Chronic Cough

The aim of the study is to assess if chronic cough leads to injury and remodelling of the airways. We plan to analyse bronchial injury and remodelling in patients with refractory chronic cough lasting longer than 12 month . Assessment of injury mediators will be performed in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Remodelling features will be analysed based on chest CT scan and pathologic specimens. Injury of epithelium will be assessed in bronchial biopsy specimens. The relationship between the duration, severity of chronic cough, and bronchial inflammation, damage, remodelling will be analysed.

Prolonged cough lasting more than four weeks is common in children, but the best treatment is often unclear when no underlying disease can be found. This study aims to find out whether commonly used treatments help children with prolonged cough more effectively than placebo. Children who take part will first undergo standard medical examinations, including lung function tests and a chest X-ray, to look for the cause of the cough. If no specific cause is found, the child may enter the study. Children with a dry cough will be randomly assigned to receive either an inhaled corticosteroid (fluticasone) or a placebo inhaler for two months. Children with a wet or productive cough will be randomly assigned to receive either an oral antibiotic (amoxicillin-clavulanic acid) or a placebo medicine for 14 days. Neither the families nor the researchers will know which treatment the child receives during the study. The main goal is to determine whether these treatments significantly reduce or stop the cough compared with placebo. The results will help improve treatment recommendations for children with prolonged cough and avoid unnecessary medication use. Participation is voluntary, and parents provide written informed consent for their child.

This study is a prospective, single-center, single-arm pilot trial. The primary research question is whether brief, breath control-focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is feasible, acceptable, and safe in adults with chronic cough.

Chronic cough is defined as cough persisting for more than eight weeks. It is a common clinical problem that significantly impairs patients' physical, psychological, and social quality of life. Chronic cough remains a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge despite systematic evaluation and treatment of common etiologies such as asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease

The aim of this project is to perform a detailed evaluation of upper esophageal sphincter function and the swallowing mechanism in patients with swallowing disorders or suspected extraesophageal reflux using high-resolution manometry with impedance and 24-hour pH-impedance monitoring.

The FORTITUDE trial will provide head-to-head evidence on the benefits and harms of two commonly prescribed neuromodulators (low-dose morphine and pregabalin), the effectiveness of a virtual cough control therapy, exploratory assessment of potential synergy in combining these interventions, and the long-term outcomes of these treatments in patients with refractory or unexplained chronic cough.

The goal of this observational study is to improve the identification of biomarkers that predict disease progression and to assess the effectiveness of current therapies in children with asthma and protracted bacterial bronchitis. The main aim of the study is to evaluate the microbiome composition and diversity, cellular composition, and metabolomic profile. In addition, to assess their correlation on subsequent treatment and disease course in children with asthma, protracted bacterial bronchitis, and in those receiving inhaled glucocorticosteroids without a diagnosis of asthma. Participants will undergo fiberoptic bronchoscopy. During bronchoscopy, the performing physician will collect Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples for metagenomic and metabolomic analysis, as well as mucosal biopsies for histopathological evaluation.

This study aims to systematically evaluate the effects of different anesthesia methods on postoperative chronic cough in lung cancer patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic lung resection (VATS), and to clarify the effectiveness and safety of each anesthesia airway management strategy in reducing the incidence of postoperative chronic cough, shortening the duration of cough, alleviating the severity of symptoms, and improving the postoperative quality of life of patients.

Cough has previously been described by the type of cough you have ie such as wet, dry, and chesty, and also by its features such as how often you are coughing its,intensity, and severity, but never has the varying patterns of cough been studied in any detail and it could be that the pattern of the cough is closely related to patient-perceived intensity, frequency and most importantly severity. Cough is a symptom and like any other symptom (such as pain) the severity of it can only be gauged by the patient experiencing it. We have created a one-page brand newl questionnaire that shows 4 distinct cough patterns that we believe exist and an empty field designed so that patients can record a pattern of cough they experience which is not already a choice on the questionnaire. The questionnaire also records patients' experience of how frequent, and intense, the cough is, and how it disrupts their lives, on a 1-10 scale (Visual analogue scale), the sum of these scores is collated and this gives us a severity score. The first phase of the project is to determine whether 30 Chronic cough patients understand the questionnaire, and are able to complete it with little direction, and if the cough patterns we identified encompassed all pattern types. second part of the study is to look at how repeatable the questionnaire is when completed over a 6 week period.

This study is being done in order to understand what causes people to have a chronic cough, which is defined as a cough lasting for more than 8 weeks. The research team wish to find out whether there is any inflammation in the lungs of patients with chronic cough. The research team will also determine whether a suspected chemical produced in the body, called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) can be responsible for causing the chronic cough. In order to be able to find out what is abnormal in those who have a chronic cough, The research team will need to compare their results with those that do not have a chronic cough. In this study, the research team will examine 10 participants who suffer from chronic cough and 8 individuals who do not have a chronic cough and are healthy.

Chronic cough has a high global prevalence and it is refractory to such treatments by approximately 20% of patients. Gafapixant is a P2X3 receptor antagonist that has demonstrated the reduction of cough in patients with refractory chronic cough(RCC). Taste disturbance is the most frequent adverse event by gefapixant (approximately 60-70%). Although gefapixant is well-tolerated even if taste disturbance has occurred, the impact of taste disturbance on cough-specific QoL remains to be unclear. Therefore, the investigator would like to evaluate factors related to treatment satisfaction by gefapixant in RCC patients. the investigator hypothesize that taste disturbance will be associated with the improvement of cough specific QoL and treatment satisfaction in RCC patients.

Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) includes chronic, disabling and progressive respiratory conditions marked by lung inflammation and fibrosis. The quality of life and functionality of people with ILD is affected by a plethora of debilitating symptoms such as dyspnoea fatigue and cough. Among them, chronic cough (a cough lasting more than 8 weeks) reigns as one of the most prevalent and challenging, despite receiving far less attention from researchers than other symptoms. Chronic cough affects up to 8 out of 10 individuals with ILD and it is associated with a worse prognosis, mortality, and the need for lung transplantation. This condition showed a significant impact in people's life (e.g., urinary incontinence, speech interferences, depression, chest pain, couples sleeping in separate bedrooms, avoidance of public areas, reduced social interaction, and work absenteeism), further contributing to the decreased health-related quality of life experienced by this population. Managing chronic cough is, therefore, urgently needed. The general aim of this study is to explore the effects of a non-pharmacological cough control treatment on cough-related quality of life in people with ILD. The specific aims of this study are: i) to explore short- and mid-term effects of the non-pharmacological cough control treatment on cough related outcomes (e.g., cough frequency and intensity, dyspnoea, fatigue, cough self-efficacy, health-related quality of life and emotional status); ii) to identify (if any) adverse effects of this therapy.

Recently, a new drug called Gefapixant passed phase III clinical trials for cough suppression in patients with chronic cough. The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the effect of acute and prolonged administration of the drug Gefapixant on cough-related brain activity in patients with chronic cough. The main question it aims to answer is: does the mechanism of action of Gefapixant on the brainstem and brain circuits regulating cough differ between acute and prolonged therapy in people with chronic cough? Participants have their brain activity and their sensitivity to cough-inducing substances measured as well as complete questionnaires about their cough before and while taking daily Gefapixant.