomial infection and other important indices of morbidity. Specific Aim 2 is to obtain novel, mechanistically relevant observational data in the Aim 1 subjects on whether AG-PN a) increases serial blood levels of GSH, HSP-70 and -27, and GLN; b) decreases the presence in serum of the bacterial products flagellin and LPS and the adaptive immune response to these mediators; and c) improves key indices of innate/adaptive immunity. This study is designed to delineate the clinical benefit of a major new nutrition support strategy in high-risk SICU patients.