Research groups
Colleges
Najib M Rahman
BM BCh MA (oxon) MSc (LSHTM) FRCP DPhil
Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Director ORTU
- Director, Oxford Respiratory Trials Unit (ORTU).
- Group Head / PI
- Consultant Physician
- National Speciality Lead, Respiratory Disorders, NIHR CRN
- NIHR Senior Investigator
About me
I am Director of the Oxford Respiratory Trials Unit (ORTU).
My personal research area is pleural disease, for which I received MRC Training Fellowship funding to conduct my DPhil. My group has designed and led multiple multicentre randomised trials in pleural disease which have altered treatment for thousands of patients per year, and appear in national and international guidelines. This includes diagnostics in malignant effusion, treatment of malignant effusion, pleural infection and pneumothorax, and the use of ultrasound and thoracoscopy.
In parallel, I lead the Translational Pleural Laboratory, which utilises clinical samples linked to diagnosis and key clinical outcome data to understand the pathobiology of pleural disease, and identify potential new areas of treatment.
Ongoing Research
Our current programme of research is focussed on
1. Practice changing pragmatic trials in all areas of respiratory medicine through collaborative multicentre phase 3 studies (NIHR and HTA funding).
2. Translational science using pleural fluid and pleural biopsies to delineate underlying pathology, phenotype and treatment targets (funded via the Oxford NIHR BRC).
3. Collaborative work across a number of different academic areas including radiology, oncology, surgery and imaging.
Key publications
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Intrapleural use of tissue plasminogen activator and DNase in pleural infection
Journal article
Rahman NM. et al, (2011), New England Journal of Medicine, 365, 518 - 526
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Effect of an indwelling pleural catheter vs chest tube and talc pleurodesis for relieving dyspnea in patients with malignant pleural effusion: the TIME2 randomized controlled trial.
Journal article
Davies HE. et al, (2012), JAMA, 307, 2383 - 2389
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Effect of Opioids vs NSAIDs and Larger vs Smaller Chest Tube Size on Pain Control and Pleurodesis Efficacy Among Patients With Malignant Pleural Effusion
Journal article
Rahman NM. et al, (2015), JAMA, 314, 2641 - 2641
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Molnupiravir plus usual care versus usual care alone as early treatment for adults with COVID-19 at increased risk of adverse outcomes (PANORAMIC): an open-label, platform-adaptive randomised controlled trial
Journal article
Butler CC. et al, (2023), The Lancet, 401, 281 - 293
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Ambulatory management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax: an open-label, randomised controlled trial.
Journal article
Hallifax RJ. et al, (2020), Lancet (London, England), 396, 39 - 49
Recent publications
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TCF1 and LEF1 promote B-1a cell homeostasis and regulatory function.
Journal article
Shen Q. et al, (2025), Nature
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"Not-So-Simple": Rethinking Pleural Effusions in Cancer, Heart Failure, and Pneumonia.
Journal article
Bhatnagar M. and Rahman NM., (2025), Chest, 168, 290 - 291
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Burden of Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection in older adults hospitalised in England during 2023/24
Journal article
Symes R. et al, (2025), Journal of Infection, 106570 - 106570
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Thoracic Ultrasound – EFSUMB Training Recommendations, a position paper
Journal article
Laursen CB. et al, (2025), Ultraschall in der Medizin - European Journal of Ultrasound
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Pleural fluid proteomics from patients with pleural infection shows signatures of diverse neutrophilic responses: The Oxford Pleural Infection Endotyping Study (TORPIDS-2)
Journal article
Kanellakis NI. et al, (2025), European Respiratory Journal, 66, 2500010 - 2500010
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Incidence of discordant pleural fluid exudates and diagnostic patterns - a retrospective cohort study.
Journal article
Addala DN. et al, (2025), Chest
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Navigational Bronchoscopy or Transthoracic Needle Biopsy for Lung Nodules.
Journal article
Lentz RJ. et al, (2025), The New England journal of medicine, 392, 2100 - 2112
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Post-thoracentesis Ultrasound vs. Chest X-ray for the Evaluation of Effusion Evacuation and Lung Re-Expansion, A Multicenter Study
Journal article
Ratwani A. et al, (2025), Annals of the American Thoracic Society
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Evaluation of real-world use of pulmonary embolism thrombolysis: ERUPT
Journal article
Sobala R. et al, (2025), ERJ Open Research, 11, 00935 - 2024
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Pneumothorax: An update on clinical spectrum, diagnosis and management
Journal article
Iqbal B. et al, (2025), Clinical Medicine, 25, 100327 - 100327
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Retrospective analysis of the sensitivity of reporting of thoracic computed tomography for pleural malignancy: an Australian multi-centre study
Journal article
Graffen SC. et al, (2025), Journal of Thoracic Disease, 17, 1958 - 1966
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Estimating the disease burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults in England during the 2023/24 season: a new national hospital-based surveillance system
Preprint
Symes R. et al, (2025)
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Local anaesthetic use in pleural procedures: time to re-consider the guidelines?
Journal article
Mounsey C. et al, (2025), Chest
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ERS Congress 2024: highlights from the Thoracic Oncology Assembly.
Journal article
Pereira Catarata MJ. et al, (2025), ERJ open research, 11, 1171 - 2024
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Glucocorticoid treatment and new‐onset hyperglycaemia and diabetes in people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Journal article
Golubic R. et al, (2025), Diabetic Medicine, 42
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Prognostic significance of pleural fluid microbiological positivity in pleural infection: a bicentric 10-year retrospective observational study.
Journal article
Wong C. et al, (2025), Respiratory research, 26
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Universal Multiplex Panel Testing of Donor Lungs as a Strategy to Optimize Antibiotic Prophylaxis Against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.
Journal article
Abdulqawi R. et al, (2025), Transplant infectious disease : an official journal of the Transplantation Society
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A seeded seroma transforming into tract Metastases: Rare complications of image-guided pleural biopsies.
Journal article
Chew WM. et al, (2025), Respir Med Case Rep, 57
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Long term health outcomes in people with diabetes 12 months after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK: a prospective cohort study
Journal article
Gharibzadeh S. et al, (2025), eClinicalMedicine, 79, 103005 - 103005
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Management of Parapneumonic Effusion and Empyema
Journal article
Bhatnagar M. et al, (2025), Clinics in Chest Medicine
