Newth Lab

RESEARCH FOCUS

Our primary research interest is the development of new pulmonary function techniques appropriate to pediatric patients, utilizing specific equipment along with the personal computer to establish the safety of these methods and to determine the normal values, as well as the profiles of abnormality in various lung diseases. In addition, the response of the pulmonary system to therapies and the suitability of certain types of pulmonary abnormalities to new types of ventilation are also being evaluated.

From: Pediatric Pulmonary Function Testing. J. Hammer, E. Eber (eds), Progress in Respiratory Research, Karger, Basel. Vol. 33, Pp 266-281, 2005.

Several other studies are concurrently being conducted within the national Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN), funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, some of which are listed below. The Network seeks to reduce morbidity and mortality in pediatric critical care illness and injury by developing an infrastructure to pursue well-designed collaborative clinical trials and meaningful descriptive studies in pediatric critical care. It is currently comprised of seven clinical trial centers, plus a data coordinating center, and is in its second grant cycle.

There have been a number of publications in several peer-reviewed journals as a result of the collaborative efforts of participating sites. Each center has its own principal investigator (PI) and is responsible for developing new research protocols and training procedures, monitoring conduct of Network studies and data collection, and ensuring adherence to quality assurance measures. I am the PI of the Network Center that includes Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Mattel Children’s Hospital at the University of California Los Angeles. For more information about the Network, including completed and ongoing projects, visit http://cpccrn.org.

Typical pulmonary function test result for an infant with respiratory syncytial virus-induced (RSV) respiratory failure.

RESEARCH TEAM

CURRENT FUNDING

Ongoing studies currently funded by the National Institutes of Health in the form of U10, U01 and R21 grants:

1. Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network
U10 Grant: $296,416 per year for 10 years from 2005

The goal is to develop an infrastructure to pursue certain pediatric critical care medicine studies in order to reduce morbidity and mortality in pediatric critical illness and injury and to provide a framework for the development of the scientific basis of pediatric critical care. A sampling of studies being conducted:

• Critical Asthma - An analysis of the management, morbidity and mortality of severly ill children with asthma admitted to the PCIUs across the United States, with a view to planning prospective interventional trials.
• Critical Pertussis - A prospective cohort study evaluating morbidity, sequelae and mortality of children with pertussis.
• Bereavement Studies - Studies designed to develop an evidence-based framework for physician-parent follow-up meetings and to investigate the effect of these meetings on parental bereavement outcomes.
• Trichotomous Outcome Prediction in Critical Care - Prospective observational study to derive and validate a predictor of three or more outcome states following pediatric intensive care.

2. Therapeutic Hypothermia after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest Trials
U01 Grant: $22,118 per year for five years from 2009

A large multi-center randomized controlled trial examining effects of therapeutic hypothermia versus normothermia after pediatric cardiac arrest.

3. Translating an Adult Ventilator Computer Protocol to Pediatric Critical Care
R21 Grant: $224,936 over two years from 2010

A multi-center study designed to translate a developed adult computer-based decision support tool for management of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome to pediatric critical care.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Ghuman A, Newth CJ, Khemani RG. The association between the End Tidal Alveolar Dead Space Fraction and mortality in pediatric acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. 13: 11-15, 2012. PMID: 21499169.

2. Ross PA, Newth CJ. If the tube fits? Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2011 Jan;12(1):117-8. PMID: 21209579.

3. Anand KJS, Willson DF, Berger J, Harrison R, Meert KL, Zimmerman J, Carcillo J, Newth CJL, Prodhan P, Dean JM, Nicholson C, for the NICHD Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. Prolonged use of opioid analgesia in critically ill children. Pediatrics, 125:e1208-e1225, 2010.

4. Ross PA, Hammer J, R. Khemani, Klein M, Newth CJL. Pressure-rate product and phase angle as measures of acute inspiratory upper airway obstruction in rhesus monkeys. Pediatr. Pulmonology, 2010; 45: 639-644.

5. Willson DF, Dean JM, Meert KL, Newth CJ, Anand KJ, Berger J, Harrison R, Zimmerman J, Carcillo J, Pollack M, Holubkhov R, Jenkins TL, Nicholson C; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. Looking back and moving forward. Pediatr. Crit. Care Med., 11: 1-6, 2010.

6. Santschi M, Jouvet P, LeClerc F, Gauvin F, Newth CJL, Carroll CL, Flori H, Tasker RC, Rimensberger PC, Randolph AG. for the PALIVE Investigators. Acute lung injury in children: Therapeutic practice and feasibility of international clinical trials. Pediatr Crit Care Med., 11: 681-689, 2010.

7. Khemani RG, Newth CJL. The Design of Future Pediatric Mechanical Ventilation Trials for Acute Lung Injury. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 182: 1465-74, 2010.

8. Burr JS, Jenkins TL, Harrison R, Meert K, Anand KJ, Berger JT, Zimmerman J, Carcillo J, Dean JM, Newth CJ, Willson DF, Sanders RC Jr, Pollack MM, Harvill E, Nicholson CE; for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN). Critical Pertussis Study: Collaborative research in pediatric critical care medicine. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 12: 387-392, 2011. PMID: 21057366.

9. Khemani, RG, Conti D, Alonzo TA, Bart RD,III, Newth CJL. Effect of tidal volume in children with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. Intensive Care Med. 35: 1428-1437, 2009.

10. Newth CJL, Venkataraman S, Willson D, Meert KL, Harrison R, Dean JM, Pollack M, Berger J,Zimmerman J, Anand KJS, Carcillo JA, Nicholson CE; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. Weaning and extubation readiness in pediatric patients. Pediatr Crit Care Med, 10:1-11, 2009.

CONTACT US

Newth Laboratory
4650 Sunset Blvd., MS #12
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Email: Christopher JL Newth, MD
Fax: 323-361-3877

323-361-2117

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Christopher JL Newth, MD

Curriculum Vitae

PubMed Link

Selected Publications

Research Team

Current Funding

Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine