Ophthalmic and neurocognitive aspects of critically illness
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ophthalmic and neurocognitive assessment in the management of critically ill patients
IRAS ID
251882
Contact name
Richard J Blanch
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
When patients are seriously unwell the body often struggles to supply itself with oxygen. Critical parts of the body such as the heart and brain are relatively protected, but eventually even the blood supply to the heart and brain may start to fail, causing impairment and permanent damage.
Delirium is an acute impairment of brain function associated with systemic illness. After patients have been seriously unwell, such as during hospital admissions for infections and traumatic brain injury (TBI), they often have evidence of brain damage.
The retina is part of the brain and its blood supply is regulated in the same way as the blood supply to the brain. When patients are seriously unwell, the blood supply to their retina is also reduced and we hypothesise that measuring this blood flow will assess how unwell a patient is and how well they respond to treatment.
By looking at patients with and without impairments in brain function during and after critical illness, we aim to improve patient assessment during this time as well as our understanding of the mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment and the extent to which critical illness affects long term brain function.
We will include patients with critical illness, who we will assess using brain imaging and psychological and cognitive tests over 3-6 months.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/YH/0010
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jan 2019
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion