Skip to main content
Back to King's College London homepage
Health

EPiC-HFT

This clinical trial will investigate if home High-Flow Therapy (HFT) improves 12-month admission-free survival (time to readmission or death) following a severe exacerbation of COPD requiring hospitalisation. This is an area of unmet need, given the demonstrable limitations to current interventions which are costly, have extensive side-effects, limited availability and variable efficacy. If this this clinical trial demonstrates clinical and cost effectiveness of HFT, this technology could be rapidly incorporated into routine NHS clinical practice.

Open sites: 

  • Guy's and St. Thomas Hospital
  • Leeds Teaching Hospital
  • Royal Free Hospital/Barnet Hospital
  • Northumbria Healthcare-North Tyneside
  • Liverpool University Hospitals
  • Queen Elizabeth Hospital-Glasgow
  • University of Leicester
  • University Hospitals Birmingham-Heartlands Hospital/Good Hope Hospital
  • Nottingham University Hospital
  • Manchester University Hospitals
  • Mid-Yorkshire Teaching Hospitals
  • Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
  • King's College Hospital
  • Taunton and Somerset NHS
  • Newcastle University
  • East Lancashire Hospitals

Recruitment to 10/06/2025: 181/502

Download the EPiC-HFT fact sheet (pdf, English)

Aims

To identify whether home HFT in addition to usual medical care improves 12-month admission-free survival following hospitalisation with a non-hypercapnic exacerbation of COPD.

Trials Design

This is a multi-centre randomised controlled trial in which patients hospitalised with COPD exacerbation are randomised to receive home HFT and usual care or usual care alone with a 12-month follow-up period.

Project Team

Abdel Douiri

Chair in Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials

Nicholas Hart

Professor of Respiratory and Citical Care Medicine

Patrick Murphy

Clinical Lead Lane Fox Service

Project Team

Abdel Douiri

Chair in Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials

Nicholas Hart

Professor of Respiratory and Citical Care Medicine

Patrick Murphy

Clinical Lead Lane Fox Service

Project status: Ongoing
EPiC-HFT

Investigators

Funding

Funding Body: ResMed

Amount: £1,129,968

Period: March 2023 - February 2027

Contact us

Contact: Gill Radcliffe