View clinical trials related to Pneumonia.
Filter by:Pneumonia, or lung infection, is usually treated with antibiotics targeted against the organisms that the physician guesses are causing the problem. The determination of the exact cause of a patient's pneumonia is difficult. The problem is that the two major causes of community-acquired pneumonia are not easily distinguished on clinical grounds and are best treated by different antibiotics. The investigators hypothesize that antibiotic therapy can be targeted and improved by doing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of nose swabs to identify probable implicated organisms and their antibiotic resistance patterns. This pilot study will be important to ensure that the laboratory testing is functional and that the emergency department-laboratory communication is optimal prior to doing a full-fledged randomized clinical trial.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a protein called TREM-1 can be used to differentiate viral and bacterial pneumonias in children who are on ventilator support. We propose that the level of TREM-1 will be significantly elevated in the lung fluid of children with bacterial pneumonia and viral with co-existing bacterial pneumonia than in children with pure viral pneumonia.
To explore the effects of corticosteroid therapy on pulmonary fibrosis and potentially pneumothorax in patients with mild PCP (pO2 >70mmHg) combined with the standard of care treatment of antibiotic therapy.
The reported incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is 10 to 15 per 1,000 ventilator days. VAP leads to an excess cost exceeding $40,000 per patient and is associated with a crude mortality rate as high as 76%. The clinical criteria for the diagnosis of VAP have low specificity and may lead to unnecessary antibiotic use. The Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) and bronchoscopic approaches lower unnecessary antimicrobial use, antimicrobial resistance, and superinfection compared to the traditional clinical criteria. Based on the available evidence and local microbiology data, we have developed a VAP management protocol guided by CPIS or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in adults with suspected VAP. These two approaches have not been compared against each other. Although the diagnostic studies in the CPIS guided approach are inexpensive and easily available, BAL has the potential to minimize the unnecessary use of antibiotics and reduce the development of drug resistant pathogens. In this study, we propose to test the hypothesis that BAL leads to a reduction in antibiotic use compared to CPIS in patients with suspected VAP. The study design will be a randomized, clinical trial comparing CPIS versus BAL. The primary outcome measure will be antibiotic utilization. The secondary outcome measures will be mortality, morbidity, development of resistant pathogens and superinfection and infection related financial burden. Completion of this trial will help us identify the best approach to avoid unnecessary antibiotic utilization and minimize the development of resistant pathogens (with their associated morbidity and mortality) in critically ill patients.
People who aspirate after neurologic insults such as stroke often develop fatal pneumonia. This study examines the effects of dynamic vocal cord closure on swallowing. Implants placed over the chest wall are connected to electrodes placed around the nerve that closes the vocal cords. The patient triggers closure by flipping the switch of a coil taped over the skin covering the internal stimulator. Vocal cord motion is verified by videotaping through an endoscope, and the status of swallowing is documented radiologically by a modified barium swallow.
This study is designed to exam the effects of early management with high frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) on patients with lung injury. Patients at risk for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) will be enrolled and randomized to one of two groups. One group will be managed with HFPV. The second group will be managed with conventional ventilation utilizing lung protective techniques. The primary endpoint of the study is rate of ventilator associated pneumonia. We hypothesized that use of HFPV in patients at risk for the development of ARDS will decrease the rate of ventilator associated pneumonia when compared to patients managed with conventional ventilation.
To measure the speed of bacterial eradication from the respiratory tract after administration of azithromycin or telithromycin.
To determine the effect of methylprednisolone on respiratory failure in HIV-infected patients with presumed or confirmed pneumocystis carinii pneumonia who are stratified for presence or absence of respiratory failure at the time of randomization to the study.