The purpose of this protocol is to develop and test optimal delivery of aerosol furosemide, a treatment that has the potential to significantly improve symptom management and enhance the quality of care for patients with intractable dyspnea.
This is study of aerosol treatment in a laboratory model of dyspnea in healthy subjects. This study is the first in a series of studies that will include investigation of a second dose in the laboratory and investigation of the treatment effect in hospitalized patients with refractory dyspnea. The outcome of this first study will determine the details of protocol for the succeeding studies.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
24
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Subject Rating of Breathing Discomfort (Dyspnea)
Change in breathing discomfort (dyspnea) rating at benchmark PETCO2 using a visual analog scale. The change in breathing discomfort is expressed as units on a 0% to 100% continuous scale, where higher values represent more dyspnea. The change is represented as the rating of breathing discomfort after the intervention minus the rating of breathing discomfort before the intervention.
Time frame: The breathing discomfort ratings were taken as an average of all ratings during runs before intervention and the first two runs after intervention. The 1st and 2nd post-runs began (on average) 12 minutes and 49 minute after intervention, respectively.
Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile
Characterization of subject's response to laboratory dyspnea model. Data are from a baseline pre-treatment test on the first drug or placebo treatment day for the subjects used in the main analysis. Subjects were asked to complete the MDP with reference to the last 30 sec of each run. To weigh subjects equally, we selected one run from each subject: the first run that terminated in a rating of overall breathing discomfort (A1) of 50 to 90% of full scale. The units of measurement are expressed as units on a 0 to 10 scale measuring intensity of a given quality, with higher values indicating greater intensity and 10 representing maximum perceived intensity.
Time frame: Measured before intervention
Urine Output
Diuresis is an expected effect of furosemide. To the extent that aerosol furosemide is absorbed into the blood, diuresis is an expected 'side effect' of this treatment
Time frame: Cumulative urine output 1 hour after intervention
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