Clinical Trials

Do you or your child have a lung disease? This study will investigate the genes involved in the breathing process and in the development of lung diseases such as asthma or sarcoidosis to improve understanding of the role they play. To participate in this study, you or your child must be between 2 and 90 years old. This study is located in Bethesda, Maryland, at the NIH Clinical Center.

Do you have COPD? This study will be looking for genes that may play a role in the development of COPD by looking at the blood from patients who have COPD, as well as the blood from those patients’ family members. To participate in this study, you must be 52 years old or younger and must not be pregnant or have other serious lung diseases such as lung cancer. This study will be conducted in Boston, Massachusetts.

Are you an adult with a lung disease such as COPD, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, or emphysema? This study aims to discover if low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans are as effective as regular CT scans in monitoring your COPD. This study is located in Bethesda, Maryland, at the NIH Clinical Center.

Do you or your child have dyslipidemia? This study is exploring how different diagnostic tests can help us understand how lipid disorders, including high blood cholesterol and high blood triglycerides, affect the body. Information from this study may help improve the way lipid disorders are diagnosed or treated in the future. Participants in this study must be at least 2 years old. The study is being conducted in Bethesda, Maryland.

Do you have symptoms of a lung disease (such as long-term wet cough, bronchiectasis, or recurrent pneumonia) with no genetic diagnosis? This study aims to develop new ways to diagnose primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) or primary immune deficiency (PID), two conditions that can have similar symptoms. Researchers will combine information from genetic testing, lung imaging, and lung function tests to diagnose and tell the difference between these two conditions. Participants in this study must be 5 to 45 years old and must have symptoms of a serious lung disease but no diagnosis. This study is taking place at multiple locations in the United States and in Canada, including the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Are you a healthy adult or someone with a history of lung infections such as pneumonia or bronchitis? This study aims to compare fluid and tissue samples from the nose and lungs of healthy adults with people who have a lung disease. Researchers hope to learn why some people are more susceptible to certain infections. This study is located at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) impairs oxygen transport to tissue and causes endothelial injury. Thus, therapeutic interventions aim to improve both, but there is an unmet need for biomarkers to determine when intervention is necessary and evaluate the effectiveness of the chosen intervention in individual patients. This study proposes to monitor SCD and its treatment through their impact on cerebral hemodynamics, as the brain is one of the most vulnerable and consequential targets of the disease. Specifically, this study will optimize quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and advanced optical spectroscopy techniques such as frequency-domain near-infrared and diffuse correlation spectroscopies (FDNIRS-DCS) to monitor 1) cerebral oxygen transport with measures of cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption (CMRO2) and 2) endothelial function with cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR).

The main goal of this study is to determine whether the treatment will lead to a complete absence of severe vaso-occlusive events (VOEs) in patients with severe SCD.

Are you or your child at least 13 years old and have sickle cell disease? In this stidy, researchers are trying to find out if a new medication improves the success of a blood stem cell transplant. People 13 years old or older who are eligible for a blood stem cell transplant to treat sickle cell disease may be able to participate. Healthy family members over age 13 who are matched to transplant recipients are also needed to donate blood for the study. This study is taking place at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

The purpose of this study is to learn more about how the use of two different types of telemedicine (distance medical care) can address barriers to receiving comprehensive sickle cell care, and whether care can be improved.