Clinical Research Directory

Supraglottic Airway for Resuscitation in Preemies

The goal of this single-arm intervention trial is to learn whether using a supraglottic airway (SA) as the primary interface for positive pressure ventilation (PPV) is feasible during delivery room resuscitation of premature infants. This study will be conducted in premature infants born between 29 0/7 and 33 6/7 weeks' gestation who require PPV at birth. The main question it aims to answer is: Is it feasible to use a supraglottic airway as the primary interface to provide effective PPV during delivery room resuscitation in 29 0/7 to 33 6/7 weeks' gestation premature infants? Participants will (1)Be screened prenatally and have informed consent obtained from the birth parent prior to delivery; (2)Be rescreened for eligibility on the day of delivery before receiving the study intervention; (3)Receive PPV using a supraglottic airway as the primary ventilation interface if resuscitation is required at birth; and (4)Have clinical and procedural data collected during delivery room resuscitation and for up to 24 hours after birth.

Mechanical Ventilator Adjustments and Patient Dyspnea

In the past 5 years, there are increasing data suggesting that patients treated with mechanical ventilation experience shortness of breath, despite appropriate sedation. This adverse experience is believed to contribute to the finding that up to 25% of patients who survive severe respiratory diseases experience mental health problems including post traumatic distress syndrome (PTSD). The purpose of this study is to evaluate if/how sequential changes in the delivery of mechanical ventilation affect shortness of breath sensation in awake patients requiring mechanical ventilation. Improving the knowledge of the impact of the patient-ventilator interaction on shortness of breath sensation may lead to strategies to improve the comfort of non-sedated and sedated ventilated patients, and thereby reduce mental health sequelae in survivors of acute severe respiratory diseases The investigators hypothesize that current ventilator strategies, particularly reduced tidal volume (size of breath given by the ventilator) utilized in managing patients with severe respiratory diseases, contribute to shortness of breath in patients with increased drive to breathe. In this setting, some safe ventilator changes may improve or worsen the shortness of breath sensation in awake patients on mechanical ventilation.

Long Term Outcomes of Patients With COVID-19

The investigators hypothesize that those with respiratory failure due to COVID-19 will have different burdens of mental and physical disability than those with respiratory failure who do not have COVID-19. Detecting these potential differences will lay an important foundation for treating long term sequelae of respiratory failure in these two cohorts.

Brain Blood Flow and Cerebral Autoregulation Monitoring in Critically Ill Children

This study uses a non-invasive (external) ultrasound test called Transcranial Doppler (TCD) to measure how blood flows through the major arteries of the brain of children receiving care in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). TCD is already used for clinical reasons in many children, but it is not part of routine monitoring for every critically ill child. By using TCD, the investigators hope to better understand how brain blood flow changes during illness. They will also track children's functional status from before their illness to the time of PICU discharge to explore how brain blood flow patterns relate to neurological outcomes.125 participants will be enrolled and will be on study while in the PICU, estimated to be 3-14 days.

Real-Time Algorithm-Driven Ventilation Feedback to Improve Lung-Protective Ventilation in Patients With ARDS (REALVENT-study)

The REALVENT trial is designed to evaluate whether a real-time, algorithm-driven ventilation feedback strategy can improve lung-protective ventilation (LPV) achievement rates in critically ill patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation. This multicentre randomised controlled trial will compare real-time respiratory waveform monitoring with automated feedback against standard ICU care. The primary endpoint is the LPV achievement rate over the first 72 hours.

Precision Ventilation vs Standard Care for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

The goal of this interventional study is to compare standard mechanical ventilation to a lung-stress oriented ventilation strategy in patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Participants will be ventilated according to one of two different strategies. The main question the study hopes to answer is whether the personalized ventilation strategy helps improve survival.

Critical Care Admission Following Emergency Department's Resuscitation Room Care

This prospective multicenter observational study aims to describe resuscitation room activity in France and to compare critical care admission within 24 hours between patients directly admitted to the resuscitation room and those admitted secondarily after initial emergency department management. Adult patients admitted to the resuscitation room over a 72-hour period in participating centers will be included. Data collection includes patient characteristics, triage severity, physiological parameters, critical interventions, and outcomes at 24 hours.

Improving Psychological Outcomes for Acute Respiratory Failure Survivors Using a Self-Management Intervention

A growing number of patients are surviving a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) but may experience long-lasting psychological problems, but research evaluating such treatment for ICU patients is scant. The goal of this pilot randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and potential benefit of an evidence-based psychological intervention for anxiety and associated outcomes for ICU patients. The main question\[s\] it aims to answer are: * Is this intervention feasible and acceptable in ARF patients? * Is this intervention in the ICU and hospital associated with reduced anxiety symptoms? Participants will participate in a cognitive behavioral therapy informed self-management intervention aimed to reduce anxiety symptoms. Researchers will compare the intervention group to patients who receive usual care to see if the intervention reduces symptoms at the the conclusion of the intervention and at 3 months follow-up.

Feasibility of the Comfort Measures Only Time Out (CMOT)

Nearly 25% of Americans die in intensive care units (ICUs). Most deaths in ICUs are expected and involve the removal of ventilator support, or palliative withdrawal of mechanical ventilation (WMV). Prior work by the Principal Investigator (PI) found that patient suffering can be common; with 30-59% of patients going through this process experiencing distress. Thus, experts and national organizations have called for evidence to inform guidelines for WMV. This research study will 1) develop and refine a Comfort Measures Only Time out (CMOT) intervention consisting of a structured time out with check-list protocol for the ICU team (nurse, physician, respiratory therapist) to improve the process of WMV. and 2) Pilot test the CMOT intervention in 4 ICUs (2 medical/2 surgical) among 40 WMV patients.

Heart Rate VAriability as a MaRker for tItrATing hIgh flOw Nasal Cannula Therapy

High-flow nasal cannula is a type of non-invasive respiratory support that helps patients breathe more comfortably. Because the flow is high, it can deliver more oxygen to the lungs and make breathing easier by reducing the effort needed to breathe. However, the best strategy to determine the best oxygen flow rate remains uncertain. Reducing flow rates prematurely can increase work of breathing and prolong ICU stay, while unnecessary prolongation can increase costs. Currently, evidence to guide titration is limited. Heart rate variability is the natural variation in the time between each heartbeat. Heart rate variability reflects the level of autonomic nervous system activity in response to stress. The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that automatically controls how heart rate speeds up and slows down. When heart rate variability is higher, it indicates that the system is able to adjust to changes in the body, including stress. However, when heart rate variability is low, it indicates that the system is constrained and in a state of stress. The VARIATION study is designed to characterize how heart rate variability goal of this observational study is to learn whether heart rate variability can serve as a marker of the appropriateness of high flow nasal cannula flow support during flow titration in patients with respiratory failure. The main question it aims to answer is: Does heart rate variability change before other conventional respiratory signs when there are changes in respiratory function due to inadequate flow rate? Participants already on high flow nasal cannula as part of their regular medical care will: 1. Undergo a stepwise decrease in high flow nasal cannula flow rate. 2. Be recorded continuously with electrocardiogram and electrical impedance tomography.

ICU Background Early Awareness for Critical deterioratiON

The study will compare ICU sub-units, those with additional support of a clinician awareness system, ICU Beacon, and those receiving the standard of care. The win-ratio composite outcome will be assessed by comparing patients by study group and stratified by APACHE score at admission.

Investigating Health Related Quality of Life in Patients With Chronic Respiratory Failure

To determine the quality of life of patients living with chronic respiratory failure and the impact interventions have on it.

A Trial Comparing High-Flow Nasal Cannula Versus Noninvasive Ventilation on Reintubation and Post-Extubation Respiratory Failure in High-Risk Patients With Systolic Heart Failure

This prospective, open-label randomized controlled pilot trial will enroll participants at the Yale New Haven Hospital. Patients with systolic heart failure, defined as an ejection fraction ≤40%, who require invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and are admitted to either the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) or medical ICU (MICU) will be included. Subjects meeting eligibility criteria will be randomized 1:1 to one of the two treatment groups: * Intervention: Extubation to high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) * Control: Extubation to non-invasive ventilation (NIV)

Intubation Checklist in the Intensive Care Unit

This retrospective study aims to explore whether the introduction of a preprocedural checklist for intubation in the intensive care unit (ICU) is associated with a lower incidence of intubation-related complications. Using a database where protocols from intubations in the ICU before implementing a checklist and after we will investigate whether a checklist affects early desaturation and hypotension after intubation.

Transpulmonary Pressure Guided Mechanical Ventilation Weaning in Obesity

This study will look at whether accounting for the amount of pressure generated by the chest wall and abdomen in a obese patient, using a measurement called transpulmonary pressure, can help shorten the amount of time patients spend on the ventilator. By decreasing the amount of time patients spend on the ventilator, they are less likely to develop complications such as infections, weakness or more procedures.

Evaluation and Optimization of Telephone Triage Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Models for the Detection of Demands for Time-dependent Pathology at the Emergency and Urgent Care Coordination Center (CCUE).

Improving Telephone Triage in Emergency Calls with AI The Coordinating Centre for Urgencies and Emergencies in Andalusia (CCUE) handles thousands of calls every day. Each call needs to be assessed based on the information given over the phone to determine how serious the case is. The reasons for calling range from minor health issues to life-threatening emergencies like cardiac arrest (CPA). This project focuses on improving telephone triage for four key emergency situations that often indicate severe or life-threatening conditions: Unconsciousness / Cardiac arrest Difficulty breathing Chest pain (non-traumatic, possible heart-related issues) Stroke symptoms Our goal is to make telephone triage more accurate and efficient by using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, including Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). These tools will help CCUE operators make better and faster decisions, ensuring that patients receive the right care as quickly as possible. How it will be done: The investigators will analyze anonymized historical call data from the emergency coordination system (CCR) and digital clinical records (HCDM). This includes: Structured data: Predefined fields, such as answers to standard triage questions. Unstructured data: Free-text notes and other information recorded during the call. A hybrid AI approach will be used, combining: Traditional AI methods (supervised learning and deep learning) to classify cases. Generative AI techniques (advanced language models) to extract useful insights from free-text data. Building the Best Prediction Model To find the most effective AI model, we will test different machine learning techniques, including: Decision Trees Random Forests Support Vector Machines (SVM) XGBoost Ensemble methods Neural Networks We will also analyze which questions and variables are the most important in predicting the severity of a case. Based on this, we will suggest improvements to the current triage questions to enhance accuracy. Measuring Success We will evaluate the AI model using key performance metrics, including: Accuracy (overall correctness) Sensitivity (ability to detect real emergencies) Specificity (ability to avoid false alarms) False Positive \& False Negative Rates (how often the system makes mistakes) Likelihood Ratios (how well the system distinguishes between urgent and non-urgent cases) F1-Score \& ROC Curve (overall performance indicators) Why This Matters This project will assess how effective the current telephone triage system is and develop a new AI-powered model to improve it. The goal is to help emergency operators quickly identify the most serious cases, reducing response times and improving patient outcomes. In the future, the investigators aim to integrate this improved AI model into the CCUE system to enhance emergency response across Andalusia.

Awake Prone Position to Reduce Ventilation Inhomogeneity in COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Failure

Evaluation of awake prone position on ventilation inhomogeneity in COVID-19 associated respiratory failure.

Optimizing Care in Critically Ill at UCHealth by Liberalizing the Target O2 in Mechanically-ventilated ICU Patients

A multimodal educational intervention to target an oxygen saturation target range (SpO2 90-96%) will reduce ventilator length of stay and reduce occult hypoxemia by increased awareness and adherence to a designated oxygen saturation target range.

Mode of Ventilation During Critical Illness at Multiple Centers

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether the choice of ventilator mode for patients on breathing machines in the intensive care unit affects their survival and recovery. To do this, researchers will assign the entire participating intensive care unit to one of the three available ventilator modes, alternating which mode is assigned in random sequence every 2 months. The main question it aims to answer is: Does the choice between volume control, pressure control, and adaptive pressure control affect the number of days that patients are alive and free of the breathing machine?

A New Tool for Extubation Readiness in Mechanically Ventilated Patients: Readiness for EXtubation Score

Liberation from mechanical ventilation involves three steps: weaning, readiness assessment, and extubation. Readiness is determined using clinical criteria such as improvement of the underlying condition, hemodynamic stability, and adequate respiratory effort. Successful extubation is defined as not requiring invasive support within 48 hours. Due to the complexity of ICU patients, various clinical parameters and multi-component scores have been developed to predict extubation success. This study aims to develop and evaluate a multi-component score, the Readiness for EXtubation score (REXs), to predict extubation readiness in ICU patients under invasive mechanical ventilation.

EIT-Guided Respiratory Physiotherapy for Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation (PMV)

Patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) frequently experience impaired ventilation distribution, respiratory muscle dysfunction, secretion retention, and delayed liberation from mechanical ventilation. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) provides real-time bedside visualization of regional ventilation and enables individualized respiratory physiotherapy strategies. This multicenter randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate whether EIT-guided respiratory physiotherapy improves ventilator-free days at day 28 compared with conventional respiratory physiotherapy in adult patients with PMV. Respiratory physiotherapy consists of airway clearance, chest physiotherapy techniques, breathing pattern optimization, and therapeutic positioning. In the EIT-guided group, real-time EIT imaging is used to individualize physiotherapy strategies based on predefined ventilation distribution indicators, while the control group receives standardized physiotherapy according to institutional protocols without EIT guidance. Secondary outcomes include successful liberation from mechanical ventilation, diaphragm ultrasound parameters, EIT-derived ventilation distribution indices (exploratory mechanistic outcomes), ICU Mobility Scale, healthcare resource utilization, and safety outcomes.

Acute Respiratory Failure and COVID-19 in Real Life

In December 2019 a new kind of virus was identified in China as the responsible of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and interstitial pneumonia. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) quickly spread around the world and in February 2020 became a pandemia in Europe. No pharmacological treatment is actually licensed for the SARS-CoV2 infection and at the current state of art there is a lack of data about the clinical management of the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19). The aim of this observational study is to collect the data and the outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted in the H. Sacco Respiratory Unit treated according to the Standard Operating Procedures and the Good Clinical Practice.

Effects of PBMT-sMF in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of photobiomodulation therapy combined with static magnetic field (PBMT-sMF) in adult patients who require mechanical ventilation. The main questions it aims to answer are: (i) Does PBMT-sMF lower the length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) for mechanically ventilated patients? (ii) Does PBMT-sMF increase the diaphragm thickness in mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU? Researches will compare active PBMT-sMF plus standard of care to a placebo PBMT-sMF plus standard of care to see if active PBMT-sMF works to prevent or retard disuse atrophy of the diaphragm during mechanical ventilation.

Bedside Lung Ultrasound to Monitor Lung Recruitment in Obese Patients

Patients with morbid obesity who require a breathing machine (mechanical ventilator) in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) frequently experience partial lung collapse. This happens because the extra weight of the chest and abdomen presses on the lungs, reducing their capacity and making it difficult to maintain adequate oxygen levels. To address this, doctors often perform a standard lung recruitment maneuver, which involves temporarily increasing the air pressure from the ventilator to gently pop open the collapsed lung areas. However, standard bedside monitoring tools make it difficult to see exactly how well the different regions of the lungs are reopening. This prospective observational study aims to evaluate the use of Bedside Lung Ultrasound (LUS), which is a safe, radiation-free imaging tool, to monitor how well the lungs respond to these maneuvers in real-time. During the study, researchers will use a standardized 12-zone ultrasound scan to examine the lungs of mechanically ventilated adult patients (BMI ≥ 33 kg/m²) before, during, and after a step-by-step lung recruitment maneuver. By calculating a "Total Lung Ultrasound Score," the medical team can directly visualize and measure the transition from collapsed tissue to normal, aerated lung tissue. Furthermore, the ultrasound will be used during a step-down pressure phase to help identify the patient's "optimal PEEP" (Positive End-Expiratory Pressure), which is the exact customized pressure needed to keep the lungs open after the maneuver is complete, thereby improving oxygenation and minimizing the risk of lung injury.