Conditions: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Keywords: dyspnea
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 16
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Substance P is released from sensory nerves and transmits pain information into the central nervous system. As pain and dyspnea share many characteristics, including similar neurological pathways, it is possible that substance P may contribute to the sensation of dyspnea. The hypothesis of the study is that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will provide lower ratings of breathlessness during resistive load breathing with oral aprepitant, a medication that blocks the activity of substance P, compared with placebo.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None

Interventions: intervention 1: aprepitant intervention 2: placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 125 mg capsule intervention 2: capsule identical to aprepitant

Protocol document: