View clinical trials related to Aspergillosis.
Filter by:Background Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with hemato-oncological malignancies. Due to the crude mortality of >90% in absence of adequate treatment, timely diagnosis and early start of antifungal therapy are key factors in the successful treatment of IPA. Various studies have shown that early initiation of antifungal therapy may improve IPA survival to above 70%. Diagnosis of IPA, however, remains difficult as clinical signs and symptoms as well as radiological findings are often unspecific and conventional culture methods lack sensitivity. In recent years antigen testing has therefore become one of the cornerstones of IPA diagnostics. Brochoalveolar lavage (BAL) Galactomannan (GM) testing is currently the most promising approach for early detection of pulmonary infections by this fungus. However, limitations of GM detection are assay turn-around time, which varies widely between centers (less than a day to several days), and the need for appropriately equipped laboratories that routinely test for this antigen. These limitations are overcome by the Aspergillus Lateral-Flow Device (LFD), a novel point-of-care (POC) test for IPA diagnosis developed by Dr Thornton at the University of Exeter, UK. This simple, rapid (15 min), single-use test can be performed in rudimentary facilities using BAL specimens. In a retrospective single centre study we have recently evaluated the LFD test in 39 BAL samples from hematologic malignancy patients and solid organ transplant recipients. Sensitivities and specificities of BAL LFD tests for probable IPA were 100% and 81%, respectively. Galactomannan levels in cases with negative LFD were significantly lower than in patients with positive LFD (P <0.0001). We concluded that the LFD test of BAL specimens is performed easily and provides accurate and rapidly available results. Therefore, this new point-of-care test may be a very promising diagnostic approach for detecting IPA in BAL specimens from haematological malignancy and SOT patients. For routine clinical use, however, multicenter studies with larger sample sizes also from other patient collectives are necessary. In this multicenter study we will evaluate the LFD test in BAL samples. Study Objectives Primary Objectives To evaluate the Lateral Flow Device test, a rapid (15 min), point-of-care test for IPA diagnosis using bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids from patients at risk for IPA. Secondary Objective To evaluate the potential of BAL Lateral Flow Device test for prognosis in patients with IPA. Study Design This is a prospective multi-center study conducted in three centers in Austria (Graz, Vienna and Innsbruck) and one centre in Germany (Mannheim). In order to meet the objectives an estimated number of 300 BAL samples from patients at risk for IPA (50 to 100 per centre) will be included in the study cohort. The Lateral Flow Device test will be performed prospectively in BAL samples from the patients and results will be compared to GM results, PCR findings, clinical/radiological findings as well as conventional culture results. In addition, retrospective testing of BAL samples that were previously routinely tested for GM will be performed in up to three participating centers (Graz, Innsbruck and Mannheim) to ensure to reach the proposed number of 300 BAL samples. The treating clinicians will not be informed about BAL Lateral Flow Device test results and the test will therefore have no impact on patient management / treatment decisions.
Although being a frequent and lethal complication in patients (pts) with hematologic malignancies, diagnosing invasive aspergillosis (IA) still remains a difficult issue as culture-based methods show low sensitivity especially under the current clinical practice of antifungal prophylaxis or rapid antifungal therapy. In certain clinical settings, performing biopsies for identification of the underlying infectious organism becomes important. However, as culture-based methods only yield results in a minority of patients, using non-culture-based methods like Aspergillus specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of IA directly in clinical specimens is becoming increasingly important and might help to characterize the causative pathogen. Therefore the performance of an established Aspergillus-specific nested PCR in biopsies, re-section material or pleural effusions is evaluated.
This is a trial to determine whether giving a patient a tailored dose of voriconazole is safe and effective.
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is difficult to diagnose and remains a cause of high morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients in the ICU. Accepted diagnostic protocols for haemato-oncological patients are not applicable for critically ill patients in ICUs. Definitive discrimination between aspergillic colonisation and IPA often depends on the clinical experience of the treating physician, evaluating clinical signs, co-morbidities, and course of the disease. Life saving treatment with the first line antimycotic Voriconazol (Vfend®) can only be initiated after diagnosis of IPA. In this prospective clinical trial the investigators aim to structure, optimize and fast track the diagnostic pathway of IPA in critically ill patients treated in our ICU-department.
Inhaled amphotericin, a antifungal drug would decrease Aspergillus colonization and decrease the occurrence of exacerbations of Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA).
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of posaconazole (POS) versus voriconazole (VOR) in the treatment of adults and adolescents with invasive aspergillosis (IA). The primary hypothesis is that the all-cause mortality through Day 42 in the POS treatment group is non-inferior to that in the VOR treatment group.
ADVANCE THERAPY ASPERGILLOSIS INVASIVE BY PCR DETECTION
The main objective of this study is to determine if a doubling of serum TARC (compared to baseline) is associated with the occurrence of exacerbations of ABPA. The secondary objectives of the study are : 1. To investigate if induced sputum eosinophils count (compared to baseline) is associated with the occurrence of exacerbations. 2. To examine if the exhaled NO (compared to a baseline) is associated with the occurrence of exacerbations. 3. To investigate if activation of circulating T cells (compared to a baseline) is associated with the occurrence of exacerbations. 4. To examine if the rate of specific Asp f IgG measured by ELISA (compared to a baseline) is associated with the occurrence of exacerbations. 5. To determine if the variation of one of the markers above, TARC or Asp f specific IgE measured at baseline, may be associated with the radiological stage of the disease (ABPA-S, ABPA-CB, ABPA-ORF). 6. To investigate if there is a link between fungal exposure at home (visually assessed by the contamination level and the proportion of positive samples for Asp. f) and the frequency of exacerbations. 7. To establish if some of the clinical, functional or biological data studied are associated with the frequency of exacerbations.
The aim of our prospective and multicentre diagnostic study is therefore to elucidate on the sensitivity and specificity rates of these serologic markers in combination with molecular tools (both an Aspergillus specific and a multifungal PCR based assay), as serologic mark-ers are not pathogen-specific, and furthermore to define species-specific cut-off values for BDG in BAL samples. Additionally, if genomic material of Aspergillus fumigatus is detected by PCR in a clinical sample, we investigate fungal DNA for point mutations in the cyp51A gene mediating resis-tance against common mould-active triazoles with novel rapid, sensitive and specific, non-culture-based PCR-assays and sequencing to optimize antifungal treatment as early as pos-sible.
The aim of this project is therefore to explore on the clinical significance of analyzing surrogate markers combined with conventional diagnostics in the ICU setting. BAL, blood and biopsy samples will be subjected to a combined analysis of GM, BDG, Aspergillus specific PCR assays in addition to conventional diagnostics (Microscopy, Culture,Histology) for ICU pts with pulmonary infiltrates. As GM and BDG are not species-specific, three established and repeatedly published species specific PCR-based assays (nested PCR, real time PCR assay, multifungal DNA Array)developed by our group will be investigated in combination with the serological tests in a multicenter prospective clinical diagnostic trial.