Cough Central
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Are there Differences in Central Nervous Systems Processing in Patients with Refractory Chronic Cough?
IRAS ID
258150
Contact name
Jacky A Smith
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospital South Manchester
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN88737146
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Cough is one of the most common conditions for which treatment is sought, however, treatment options are very limited. Some people experience chronic cough, which persists despite attempts to treat. This can be very distressing and disruptive to sufferers. It is suspected that these patients suffer from a hyper-sensitivity of the cough reflex, affecting the nerves either in the peripheral or central nervous system (CNS). Some drugs which act on the CNS have been shown to reduce cough in some patients, but not all. In this study we aim to investigate the CNS by comparing brain activity in chronic cough patient to that of healthy controls. We will use resting-state functional magnetic resonance scanning (fMRI) to look at which areas of the brain interact with each other in chronic cough and if this differs from activity seen in healthy volunteers.
We are also going to investigate the differences between patient who respond to low-dose morphine, a centrally-acting drug, and those who have no benefit from the drug. We intend to relate the findings of the fMRI scans to cough measures, including questionnaire responses, cough frequency and cough reflex sensitivity.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0105
Date of REC Opinion
11 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion