Sepsis Clinical Trials

Study Hypothesis/Question In infants born very preterm, advancing enteral feeds after 24 hours from birth (limited trophic feeds) versus after 72 hours (extended trophic feeds) reduces the risk of all-cause late onset sepsis (LOS) without increasing the risk of other adverse outcomes. Study Design Type This is a multi-center, open-label, parallel-group, individual randomized controlled trial comparing two different trophic feeding regimens in preterm infants born between 25w0d and 31w6d. These infants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group, receiving limited trophic feeding (20 to 25 mL/kg/day for one day) or the control group, receiving extended trophic feeding (20 to 25 mL/kg/day for three days) prior to advancing enteral feeds until full feeding volume (140 mL/kg/day) is achieved. Eligibility Criteria Preterm infants with gestational ages between 25 0/7 and 31 6/7 weeks and a birthweight of \<1500 grams who are admitted to six participating neonatal units will be eligible for inclusion. Infants with \<5th percentile for weight at birth, vasopressor use within first 24 hours of life major congenital/genetic anomalies affecting enteral feeding, growth, or mortality, and those with a terminal illness in which decisions to withhold or limit support have been made will be excluded. Infants of parents or legal guardians who are unable to provide consent within 36 hours of birth will also be excluded. Study Intervention/Methods Written parental informed consent will be obtained prenatally or within the first 36 hours of birth. Infants will be randomized to receive limited trophic feeds of 24 to 36 hours or extended trophic feeds for 72 hours prior to the advancement of enteral feeds. Infants will be fed parent's own milk (POM) with donor human milk as the alternative if POM is unavailable. Primary Outcome Late-onset sepsis, defined as positive blood, urine, and/or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures in the presence of compatible clinical signs of sepsis, occurring after postnatal day 3 and before hospital discharge, and treated with antibiotics for 5 days or more. Secondary Outcome(s) The trial will assess various secondary outcomes including length of hospital stay, all-cause in-hospital mortality, duration of IV fluids and central line utilization, necrotizing enterocolitis (Bell's stage IIa or higher), severe intraventricular hemorrhage (grade III or IV either unilaterally or bilaterally), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (oxygen requirement or positive pressure ventilation at 36 weeks corrected gestational age), or retinopathy of prematurity requiring intervention. Additionally, growth metrics throughout hospitalization will be evaluated using change in weight, length, and head circumference z-scores from birth to 36 weeks' corrected gestational age between infants in the limited and extended trophic feeding groups. Read Less

Sepsis is a leading cause of death in children, and an early diagnosis that improves outcomes is less likely in children who are treated in general Emergency Departments (EDs), that treat adults and children, compared to pediatric Emergency Departments. The study team, in collaboration with invested clinicians and expert partners, has developed a pediatric sepsis diagnostic safety toolkit that we will implement in a pediatric health system's transfer call center. Preparation for launch of the toolkit will include education throughout Children's Hospital Colorado (CHCO), with a focus on transfer center nurses and accepting CHCO physicians who will be partnering in delivering the toolkit. Usual avenues for clinical education will be used, including meetings, endorsement from clinical leaders, emails, and physical materials such as badge and pocket cards. Referring Emergency Department (ED) providers outside of CHCO will not receive education about the toolkit by design, since they are the recipients of the toolkit which is designed to disseminate sepsis diagnostic knowledge in real time to general EDs within existing transfer workflows. This research will test whether the toolkit improves early pediatric sepsis diagnosis in general EDs where most children receive their first critical hours of care. Read Less

The goal of the CASPER-Pilot study is to develop clinical decision support (CDS) technology within Epic to randomize patients with septic shock to early versus standard of care vasopressin initiation. The primary aim of this study will be to test the hypothesis that CDS technology can be utilized to create two distinct cohorts of patients reflecting different times of vasopressin initiation based on norepinephrine dose requirements. Secondarily, this study will evaluate the proportion of patients whose norepinephrine dose at the time of vasopressin initiation is within the specified range for the intervention arm they were randomized to. Other outcomes of evaluation will include adherence to the developed CDS technology and comparison of clinical outcomes between the two treatment arms. Read Less

Patients with bloodstream infections (sepsis) have been found in prior studies to have infection-related heart dysfunction, even if they did not have preexisting heart problems. Factors related to the infection may cause the heart to not pump as well as it should, causing critical illness in the form of low blood pressure (shock) and heart failure. Ultrasound is frequently used in the emergency department to evaluate why a patient might have low blood pressure. Part of that evaluation may include obtaining ultrasound images and making measurements about how well or poorly the heart is pumping. The investigators will evaluate a certain measurement that relates to cardiac function, determine how it changes in patients before and after they are treated for septic shock. This will involve placing an ultrasound probe on the patient's chest, measuring the upward and downward movement of the mitral valve, the mitral annulus systolic plane excursion (MAPSE), and comparing the measurements before and after treatment is started. The investigators are attempting to determine if this measurement improves before and after treatment. Read Less

The aim of this project is to test the utility of The Gene Z device (as of 2018 Gene Z no longer being used), now using In-Dx and other rapid identification techniques that the investigators have developed in the lab on clinically obtained bodily fluid samples taken from patients with suspected infection or sepsis based on having three of four positive Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome markers, or having a known infection for which a specimen is being collected. Specimens will be collected by University of Michigan Health/Sparrow Laboratories and McLaren Greater Lansing laboratories, processed and stored for analysis at a later date to determine if the microbial pathogens identified by current methods of culture, as well as pathogen susceptibility to antibiotics by culture results, can be identified by the GeneZ technology (no longer in use) or other developed technology accurately, and more timely. It will not affect current patient care nor impact patient care, which will continue in the standard fashion today for sepsis. Results will be compared to standard culture results and antibiotic sensitivities. Read Less

The CLEAN (ChLorine to reduce Enteric and Antibiotic resistant infections in Neonates) cluster randomized controlled trial in western Kenya will evaluate the impact of a multi-component chlorination intervention in health care facilities on maternal and neonatal health. Intervention facilities will receive a passive chlorination technology for water supply treatment and a reliable supply of sodium hypochlorite disinfectant. Both intervention and treatment facilities will receive infection prevention and control messaging. The goal of the study is to evaluate the impact of the intervention on bacterial contamination of water supply, on staff hands, and on high-touch surfaces in maternity wards, and the following outcomes among facility-born neonates and their mothers: (1) gut carriage of bacterial pathogens associated with sepsis one week post-birth, (2) gut carriage of antibiotic resistant bacteria one week post-birth, and (3) symptoms of possible serious bacterial infection one week following birth. Read Less

Researchers think acupuncture may improve outcomes for participants with sepsis, based on laboratory studies and previous studies in people with sepsis. The purpose of this study to see whether real acupuncture can improve outcomes for participants with sepsis when compared to sham acupuncture. Sham acupuncture is performed the same way as real acupuncture but will use different needles and target different sites or places on the body than real acupuncture. Read Less

The goal of this experimental study is to understand if endotracheal tube (ETT) suctioning increases pain and causes stress on the body in intubated adult ICU patients. These patients are already on ventilators, which means they need suctioning to keep their airways clear, but this procedure may be uncomfortable and cause stress. The main questions this study aims to answer are: Does ETT suctioning raise pain levels as measured by the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT)? Does ETT suctioning increase certain chemicals in the blood (hypoxanthine, xanthine, and uric acid) that show stress and lack of oxygen in the body? Researchers will compare patients who have ETT suctioning (intervention group) with those who do not have suctioning during the study period (control group) to see if there are differences in pain and blood markers of stress. Participants will: Have pain measured before and after suctioning using the CPOT. Have blood samples taken from an existing line at three time points: 5 minutes before, 5 minutes after, and 30 minutes after suctioning. Provide demographic information (like age, gender, and diagnosis) from medical records. This research will help improve how pain is managed for ICU patients who cannot speak for themselves, potentially leading to better pain relief methods in the future. Read Less

This is a prospective, non-randomized study investigating if organ damage and immune changes can be measured by liquid biopsy NGS through advanced analytical methods. Read Less

This study is being conducted to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of VBI-S in elevating the blood pressure of septic shock patients with absolute or relative hypovolemia. Read Less

Fluids are one of the most common treatments given to patients in the hospital. Fluids are especially important in treating patients with sepsis. Multiple clinical studies have compared the two main types of fluids used in sepsis (normal saline and balanced crystalloids). However, these studies have not found a clear benefit of one type of fluid versus the other. Which fluid should be given to which patient is an essential question because of the ubiquity of this intervention. Even a small difference in mortality could drastically change the standards of care given the national (and worldwide) scale of this intervention. The investigators have developed an algorithm that uses bedside vital signs (temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure) to identify a group of patients (Group D) who have a significant mortality benefit from balanced crystalloids. The study randomizes adult patients admitted through emergency departments across 6 Emory hospitals belonging to Group D to intervention versus usual care. The intervention arm involves a prompt to clinicians to use balanced crystalloids rather than normal saline. Read Less

Adverse outcomes in surgical sepsis patients are secondary to dysregulated emergency myelopoiesis, and expansion of myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Here we propose to determine the underlying mechanisms behind the increased expansion of these leukocyte populations and the underlying mechanisms that drive inflammation and immune suppression. Read Less