Trials Tracker

LIMBuS

Lung clearance index (LCI) measure by multi-breath washout (MBW) has been shown to be sensitive and a non-invasive way of picking up early airways disease in infants with cystic fibrosis (CF). Abnormal measurements at a young age have been shown to track into later life and could identify children who need more aggressive treatment early. Currently there is a lack of data and suitable ways of performing this in multiple, non-specialised centres. This is a multi-centre longitudinal observational study of this measurement in children under 3 years of age with CF with a healthy control group and a disease comparison group of babies who are born early. A novel method for MBW in infants will be used which has been developed and assessed in a pilot study prior to this. We aim to show that LCI can be reliably measured across multiple centres using this method with high rates of success and that the measurements are repeatable in the short term (2-3 months). Any changes in this measurement in the CF infants and children will also be shown over 12-18 months. All parents will be consented prior to taking part and the children will be sedated as per local protocol at lower doses than usual. The CF children will be seen after recruitment, 2-3 months and 12-18 months later. The babies will be seen prior to discharge from the neonatal unit and 12 months later. The healthy children will be seen opportunistically when sedated for MRI scans in radiology and measurements taken whilst still asleep.