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Pathophysiological Mechanisms of Dyspnea and Activity-limitation in Mild Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

NCT00975403 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 20

Last updated 2012-12-17

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a growing cause of death, disability and health care costs in Canada. Nevertheless, COPD remains largely under-diagnosed and under-treated, particularly in its early stages. Patients with mild COPD have variable respiratory symptoms and often go unrecognized by their caregivers. Recent studies indicate that even smokers with near normal breathing test results can have extensive small airway disease/dysfunction at rest, which becomes more pronounced during the stress of exercise thus leading to unpleasant breathing difficulty. This study seeks to better understand the nature and causes of breathing discomfort and activity limitation in a group of patients with mild COPD. The investigators will compare detailed tests of small airway function and conduct an evaluation of several key physiological parameters during the stress of exercise in patients with mild COPD and in healthy, age-matched, non-smoking control subjects. The investigators will also compare detailed physiological responses to exercise under conditions of chemical loading and mechanical unloading of the respiratory system in patients with mild COPD.

The proposed study will be the first to systematically test the hypothesis that pathophysiological abnormalities in ventilatory demand, pulmonary gas exchange, small airway function, dynamic ventilatory mechanics and respiratory muscle function contribute significantly to exertional dyspnea and activity-limitation in patients with mild COPD. This study will be the first to determine if these abnormalities can be manipulated.

Conditions

Interventions

DEVICE

Dead space breathing

Chemical loading by adding a deadspace (600ml) to the breathing circuit during a single cycle exercise test

DEVICE

Room air breathing

Sham comparator (vs deadspace) during a single cycle exercise test will entail breathing room air on the same circuit without the rebreathe valves

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Canadian Lung Association

    collaborator INDUSTRY

  • Queen's University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Denis E O'Donnell, MD, FRCPC · Queen's University and Kingston General Hospital

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
TRIPLE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
40 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2010-10-31
Primary Completion
2012-09-30
Completion
2012-09-30

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00975403 on ClinicalTrials.gov