Low Doses Corticosteroids as Adjuvant Therapy for the Treatment of Severe H1N1 Flu
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2011-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The H1N1 flu pandemic is one of the major infectious threat of the past half century. it is
rapidly progressing worldwide and a substantial number of patients get severe H1N1 related
pneumonia that requires mechanical ventilation and admission to the intensive care unit. The
acute respiratory distress syndrome is associated with a substantial mortality and morbidity
partly as a consequence of uncontrolled lung and systemic inflammation. many physicians are
trying to counteract this pro-inflammatory storm by the use of corticosteroids albeit these
drugs may cause super infection or metabolic disorders. Thus, there is a need for a
randomized double blind, placebo controlled trial to define the benefit to risk ratio of
corticosteroids in this patient.