Clinical Research Directory

Respiratory and Cardiovascular Alterations in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms (dyspnoea, cough, sputum production and/or exacerbations) due to abnormalities of the airways (e.g. bronchitis, bronchiolitis) and/or alveoli (emphysema) that lead to persistent, often progressive, airflow obstruction. It is a major cause of disability and death worldwide. Moreover, people with COPD often have cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) that are associated with increased risk for hospitalization and prolonged stay as well as all-cause and CVD-related mortality. Nevertheless, CVDs in patients with COPD are tend to be underestimated in clinical practice. Mechanisms that define the relation between COPD and cardiovascular morbidity include lung hyperinflation, hypoxia, pulmonary hypertension, systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, exacerbation, shared risk factors and COPD phenotypes. In the past years, some authors have announced that COPD treatment with dual bronchodilation may not only improve pulmonary function and quality of life, but also have a positive effect on cardiac function. However, there is a lack of studies with treatment-naïve patients that would describe the initial effect of dual bronchodilation on respiratory and cardiovascular systems. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effect of initial dual bronchodilation on the quality of life, respiratory and cardiovascular systems in patients with newly-diagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Effect of HIgh-flow Therapy in Long-term Oxygen Therapy

This is a registry-based, randomized, controlled clinical trial of the effect of added high-flow oxygen therapy (using the device Lumis HFT) during one year in people with long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or interstitial lung disease (ILD).

Oral Citrulline Supplementation in COPD Patients With Malnutrition

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is complicated by malnutrition in 20-70% of cases. In COPD, low fat-free mass is associated with a higher risk of morbidity and mortality. L-citrulline is a non-protein amino acid that has a direct effect on muscle protein synthesis. Oral supplementation with L-citrulline (10 g/day) in malnourished patients has shown to increase fat-free mass. The effects of L-citrulline supplementation in malnourished COPD patients are unknown. The main objective of this prospective, single-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study will be to determine the impact of 45 days of nutritional supplementation with L-citrulline (10 g/day) on lean body mass (fat-free mass index (in kg.m-2) measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis) in malnourished patients (BMI \< 20 kg/m2 if \< 70 years old or \< 22 kg/m2 if ≥ 70 years old) with COPD at stages 3-4 of the GOLD classification.

Risk Prediction Model for Exacerbating Phenotype in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

This study is planned to be conducted based on the cohort of patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in our hospital. Based on gut microbiota, random forest was used to search for potential diagnostic biomarkers in patients with frequent acute exacerbation and controls with non frequent acute exacerbation; Construct a frequent acute exacerbation risk prediction model using random forest, support vector machine, and BP neural network models. The development of this study will provide valuable references for the clinical classification and prognosis evaluation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and improve the health level of COPD patients by further searching for treatable targets.

Cell Therapy Associated With Endobronchial Valve

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common diseases worldwide and is considered a public health problem. The World Health Organization estimates that about 210 million people have COPD. Disease-related mortality is more than 3 million, representing 5% of all deaths, 90% of this mortality being concentrated in middle- and low-income countries. COPD can be subdivided into chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Emphysema, the focus of this project, is histologically defined by the permanent increase of the distal air spaces to the terminal bronchioles associated with the destruction of the alveolar septa in the lung. Approximately two-thirds of adult men and a quarter of women (most without dysfunction) will have well-defined emphysema, but often of limited extent. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic, microbicide and repair potential. Regarding COPD, several authors have concentrated efforts in the investigation of the relationship between the severity of the condition and the various sources of adult stem cells. Apparently the lungs have a high chemotactic effect in relation to adult stem cells, since several studies have evidenced a high implantation (6-20%) of stem cells derived from bone marrow, administered systemically, in the pulmonary tissue of receptors. Therefore, MSCs has been tested in different lung diseases have no effective treatment, such as pulmonary fibrosis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, asthma, COPD positive results, such as reduction of fibrosis, reduction of proliferation inflammatory cells and cytokines, reduction of infectious processes and recovery of the histological changes caused by pulmonary emphysema. Based on these findings, the purpose of this project is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of endoscopic administration of bone marrow stem cells in patients with severe homogeneous emphysema and evaluating the feasibility, efficacy and safety of this procedure.