Clinical Research Directory

Evaluation of the Clinical and Prognostic Value of Non-invasive Analysis of Mandibular Movements (MM) as a Marker of Inspiratory Effort in the Spontaneously Breathing Intensive Care Patient

Evaluate the performance for measuring inspiratory effort of non-invasive mandibular movement analysis compared to the reference technique oesophageal pressure (PES) variation, in ventilated and spontaneously breathing Intensive Care Unity (ICU) patients, during weaning from mechanical ventilation and within 48 hours after extubation. The investigators hypothesis is that the assessment of respiratory effort by MM analysis could represent a non-invasive and reliable alternative to the measurement of PES in critically ill patients.

Ultrasound Evaluation of Respiratory Muscles During Mechanical Ventilation Weaning in ICU Patients

Patients with pneumonia who require invasive mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) often experience difficulties during the process of being separated from the breathing machine (weaning). Failure of weaning is associated with longer ventilation duration, prolonged ICU stay, and increased risk of complications and death. Therefore, simple and reliable bedside tools are needed to better understand respiratory muscle function and to help predict weaning outcomes. This prospective, observational, single-center study aims to evaluate respiratory muscle function using bedside ultrasound in adult ICU patients with pneumonia receiving invasive mechanical ventilation. The diaphragm, parasternal intercostal muscles, and anterior scalene muscles will be assessed using ultrasound during the weaning process. Measurements will be performed serially, starting from the first day when patients demonstrate meaningful spontaneous breathing effort and continuing until successful extubation, tracheostomy, or ICU mortality. Ultrasound measurements of muscle thickness and thickening fraction will be analyzed in relation to weaning outcomes. In addition, ventilator parameters and commonly used weaning indices will be recorded at the time of each ultrasound assessment. The findings of this study are expected to improve understanding of respiratory muscle involvement during weaning and may contribute to earlier identification of patients at risk of weaning failure.

Little Lungs Study

This clinical trial is being done to evaluate the safety and clinical response of late surfactant treatment with budesonide in extremely preterm infants requiring mechanical ventilation at 7-14 days of age.

Lung Recruitment During Chest Physiotherapy in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

In intensive care, respiratory physiotherapy is an integral part of the daily care of patients under invasive mechanical ventilation. Its goals are to improve the clearance of bronchial secretions to allow for the resolution of atelectasis and alveolar recruitment, thereby enhancing respiratory mechanics and gas exchange. The most widespread technique in France is external expiratory compression of the chest. The effectiveness of this technique depends on the selection of patients (it seems to be more effective in patients with higher secretion levels) and on the practical implementation of the technique (favoring brief and vigorous compressions at the beginning of expiration). However, the effect of the artificial ventilator settings, particularly the ventilatory mode used during the respiratory physiotherapy session, has never been evaluated. The two most commonly used ventilatory modes worldwide are Volume Assist Control Ventilation (V-ACV) and pressure support ventilation (PSV). In this unit, respiratory physiotherapy under artificial ventilation is performed daily on patients with artificial ventilation with abundant secretions, regardless of the ventilatory mode.

Evaluation and Further Development of an Artificial Intelligence-based Algorithm for Clinical Decision Support

Invasive mechanical ventilation is one of the most important and life-saving therapies in the intensive care unit (ICU). In most severe cases, extracorporeal lung support is initiated when mechanical ventilation is insufficient. However, mechanical ventilation is recognised as potentially harmful, because inappropriate mechanical ventilation settings in ICU patients are associated with organ damage, contributing to disease burden. Studies revealed that mechanical ventilation is often not provided adequately despite clear evidence and guidelines. Variables at the ventilator and extracorporeal lung support device can be set automatically using optimization functions and clinical recommendations, but the handling of experts may still deviate from those settings depending upon the clinical characteristics of individual patients. Artificial intelligence can be used to learn from those deviations as well as the patient's condition in an attempt to improve the combination of settings and accomplish lung support with reduced risk of damage.

Evaluation of Rehabilitation Practices in the Intensive Care Unit

This observational study aims to describe the number of rehabilitation procedures performed per patient during their stay in French-speaking adult intensive care units undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation (average rehabilitation ratio). The study aims to determine the actual rehabilitation ratio, i.e. the number of rehabilitation procedures divided by the number of critical care hospital days (censored at day 28 from the start of invasive mechanical ventilation), provided to patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation. The rehabilitation procedure will remain the same, and ICU teams will only record the number of procedures performed per day.

Assessment of Ventilation Parameters for Extubation Prediction in ICU

The study aims to research the values of mechanical power, driving pressure, and elastic power in predicting the duration of mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation. This will help determine which patients may be considered for early extubation, which patients should wait for extubation, and the patients where extubation is anticipated to be prolonged, attention should be paid to initiating preparations for alternative treatment methods like tracheostomy early.

The External Diaphragm Pacemaker Assisted Extubation in Premature Infants With Invasive Mechanical Ventilation

With the development of perinatal medicine, more and more newborns with respiratory failure can be treated due to the use of respiratory support technology. However, long-term invasive mechanical ventilation treatment can lead to a series of complications such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, atelectasis and air leakage syndrome, and increase the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and neurodevelopmental lag of premature infants. It also leads to longer hospital stays and higher hospital costs. To shorten the invasive mechanical ventilation time and improve the success rate of withdrawal through various ways is the development direction of neonatal mechanical ventilation therapy. Respiratory muscle atrophy is common and rapid in children receiving invasive mechanical ventilation, and is an important cause of ventilator dependence and withdrawal failure. The diaphragm of newborns is the main respiratory muscle, of which the diaphragm type 1 endurance fiber accounts for only about 30%, far lower than the proportion of about 55% in adults, so the diaphragm of newborns is more prone to fatigue. Previous animal experiments and clinical studies in children and adults have confirmed that diaphragmatic pacing therapy applied to patients with long-term invasive mechanical ventilation can prevent diaphragmatic atrophy, reverse diaphragmatic injury, significantly improve diaphragmatic thickness, improve diaphragmatic anti-fatigue ability, thereby increasing lung ventilation, relieving dyspnea, and achieving the effect of assisted extubation. The neonatology Department of the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University started neonatal external diaphragm pacemaker treatment in 2022, and has completed 1383 cases so far, initially showing the effectiveness and safety of external diaphragm pacemaker treatment in neonatal population. But so far, there is no systematic evaluation of clinical intervention effect of external diaphragm pacemaker treatment on neonatal respiratory failure patients at home and abroad. Based on this, the project team intends to conduct a prospective randomized controlled study to systematically evaluate the safety of external diaphragm pacemaker in preterm infants requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for ≥7 days at 28 to 35 weeks of gestation, and to evaluate the efficacy of external diaphragm pacemaker in adjuvant extubation.

Preemptive Treatment With Acyclovir in Intubated and Mechanically Ventilated Patients With Herpes (PTH2)

This research aims to assess the interest of preemptive treatment with Acyclovir in mechanically ventilated patients with reactivation of Herpes simplex (HSV) in the throat and failure of one organ or less. HSV reactivation is common in patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU) on invasive mechanical ventilation. It begins at the oropharyngeal level (incidence up to 20-50%), then progresses downward with contamination of the distal airways (reported incidence of 20-65%). HSV reactivation is associated with high mortality. The investigators aim to disable that, in mechanically ventilated patients with HSV reactivation in the throat and failure of one organ or less, preemptive treatment with Acyclovir may reduce mortality. To answer the question posed in the research, it is planned to include 246 people hospitalized in intensive care on invasive mechanical ventilation, presenting with HSV reactivation of the throat and one organ failure or less.