View clinical trials related to Neutropenia, Febrile.
Filter by:This study proposes to assess the usability of the Neutrocheck device and test kit amongst healthy volunteers and healthcare professionals (HCPs). Neutrocheck is a portable, single-use diagnostic test intended to aid the diagnosis of neutropenia, febrile neutropenia and neutropenic sepsis using a finger prick blood sample. Neutropenia is when the number of infection-fighting neutrophil cells in the blood are lower than normal. It can be caused by treatments such as chemotherapy or by certain medical conditions. Neutropenic sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs when patients with neutropenia develop an infection. There is currently no way to test for neutropenic sepsis outside of hospitals. Neutrocheck is being developed for use as a self-test by patients at home alongside remote consultation with a HCP or at point-of-care by a HCP. This will allow rapid identification of patients requiring urgent intravenous antibiotics and medical assessment. In cases where Neutrocheck has eliminated the possibility of neutropenic sepsis, patients can avoid unnecessary and stressful hospital visits and valuable hospital resources will be saved. Participants in this study will be invited to use the Neutrocheck test kit in a setting similar to a home environment to carry out a test, whilst being observed by a study moderator. The Neutrocheck devices used in the study will be for investigational use only. This study will not be testing the accuracy of the Neutrocheck result, rather if Neutrocheck can be used safely and in a user-friendly way. Results will not be considered valid. Planned study duration is 2 months. This approach will enable us to complete the current phase of development and advance to a clinical validation study of Neutrocheck, assessing the diagnostic accuracy of Neutrocheck amongst users including those at risk of neutropenia and neutropenic sepsis.
Chemotherapy is used to treat cancer in many thousands of patients per annum in the United Kingdom and millions worldwide. Most chemotherapy suppresses bone marrow function and causes a low white cell count (neutropenia) which is a major cause of sepsis, a potentially fatal medical emergency. Best outcomes in sepsis result from early admission to hospital with the rapid start of antibiotics and supportive care. Currently, patients starting chemotherapy are told the importance of making contact with the hospital if they feel unwell or develop a high temperature. Despite this it is common for patients to delay telephoning the Cancer Centre "hot line" until after enduring many hours of symptoms and ultimately being admitted to hospital very unwell and sometimes in life threatening septic shock. This proposal (REACT) seeks to invert the current model of care with the aim of improving patient outcomes whilst reducing costs. In this proof of concept pilot study we aim to assess the feasibility of using remote wearable biosensors to record key physiological parameters (including respiratory rate, heart rate and temperature) and transmit this data centrally to The Christie. We will also assess retrospectively whether perturbations in biosensor collected data correlate with clinical episodes of sepsis and if so develop bespoke clinical algorithms to identify patients displaying "red flags" for sepsis and guide response. Data collected by the sensors is at this stage only being reviewed retrospectively. Subsequent phases would involve recruiting larger number of patients to develop and test these algorithms with patients exhibiting 'red flags' for sepsis being contacted by the clinical team and taking appropriate action to facilitate assessment and treatment. The results of this study will determine whether working towards a randomised phase III trial comparing REACT with standard of care is an appropriate next step.