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Saline Irrigation for Pleural Infections

This study is looking at whether adding saline irrigation (flushing with salt water) through a chest tube helps people with a pleural infection (an infection in the space between your lung and chest wall) or complicated parapneumonic effusion (fluid buildup around the lung due to pneumonia). The standard treatment involves intrapleural thrombolytic therapy, which includes medications like t-PA (tissue plasminogen activator) and DNase (dornase) to break up clots and thick fluid. You might be able to join if you have purulent (pus-filled) pleural fluid, or if your pleural fluid analysis shows certain signs of infection like low pH or glucose, or a positive Gram stain or culture. The main goal is to see if the saline irrigation helps adequately clear the pleural space within about 3 days. The study is currently recruiting participants.

Study design
This is an interventional study planning to enroll 60 participants. It is not specified if it is randomized or blinded.
What's involved
Participants will receive daily saline irrigation through a thoracostomy tube (chest tube) with up to 2000 cc of warmed saline.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
The primary outcome of adequate pleural space evacuation is measured at approximately 3 days.

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NCT06434324

Pleural Space Saline Irrigation in Addition to Standard Intrapleural Thrombolytic Therapy in Empyema/Complicated Parapneumonic Effusion

Recruiting
NAAges 18+InterventionalTreatment
Mayo Clinic
~60 participants
Updated 2026-03-30 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Saline Irrigation

At a glance

Recruiting sites
1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Adequate pleural space evacuation
Measured over Approximately 3 days

Conditions

Pleural Infection

Explore related trials

Pleural Infection

Where it's being run

1 sites across 1 states
Minnesota1

Study leadership

  • Dagny Anderson, MD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · Mayo Clinic

Who to contact

Dagny Anderson, MD
[email protected]
507-284-3104
Email the study team

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Do you actually qualify for this trial?

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

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

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

What this trial measures

  • Adequate pleural space evacuationApproximately 3 days

    Number of intrapleural fibrinolytic doses to achieve adequate pleural space evacuation (defined as \<=2.5 cm separation between parietal and visceral pleural layers on bedside ultrasound or no more than small residual effusion on clinically-directed CT chest imaging).