Saltwater rinse through chest tube may boost infection recovery
NCT ID NCT06434324
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study looks at whether adding a simple saltwater rinse (saline irrigation) through a chest tube can improve how well the standard medication clears a serious lung infection called empyema. About 60 adults with this infection will receive either standard treatment alone or standard treatment plus the rinse. The goal is to see if the rinse reduces the number of medication doses needed and avoids extra procedures.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 60 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Mar 2025
- Expected to finish
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Mar 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion criteria: * Purulent pleural fluid versus pleural fluid analysis demonstrating pH \<7.2, glucose \<60 mg/dL, positive Gram stain, or positive pleural fluid culture versus multiseptated pleural effusion with infection at top of differential diagnosis * Patients initiating intrapleural lytic therapy under the care of the Interventional Pulmonary consult service at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN Exclusion Criteria: * Unwillingness to give informed consent * Patients with known bleeding diathesis * Platelet count \<50,000 per μL * INR \>2.2 (of note, INR can be allowed to drift down or be reversed pharmacologically prior to initiation of intrapleural lytics/saline) * Current use of systemic anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapy without the ability to hold therapy for the recommended amount of time prior to an invasive procedure (aspirin monotherapy is acceptable) * Pregnant or nursing females, or females of child-bearing potential who decline a pregnancy test prior to enrollment * Incarcerated patients * Presence of ipsilateral bronchopleural fistula * Current or recent (within past 30 days) presence of tunneled pleural catheter on the same side as the current proven/suspected pleural space infection
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Mayo Clinic in Rochester
RECRUITINGRochester, Minnesota, 55905, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- New app aims to cut hospital stays for lung patients
- Keyhole surgery may beat standard care for chest infections
- Flushing chest tubes may speed recovery from serious lung infections
- New drug cocktail could simplify treatment for dangerous lung lining infection
- Saline vs. drugs: a simpler way to treat lung infections?