{"id":951,"date":"2025-02-14T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/?page_id=951"},"modified":"2025-02-14T12:55:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:55:51","slug":"assessing-chest-infection-treatment-response","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/research\/completed-projects\/assessing-chest-infection-treatment-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing Chest Infection Treatment Response"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" src=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/02\/port-300x198-1.jpg\" alt=\"port 300x198\" class=\"wp-image-952\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In treating chest infections,&nbsp;the study determined what indicators are useful for assessing treatment response.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"164\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/02\/IV.doc-164x300-1.jpg\" alt=\"IV.doc 164x300\" class=\"wp-image-953\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The study investigated treatment response in those that were treated with intravenous antibiotic&nbsp;&nbsp;therapy&nbsp;(antibiotics delivered into the veins)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this study 8 indicators were considered; sputum colour; 24 hour sputum volume; spirometry (that is breathing tests); blood tests (white cell count and proteins that measure inflammation called C Reactive Protein and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate); sputum analysis for bacteria; quality of life questionnaires; and exercise tolerance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Conclusions:<\/strong>The best indicators were: sputum colour; sputum volume; sputum analysis for bugs; blood test (proteins that measure inflammation); and quality of life questionnaires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A good treatment response is when:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>you cough up less or no sputum, and if you produce any sputum it is a lighter colour or colourless.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>we cannot grow bacteria when we send the sputum sample to the microbiology laboratory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>your blood tests show a reduction in your white cell count, C reactive protein and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>your quality of life questionnaires show that you feel better.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>your exercise capacity improves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Patient Implications:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important you get assessments at the beginning and end of intravenous antibiotic therapy to assess the effectiveness of the therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reference:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>European Respiratory Journal. 2009 Feb;33(2):321-8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In treating chest infections,&nbsp;the study determined what indicators are useful for assessing treatment response. The study investigated treatment response in those that were treated with intravenous antibiotic&nbsp;&nbsp;therapy&nbsp;(antibiotics delivered into the veins) In this study 8 indicators were considered; sputum colour; 24 hour sputum volume; spirometry (that is breathing tests); blood tests (white cell count and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":933,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-951","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/blog\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"In treating chest infections,&nbsp;the study determined what indicators are useful for assessing treatment response. The study investigated treatment response in those that were treated with intravenous antibiotic&nbsp;&nbsp;therapy&nbsp;(antibiotics delivered into the veins) In this study 8 indicators were considered; sputum colour; 24 hour sputum volume; spirometry (that is breathing tests); blood tests (white cell count and","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":954,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/951\/revisions\/954"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}