Publications by authors named "T Kontopoulou"
Background: In the ACCESS trial, the addition of clarithromycin to standard-of-care antibiotics (SoC) enhanced early clinical response and attenuated the inflammatory burden in adults with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) requiring hospitalisation. A post-hoc analysis was performed to investigate the benefit in specific subgroups.
Methods: The primary endpoint comprised two conditions to be met during the first 72 h: ≥50% decrease in respiratory symptom severity score; and any of ≥30% decrease in sequential organ failure assessment score and favourable change in the kinetics of procalcitonin (PCT, defined as ≥80% PCT decrease or PCT <0.
Patients with sepsis differ in their clinical presentations and immune dysregulation in response to infection, but the fundamental processes that determine this heterogeneity remain elusive. Here, we aim to understand which types of immune dysregulation characterize patients with sepsis. To that end, we investigate sepsis pathogenesis in the context of two transcriptional states: one represents the immune response to eliminate pathogens (resistance, R) and the other is associated with systemic inflammation (SI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the metabolomic profiles associated with different immune activation states in sepsis patients.
Design: Subgroup analysis of the PROVIDE (a Personalized Randomized trial of Validation and restoration of Immune Dysfunction in severe infections and Sepsis) prospective clinical study.
Setting: Results of the PROVIDE study showed that patients with sepsis may be classified into three states of immune activation: 1) macrophage-activation-like syndrome (MALS) characterized by hyperinflammation, sepsis-induced immunoparalysis, and 3) unclassified or intermediate patients without severe immune dysregulation.
Clarithromycin for early anti-inflammatory responses in community-acquired pneumonia in Greece (ACCESS): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Lancet Respir Med
April 2024
Article Synopsis
- The study examines whether adding the macrolide antibiotic clarithromycin to β-lactam antibiotics can improve early clinical responses in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia, based on previous observational studies rather than randomized trials.
- Conducted as a phase 3 double-blind randomized controlled trial in Greece, the research involved adult patients with severe pneumonia who were given either standard care plus a placebo or standard care plus clarithromycin for seven days.
- The primary outcome measured included a significant improvement in respiratory symptoms and reduction in inflammatory response after 72 hours of treatment, with both groups being kept unaware of their allocated treatment for unbiased results.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to evaluate a blood test that measures MxA and CRP levels to differentiate between viral and bacterial respiratory infections in adults.
- A total of 537 patients were analyzed, leading to the development of a diagnostic equation with high sensitivity for bacterial infections (91.6%).
- The findings suggest that using MxA and CRP measurements can effectively identify the type of respiratory infection, helping guide appropriate treatment.