Paediatric TracheBiome
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating defence against airway infection in children with and without tracheostomies – the paediatric tracheBiome study
IRAS ID
257124
Contact name
Malcolm Brodlie
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Many children less than two years old who have serious medical problems require help with their breathing long-term. A life-saving procedure in this setting involves a surgeon making a small hole in the windpipe. This procedure (“tracheostomy”) is often long-term and carries a high risk of complications and in particular lung infections that can cause multiple re-admissions to hospital and can themselves be life-threatening. The precise ways in which tracheostomy promotes infection are unknown in children, but our previous work suggested clues from studying adults in the intensive care unit. We therefore want to investigate, for the first time, how complications might arise in the infant windpipe, with a view to developing better preventive strategies in the future. We aim to 1) investigate how the windpipe’s immune system works before and after a tracheostomy procedure, and 2) to investigate if the cells that make up the windpipe “age prematurely” as a result of this procedure. By carrying out this research we aim to identify potential new treatments that may reduce the number of breathing problems that these children face.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/YH/0061
Date of REC Opinion
21 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion