View clinical trials related to Pleural Infection.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to see if there is any benefit in adding saline irrigation through a chest tube to the standard course of treatment for people diagnosed or suspected of having a pleural space infection.
Infections of the pleural space are common, and patients require antibiotics and chest drain placement to evacuate the chest from the infected fluid. Chest drains can get blocked by the drainage fluid and material. For this reason, it is thought that flushing the chest drain with saline solution, can help maintain the patency of the tube. This proposed study will evaluate the impact of regular chest drain flushing on the length of time to chest tube removal and total hospitalization as well as improvement in chest imaging and the need for additional interventions on the infected space.
Objectives: A pilot study to compare the therapeutic and safety profiles between low(2.5mg) and standard(10mg) doses of intrapleural tissue plasminogen activator(tPA) in uncontrolled pleural infection. The study design will be tested for its trialability. Hypothesis: 2.5mg tPA has comparable therapeutic efficacy and less bleeding complications to 10mg tPA. Design and subjects: A pilot, single-centre, two-arm, double-blinded, randomized controlled trial(RCT) which includes subjects with uncontrolled pleural infection, with follow-up till 90 days after hospital discharge. Interventions: Recruited subjects will be randomized in 1:1 ratio to receive a maximum of 6 doses of intrapleural tPA starting at either 2.5mg or 10mg. A clinical decision is allowed at the third dose to continue with the assigned dose or escalate to 10mg to complete the course based on the clinical response, without breaking the blinding. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome is survival at 90 days and without the need for surgical intervention. Secondary outcomes include the need for additional pleural interventions, number of decisions to choose 10mg intrapleural tPA at the third dose, clinical and radiographic response after the treatment course, safety profiles especially bleeding complications, and the number and reason for protocol violation. Data analysis and expected results: Data will be analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis for all randomized subjects. The clinical outcomes will be compared with a regression model built to adjust for confounding covariates. The data on therapeutic efficacy and bleeding complications will inform the power calculation of sample size in subsequent full-scale multicentred RCT incorporating the current study design.
We aim to conduct a pilot trial assessing oral versus intravenous therapy for pleural space infections.