Neutrophil inflammation on Intensive Care (PICNIIC)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Pilot Study of the Incidence and Characteristics of Neutrophil Dominated Lung Inflammation on Intensive Care
IRAS ID
159541
Contact name
Kev Dhaliwal
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
Seriously ill patients may develop a complication called Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a form of inflammation in which lung tissue is filled by fluid containing white blood cells called neutrophils. ARDS is common and is often fatal (for example in the USA it is estimated that 190,000 patients develop ARDS per annum, of whom 75,000 die). No pharmacological treatment has been shown to improve ARDS.
Data from animal models and patients strongly suggest that neutrophils are central to disease progression. However no bedside methods exist to rapidly and accurately determine, in seriously ill patients, if neutrophils are present and if they are releasing damaging enzymes. As such, the investigating team are studying the utility of novel methods of understanding neutrophil activity in the clinical environment. In order to understand the application of novel techniques it is first necessary to characterise the level of neutrophil activity using a myriad of existing techniques. Such techniques are well established in the pre-clinical environment, and have been used to some extent in clinical research but are not suitable to inform clinical decisions due their complexity and tardiness.
The aim of this study is to identify the number of cases of ARDS in our unit and to characterise the inflammatory nature of this condition with special consideration of the activity of neutrophils. The information derived here will be used to inform future work on the study of neutrophil activation in this critically ill cohort. Additionally, the appearance of lungs in those with this condition will be assessed as determined by an imaging technique called probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE). This technique is established in lung investigation in general but has not received wide spread attention in patients on the intensive care unit, not least those with ARDS.
REC name
Scotland A REC
REC reference
14/SS/1074
Date of REC Opinion
31 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion