Emphysema Clinical Trials

The Comprehensive Lung Center (CLC) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC Health System) provides patients with any type of breathing or lung disorder a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. The Emphysema/COPD Research Center (ECRC) is a specialty clinic, within this center, that attempts to advance the understanding of emphysema and to evaluate new therapies for patients with emphysema. The Emphysema Research Registry will enable pulmonary research physicians to: 1) gather information and create a research registry of people who have been diagnosed with emphysema; 2) utilize this research registry with the purpose of conducting research that attempts to advance the understanding of emphysema and to evaluate new therapies; and, 3) use the research registry to identify potential candidates for future research programs. These aims will be achieved by the collection of DNA (genetic material)for analysis and storage in addition to pulmonary function tests and other medical information. Read Less

This is a 6 week crossover study in current and former smokers with and without COPD to evaluate whether 2 weeks of dual antiplatelet therapy (aspirin 81mg and clopidogrel 75mg) improves pulmonary perfusion (i.e. blood flow in the lungs measured on a contrast CT scan) compared to placebo. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to determine if doxycycline will reduce progression of emphysema in people living with HIV. The secondary objectives are to examine the effects of doxycycline on change in quantity of emphysema, six minute walk distance, patient reported outcomes, ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity. Secondary objectives will also describe the safety and tolerability of doxycycline and determine if doxycycline is associated with development of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Read Less

This study determines whether quercetin supplementation reduces the inflammation and oxidative stress markers in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is small study with 8 subjects receiving quercetin 1000 mg/day, 8 patients receiving 500 mg/day and 4 subjects receive placebo. Read Less

This is a single-arm, prospective, multi-center, Registry study to evaluate the long-term safety and effectiveness of the Spiration Valve System (SVS) for the treatment of severe emphysema in a post-market setting. Read Less

This study will use dual energy x-ray computed tomography (DECT) to evaluate the relationship between heterogeneous perfusion, hypoxia (low oxygen in inspired gas) and induction of pulmonary vascular dilatation to characterize emphysema susceptibility in a normal smoking population. The investigators will correlate DECT measures of perfusion with lung injury measured by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The investigators will study the effect of pulmonary arterial vasodilation to see if it eliminates indices of persistent lung injury in smokers that are susceptible to emphysema Read Less

The purpose of this cross-sectional, observational study is to evaluate the site and mechanism(s) for expiratory airflow limitation in chronic, treated, current or former smokers (>15 pack years) with COPD, Emphysema, and Asthma-COPD Overlap with mild to severe expiratory airflow limitation. Treatment may include short and long acting inhaled beta2agonists, short and long acting inhaled muscarinic receptor antagonists, inhaled and or oral corticosteroid, oral antibiotic, supplemental oxygen, and PDE type 4 inhibitor. In some cases, the patient may have had a history of asthma preceding the development of COPD (Asthma COPD Overlap). Read Less

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) using endobronchial valves is effective in improving quality of life in patients suffering from emphysema. BLVR treatment in advanced emphysema requires targeted segmental or sub-segmental placement of endobronchial valves (EBV) to achieve total lobar occlusion to induce effective lobar volume reduction. BLVR procedure success rate declines in patients with incomplete lobar fissure integrity due to the potential for collateral ventilation to circumvent EBV lobar occlusion. Current methods that assess lobar collateral ventilation as a correlate of fissure integrity are imperfect, resulting in a significant percentage of patients having equivocal assessment, leading to suboptimal selection of patients and potential for inappropriate selection of patients for BLVR. Additionally, methods used to select the target lobe for EBV placement predominately rely on the extent of emphysematous destruction. There is also a need to select based on the extent of physiological disturbance at the lobar level. Distribution of ventilation or regional ventilation heterogeneity may be associated with collateral ventilation. Therefore, in this study we wish to quantify lobar distribution of ventilation and ventilation heterogeneity in patients undergoing investigation for BLVR to determine the additive contribution of functional lung imaging for assessing lobar physiological derangement and suitability for EBV treatment. Read Less

The COPD Patient-Powered Research Network (COPD PPRN) is a patient research registry with the goal of enrolling 75,000 or more COPD patients and those at risk who are willing to share their heath information over several years and participate in research. The COPD PPRN has built an online platform to allow volunteers to enroll electronically, complete surveys, be contacted about studies they qualify for and become connected to COPD resources. The goal of the registry is to speed research to find better treatments for COPD and ultimately a cure. Read Less