School of Medicine

Past Research

The 1998 Botsford Theophylline Case Study

This study was a result of many years of work in animal research by Dr. Goshgarian, intensive work with pharmacologists and extensive review and approval by the Internal Review Board (Human Investigation Committee) and clinicians at Botsford Hospital. The drug used in this study, theophylline, has been used for years for asthma and bronchitis patients to open airways and, therefore, has already undergone extensive scrutiny for human use.

The patient participating in this study spent the whole day at Botsford Hospital working with the team that was comprised of:

Gary Ferguson, M.D.
Dr. Ferguson was a physician from the Pulmonary Division at Botsford.  This clinical study was conducted in Dr. Ferguson's clinical research laboratory at Botsford Hospital. Dr. Ferguson is currently in private clinical practice. 

Chris Lattin, B.S., RRT. 
Chris. Lattin was the respiratory therapist who hooked the patient up to the equipment and instructed the patient on what to do during the breathing tests.

Narendra Khanchandani, M.D.
Dr. Khanchandani was a resident working with Dr. Ferguson on this and other pulmonary research projects. He is currently a staff pulmonologist at the VA hospital in Detroit, Michigan. 

First, the participant was transferred to a hospital bed and made comfortable.   She was “hooked up” by muscle recording electrodes that were simply pasted on the patient's chest (there is no need to stick needles into the muscles).   A blood sample was taken to confirm the absence of theophylline (or caffeine which is in the same drug family as theophylline: patient was instructed not to consume caffeine-containing products; i.e. coffee, tea, coke, etc. 24 hours prior to testing).
After the electrodes were in place, "baseline" breathing tests were carried out.  These are straightforward and most simply described as "breathing through a tube placed in the patient's mouth." The breathing tests are completely painless and are easy to perform.

After the baseline breathing tests were completed, theophylline was administered intravenously.  After about 1.5 hours, another blood sample was taken (to confirm that the medicine is at the correct "therapeutic" level), and then another series of breathing tests were carried out. The "pre-drug" tests were then compared with the "post-drug" tests.

In a different experiment, after the "pre-drug" breathing tests were taken, the patient was asked to take theophylline at home for approximately one month.  After this time, the patient returned to the lab for post-drug testing.

Dr. Goshgarian reviews with the participant the activities to take place. Basically, what happened was this: