View clinical trials related to Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis.
Filter by:The treatment of CPA is with oral itraconazole for 6-12 months. Oral itraconazole results in better clinical outcomes in CPA compared to supportive care. A recent study comparing 6 months with 12 months of oral itraconazole for longer duration treatment found longer duration reduced CPA relapse and improved clinical outcomes. However, longer duration of itraconazole could cause emergence of drug resistant Aspergillus fumigatus and therapy related adverse event. A recent study found nebulized amphotericin B non-inferior to oral itraconazole for treating CPA as primary therapy. However, the study was small and included patients with simple aspergilloma and used nebulized amphotericin B for 7 days.To be effective, an inhaled drug should be delivered in sufficient quantity to achieve therapeutic levels.The minimum inhibitory concentration of amphotericin B for A.fumigatus is 0.5 mg/L. In one study, nebulization of 30 mg of amphotericin B deoxycholate achieved a mean concentration of 0.68 mg/L in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Notably, the serum levels of amphotericin B after nebulization are 20 times less than after systemic administration and is safer. Further, there is a dose-response relation with nebulized amphotericin B, the higher the dose used for nebulization, the higher are the levels achieved in the lung tissue. Nebulized amphotericin B has been used in lung transplant recipients to prevent invasive aspergillosis. Also, two recent studies have demonstrated that use of nebulized amphotericin B as maintenance therapy led to a reduction in ABPA relapse rates and prolonged time to exacerbation. We believe that inhaled amphotericin B as a maintenance therapy could reduce CPA relapse and prolong time to relapse. In this study, we plan to evaluate nebulized amphotericin B as a maintenance therapy in clinically stable CPA patients treated with 12 months of oral antifungal therapy
This is a single center open-label feasibility trial involving a single study visit for participants. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the feasibility of [68Ga]Ga-DFO-B PET/CT (gallium-68-deferoxamine) for the visualization of pulmonary Aspergillus infection. The incidence of fungal infections is on the rise and are associated with significant mortality. Diagnosis pulmonary aspergillosis can be can be challenging, often requiring invasive tests such as bronchoscopy and lung tissue biopsies. Molecular imaging, specifically using radiolabeled siderophores like [68Ga]Ga-DFO-B, offers a non-invasive and location-specific approach to visualize and evaluate infections. Siderophores, critical for pathogenic microbes like Aspergillus fumigatus, play a role in iron acquisition. Preclinical studies with radiolabeled deferoxamine (DFO-B) demonstrated distinct accumulation at infection sites. Additionally, [68Ga]Ga-DFO-B PET/CT may differentiate between Aspergillus infection and cancer, making it a promising non-invasive diagnostic tool for pulmonary aspergillosis.
Voriconazole Inhalation Powder is available on an expanded access basis to patients with pulmonary aspergillosis for up to 12 weeks. Duration of treatment may be extended on a case-by-case basis depending on drug availability and after discussion with the Sponsor.
The prevalence of ascariasis in COPD patients with and without concomitant pulmonary aspergillosis and in controls will be determined. To assess the influence of ascaridosis on the development of pulmonary aspergillosis in COPD patients cytokine status of patients will be studied.
This study explores the role of treatment with interferon-gamma to improve outcomes in chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA). CPA is a progressive infection caused by the fungus Aspergillus affecting patients with chronic lung disease like Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD) or previously treated tuberculosis (TB). It causes gradual destruction of lung tissue by slowly enlarging cavities, frequent secondary infections and poor quality of life. Because of its indolent nature and nonspecific x-ray findings, it often remains unrecognised for years. Around 3600 people live with CPA in the United Kingdom. Mortality from CPA may be up to 40% in five years. Treatment for CPA relies on antifungals for prolonged periods, but only around 60% of patients improve. It is often long-term or lifelong as the response is slow and some patients experience relapses. In addition, only one class of oral antifungal drugs is licensed for CPA, and they are associated with side effects and high cost. Better treatments are needed for CPA. We do not know why many patients do not respond to treatment. Maybe CPA patients have a weakened immune system and are more susceptible to Aspergillus. Our data suggest that CPA patients produce lower amounts of ΙFNγ, a substance that facilitates the immune system's response against Aspergillus. We have also shown that, when given to patients with CPA who have failed to improve on antifungal treatment, interferon-gamma leads to improvement in important patient-centred outcomes like flares of lung disease or hospital admissions. Interferon-gamma is already in use in the National Health Service of the United Kingdom for other indications. Therefore, its use in CPA should be explored. However, CPA is a rare condition and the tolerability of interferon-gamma is not fully established in these patients. To understand whether a large-scale study is feasible in CPA, we first need preliminary data in smaller numbers of patients. We propose a randomised trial of interferon-gamma in addition to antifungals in CPA. Patients with CPA starting antifungal treatment will be eligible. Participants (25 per group) will be randomly assigned to interferon-gamma for 12 weeks (in addition to antifungals) or antifungals only. To test whether the treatment works, we will use measurements of the cavities on chest CT scan and scores on a quality-of-life questionnaire. We will assess for tolerability of treatment at intervals similar to clinical practice. Criteria for progression to the large-scale study will be set based on the proportion of patients willing to participate, and on the proportion who complete the treatment. Data collected on those parameters will allow us to determine the number needed for a definite study. If the large-scale study confirms our observations that interferon-gamma improves outcomes in CPA, then treatment duration can be shortened and relapses avoided. In addition, interferon-gamma can then be explored in other chronic lung disease.
While ABPA and CPA represent two distinct manifestations of Aspergillus-related lung disease, there is an overlap of investigations that are currently used for the diagnosis of these entities. In a previous study, the authors have demonstrated that 22% of subjects with CPA fulfilled the obligatory criteria for ABPA. While the preferable therapy in patients with ABPA is systemic glucocorticoids, the primary therapy in CPA is oral triazoles. However, a different management protocol in the "overlap group" with low doses of glucocorticoids and triazoles, needs to be systematically explored. In this study the investigators intend to compare the clinical outcomes in subjects with ABPA-CPA overlap treated either with oral azoles or a combination of systemic glucocorticoids and oral azoles.
At present, pulmonary diffusion and target antifungal concentrations for APC in patients with sarcoidosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are unknown.
Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is the most common cause of lung destruction, contributing to coinfections development, and Aspergillosis spp. is one of the most important. Diagnosis of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) in PTB patients is difficult due to similarity of clinical and radiological data, especially in resource-constrained settings. Differentiation of PTB patients with singling out a group with a higher Aspergillus IgG level during the initial examination will help physicians to orient to further examination of CPA. Objectives: to determine the prevalence of aspergillosis in Koch's bacillus-positive and Koch's bacillus-negative PTB patients and antifungal resistance of Aspergillus species isolates in Central Asia countries.
The current initial therapy for CPA is with six months of oral itraconazole. However, the response with six months of therapy has a response rate of 65-70% and has a relapse rate after stopping treatment of up to 50%. Voriconazole is a third-generation azole and a theoretical advantage of lower MICs compared to itraconazole. Also, oral voriconazole has good availability (95%) in fasting state. This is likely to improve the response rate and reduce the chances of relapse of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. There is no head to head comparison of oral itraconazole with oral voriconazole. In this study we intent to compare the clinical outcomes with six months of therapy with oral itraconazole versus oral voriconazole for management of treatment naïve subjects with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis
The treatment options majorly consist of medical management with at least 6-month long treatment with antifungal drugs - most significantly the azole groups. Itraconazole is the preferred azole for the treatment of CPA. The duration of treatment with oral itraconazole remains uncertain. In a previous study the use of oral itraconazole for 6-months a favorable overall response was seen in 76% of the subjects. Moreover, about 30%-50% of the subjects have disease relapse that requires prolonged therapy. It is likely that a longer duration of itraconazole would have a higher response rate and thus, lower risk of relapse after discontinuation of therapy. In this randomized controlled trial, we compare the clinical outcomes of six months versus twelve months of itraconazole therapy in treatment naïve subjects with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis