17 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Many individuals with lung cancer experience debilitating breathlessness at some point during the course of their illness. Unfortunately, few interventions exist to treat this distressing symptom of cancer. In this study, the investigators plan on recruiting individuals with lung cancer to participate in a behavioral intervention to help relieve breathlessness. The principal investigator of the study, Dr. Joseph Greer, is a licensed clinical psychologist who has trained nurse practitioners in how to deliver the behavioral intervention. The nurse practitioners will meet with patients diagnosed with lung cancer during their outpatient oncology appointments, such as chemotherapy infusions, to review the behavioral skills that may help with breathlessness. Specifically, the intervention includes education about the relationship between breathlessness and the stress response as well as teaches patients skills for breathing control and relaxation of the body. For this single-group pilot study, the investigators will ask participants to provide feedback about whether they found the intervention acceptable and effective. Participants will also complete questionnaires about their physical and psychological symptoms before and after the intervention in order to measure its effectiveness for treating breathlessness and any distress related to breathlessness. The data from this study will help inform improvements to the intervention in order to make it feasible and effective for treating breathlessness in patients with lung cancer.
Beta-endorphins, which are naturally occurring narcotic substances, have been shown to alter the perception of breathlessness. Oral ketoconazole, an antifungal antibiotic, increases blood levels of beta-endorphins. The study hypothesis is that oral ketoconazole will reduce ratings of breathlessness induced by resistive breathing loads.
The main goal of this study is to establish the effectiveness of palliative oxygen in the context within which it is usually provided--relief of the sensation of breathlessness and improvement in quality of life for people with maximally-treated life-limiting illness.
The BREATHE-easy is a randomized control trial assessing the efficacy of the novel PneumoCool device to alleviate subjective shortness of breath. The PneumoCool device is a disposable, bladeless, highly portable device that uses medical-grade air that confers many advantages in a hospital setting.
Substance P is released from sensory nerves and transmits pain information into the central nervous system. As pain and dyspnea share many characteristics, including similar neurological pathways, it is possible that substance P may contribute to the sensation of dyspnea. The hypothesis of the study is that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will provide lower ratings of breathlessness during resistive load breathing with oral aprepitant, a medication that blocks the activity of substance P, compared with placebo.
The study will evaluate the impact of high velocity therapy (HVT) on reduction of work of breathing (as implied by breath frequency) and enhanced blood lactate decline during recovery from a Wingate-type Exercise test. The study will include four study segments, corresponding to four different therapy settings.
This project seeks to pilot-test the feasibility of using a melodica training program to teach pursed lip breathing for Veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with moderate to severe dyspnea (shortness of breath). Dyspnea occurs commonly among COPD patients and can limit activities of daily living. Pursed lip breathing is a strategy that can improve dyspnea and exercise capacity among COPD patients. The melodica is a musical instrument that looks like a keyboard with a mouthpiece on the side. The melodica is played by exhaling through the mouthpiece while pressing the keys. The MELODY pilot project protocol has been grounded on concepts from occupational therapy; specifically, providing participants with a meaningful new activity that is enjoyable, that can be provided across a spectrum of skill levels, that can provide participants with a new sense of self, and that can improve health outcomes (i.e., dyspnea and exercise endurance).
Dyspnea, or breathlessness, is one of the most common and distressing symptoms experienced by patients with advanced lung cancer. The purpose of this multi-site trial is to test the effectiveness of a dyspnea intervention (called BREEZE+) that includes three brief nurse-delivered sessions and access to a digital health app that teaches and reinforces patients' use of skills for managing and coping with this highly debilitating symptom. This study will lay the groundwork for a follow-up pragmatic implementation trial integrating BREEZE+ into usual oncology care for patients with advanced lung cancer experiencing dyspnea.
The overall objective of this study is to better understand the respiratory mechanisms provoking dyspnea on exertion in obese asthmatic children.
The purpose of the Lung Institute is to collect and isolate a patient's own cells and platelet rich plasma (PRP) and deliver the product back to the patient the same day. Lung Institute's treatment is limited to self-funded patients with chronic lung disease- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and restrictive lung diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis (PF) and interstitial lung disease (ILD). The patient's cells and platelet rich plasma are harvested through venous or bone marrow collection techniques. The hypothesized outcomes of therapy are safety and minimization of adverse events, a perceived improvement in the patient's lung condition (to be determined by their perceived quality of life), an improvement in the FEV1 among COPD patients, the ability to reduce supplemental oxygen use, the ability to function well without the use of rescue inhalers, reduction of secondary pulmonary infections, reduction in emergency room visits and exacerbations related to their disease.
The purpose of the Lung Institute is to collect and isolate a patient's own cells and platelet rich plasma (PRP) and deliver the product back to the patient same-day. Lung Institute's treatment is limited to self- funded patients with chronic lung disease - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease (ILD). The patient's cells and platelet rich plasma are collected through venous harvesting. The hypothesized outcomes of Lung Institute therapy are safety and minimization of adverse events, a perceived improvement in the patient's lung condition (to be determined by their ability to be more physically active; walking greater distances with or without oxygen and improved quality of life scales), an improvement in the FEV1 among COPD patients, the ability to reduce their use of oxygen and possibly to stop it., the ability to function well without the use of rescue inhalers, reduction or ceasing of secondary pulmonary infections, reduction in emergency room visits and exacerbations related to their disease.
This study compared the safety and efficacy of indacaterol 150 µg taken once daily (o.d.) versus salmeterol 50 µg taken twice daily (b.i.d) in patients 40 years old or older with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Previous studies suggest that treadmill exercise may be a more relevant exercise stimulus than the cycle ergometer to demonstrate benefits with bronchodilator therapy in patients with COPD. The hypothesis of the study is that patients with COPD will exhibit greater improvements in exercise endurance and breathlessness with arformoterol compared with normal saline during treadmill walking than with cycle exercise.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether acupuncture is effective in relieving shortness of breath among breast and lung cancer patients.
Overall objective is to test whether the 5-weekly family home palliative and end-of-life care (FamPALcare) intervention educational and supportive sessions will improve rural home end-of-life and palliative care (EOLPC) for advanced heart failure at 6 months follow up.
In previous studies we demonstrated that endogenous opioids (inhibitory neuropeptides) modulate the perception of breathing difficulty in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Recently, we found that antagonism of substance P (an excitatory neuropeptide) with aprepitant did not affect the perception of breathing difficulty. However, after administration of aprepitant, blood levels of both substance P(+ 54 ± 39%) and beta-endorphin (+ 27 ± 17%) increased significantly. As these blood levels reflect cellular/tissue activity, we postulated that the concomitant release of excitatory (substance P) and inhibitory (beta-endorphin) neuropeptides had opposing effects (counterbalanced each other) on the perception of breathing difficulty. The objective of the present study is to further examine the possible role of substance P on the perception of breathlessness. We propose to administer oral aprepitant and oral placebo in a randomized clinical trial in patients with COPD. However, four hours after patients take these medications, intravenous naloxone will be administered in order to block the effects of endogenous opioids (beta-endorphin) on opioid receptors. Five minutes later, patients will breathe thru a tube with fine wire mesh to provoke breathing difficulty, and then provide ratings of the intensity and unpleasantness of breathlessness every minute. The two competing hypothesis of the study are: 1. if breathlessness ratings with aprepitant/naloxone = placebo/naloxone, then substance P has no effect on perception of breathing difficulty; 2. if breathlessness ratings with aprepitant/naloxone ≠ placebo/naloxone, then substance P has an effect on perception of breathing difficulty.
Endorphins are released in response to breathing difficulty and can modify the perception of breathlessness. In this randomized placebo-controlled trial, resistive breathing loads are used to provoke breathlessness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The hypothesis of the study is that intravenous (IV) administration of naloxone, a medication which blocks endorphin activity, will increase the perception of breathlessness experienced by patients while breathing through a resistance device, compared with IV administration of normal saline.