ESCAPE trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exacerbation and Symptom Control After Pseudomonas Eradication Treatment in Adult Bronchiectasis: a multicentre randomized controlled trial (ESCAPE)
IRAS ID
1011311
Contact name
James Chalmers
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Dundee
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN21853061
Research summary
Bronchiectasis is a lung disease that causes people to suffer from cough and chest infections. A bacteria called Pseudomonas causes lung infection in people with bronchiectasis. Pseudomonas is resistant to most antibiotic tablets and often needs to be treated with antibiotic injections. It causes permanent infection of the lungs that is difficult to clear even if patients taking several courses of antibiotics. Patients with Pseudomonas infection have more flare ups of the condition where symptoms get worse and more antibiotic treatments are needed.
As Pseudomonas infections are difficult for patients, preventing them from happening would be better than treating them once they become permanent. We want to conduct a trial to find out if it is possible to prevent a person with bronchiectasis being permanently infected with Pseudomonas by giving antibiotic treatment early on in the infection.
The trial will involve randomly assigning half of the patients to a treatment with a combination of antibiotics given by mouth or through a drip, followed by antibiotic treatment through a nebulizer machine for 3 months, while half of the patients will not receive this treatment. We will measure whether giving this treatment reduces the number of flare-ups of bronchiectasis.
The main outcome of the study will be exacerbations over 24 months follow-up. We will also measure whether sputum samples become negative for Pseudomonas by asking participants to give sputum samples for testing, and we will test whether the number of people admitted to hospital is reduced, whether patients feel better using symptom questionnaires and whether there were side effects from the antibiotics. We will also collect data to know if the treatment is cost-effective, meaning that the costs saved by preventing infections outweigh the costs of the treatment. This trial will help doctors to know the best way to manage these pseudomonas infections in the future and will inform future medical guidelines.REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/NE/0214
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jan 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion