Diagnosis of CLAD using EIT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Advanced physiological evaluation of Lung transplant recipients using Electrical Impedance Tomography, Neural Respiratory Drive and Forced Oscillation Technique
IRAS ID
198066
Contact name
Nicholas Hart
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
London Bloomsbury, 16/LO/0198
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 15 days
Research summary
In the long term, patients that had lung transplantation can develop chronic rejection. The mechanisms of this are not completely understood yet. For patients, this chronic rejection progressively alter the function of the transplanted lungs. As their function is altered, transplanted lung can no longer provide to patients sufficient oxygenation. This lack of oxygenation is associated with a new onset breathlessness and may lead to chronic respiratory failure. This chronic rejection can present in two different patterns. In one pattern, airways are progressively narrowed. This narrowing prevents the air from going out the lung and causes breathlessness. This pattern is commonly named by doctors Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome or BOS. In the other pattern, the lung are not able to expand as they should and does not allow the air to go inside the lungs. This pattern is commonly named by doctors Restrictive Allograft Dysfunction or RAS. For now, there is no curative treatment of this two patterns of chronic rejection. Therefore, precocious identification of early sign of chronic rejection is important as it allows doctors to initiate preventive treatments. Currently, diagnosis of chronic rejection is performed by using simple lung function test known as spirometry that generally consists in blowing in portable machine. Yet, this test is not very precise and may lead doctors to under-diagnose chronic rejection. Other techniques such as lung computed tomography can be used but it exposes patients to radiations.
Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a new technology that involves wearing a belt of sensors around the chest that provides information on how well the lungs are being filled with air. It allows a non-invasive non-radiative assessment of your lung function.
We hope to use the EIT technology to assess in real-time patients lung ventilation and to see if it can diagnose early stage of chronic rejection.REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0198
Date of REC Opinion
17 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion