Selective Early Medical Treatment of Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Extremely Low Gestational Age Infants: A Pilot RCT

Conditions

• Patent Ductus Arteriosus After Premature Birth

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

N/A - 72 Hours

Healthy Volunteers

Not accepted

Interventions

• Ibuprofen — DRUG
  Pharmacotherapy, when indicated (ie, for "severe PDA" on echocardiography, irrespective of clinical symptoms, or a "moderate PDA" on echocardiography with at least moderate clinical illness), will be provided in the form of ibuprofen as first line agent at a standard dosing of 10 mg/kg followed by 2 doses of 5mg/kg every 24 h. The route of administration may be intravenous or enteral, as determined by the treating team. For treated infants, follow-up echocardiography will be conducted at the end of the 3-day course and second course of treatment will be initiated if they still fulfill study treatment criteria as mentioned above. If any treatment-eligible infant has a contraindication to ibuprofen, use of acetaminophen will be permitted as an alternative agent.

Study Details

Background: Among preterm infants, those born at a gestational age less than 26 weeks are considered the most vulnerable with a high risk of short- and long-term health problems that include chronic lung disease, brain bleeds, gut injury, kidney failure and death. Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is the most common heart condition with almost 70% preterm infants in this gestational age group being diagnosed with a PDA. Though many PDAs spontaneously resolve on their own, research suggests that if the PDA persists, it may contribute to a number of these short- and long-term health problems. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen are commonly used to treat a PDA. Such drugs can also have harmful effects on the gut and kidneys of extremely preterm infants. Therefore, we are unsure if early treatment of a symptomatic PDA in this age group is at all beneficial. Given the wide variation in PDA treatment approaches in this age group, a randomized trial design, where extremely preterm infants with a symptomatic PDA are randomly assigned to early treatment or no early treatment, is essential to address this question. Purpose of the study: The overall purpose of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility of conducting a large study to explore the following research question: In preterm infants born \<26 weeks' gestation, is a strategy of selective early medical treatment of a symptomatic PDA better than no treatment at all in the first week of life? The main feasibility objectives of this study are: 1. To assess how many eligible infants can be enrolled in the study 2. To assess how many enrolled infants properly complete the study protocol Importance: To our knowledge this will be the first study on PDA management in preterm infants that specifically aims to enroll preterm infants born at \<26 weeks of gestational age who are at the highest risk for PDA-related problems but have been mostly under-represented in previous PDA studies.

Key Dates

Start date

Jan 10, 2022

Status verified

Jun 2024

Primary completion

Sep 30, 2024

Completion

Sep 30, 2024

Study Design

Enrollment

100 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Arms

• Experimental: Selective early medical treatment (SMART) strategy
  Infants who are randomized to experimental group will follow the SMART treatment protocol, which includes echocardiographic screening every 72 hours to categorize PDA disease severity by combining clinical and echocardiographic features. At any evaluation if patients are found to have a "severe PDA" on echocardiography, irrespective of clinical symptoms, or a "moderate PDA" on echocardiography with at least moderate clinical illness, they will receive pharmacotherapy aimed at PDA closure (The PDA severity has been divided into mild, moderate or severe based on pre-defined clinical and echocardiographic criteria).
• No Intervention: Early conservative management strategy
  Infants randomized to this arm will not undergo any further echocardiographic assessment or pharmacological treatment of the PDA regardless of the clinical signs. If the infant gets an echocardiographic assessment for a reason different than PDA assessment (such as hypotension or oxygenation failure) and a PDA is incidentally noted that fits the treatment criteria, the infant will not be initiated on pharmacotherapy. After 7 days of age, decision on PDA assessment and treatment will be at the discretion of the treating physician.

Primary Outcome Measure

Proportion of eligible infants recruited during the study period [ Time Frame: 7 days postnatal age ]

Central Contacts

• Souvik Mitra, MD, MSc
  +1-902-470-6490
  [email protected]
• Amish Jain, MBBS, PhD
  [email protected]

Locations (3)

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