MedPath

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

Phase 3
Recruiting
Conditions
Patent Ductus Arteriosus After Premature Birth
Interventions
Registration Number
NCT05011149
Lead Sponsor
IWK Health Centre
Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
100
Inclusion Criteria
  • Preterm infants less than 26 completed weeks (i.e., up to and including 25 weeks and 6 days) of gestation
Exclusion Criteria
  • no PDA on initial screening echocardiography
  • congenital heart disease (excluding patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect or ventricular septal defect with a defect size less than 2mm)
  • other major congenital anomaly
  • decision to withhold/withdraw care

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Selective early medical treatment (SMART) strategyIbuprofenInfants 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).
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Proportion of eligible infants recruited during the study period7 days postnatal age
Proportion of randomized infants with no reported protocol deviations7 days postnatal age
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Receipt of any PDA pharmacotherapythrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)
Surgical/interventional PDA closurethrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)
Reasons for non-recruitment7 days postnatal age

qualitative description of reasons for non-recruitment of eligible infants

All-cause mortality during hospital staythrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)
Proportion of infants in control group meeting pre-defined safety criteria7 days postnatal age
Reasons for non-adherence to protocol7 days postnatal age

qualitative description of reasons for non-adherence to protocol in randomized infants

Completeness of data collection for clinical outcomesthrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)

Proportion of recruited infants with complete clinical outcome data

Chronic lung diseasebirth through 36 weeks post menstrual age

Oxygen or respiratory support requirement at 36 weeks' postmenstrual age or at discharge

Postnatal corticosteroid usethrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)
Necrotizing enterocolitisthrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)

Stage 2 or greater as per Bell's criteria

Definite sepsisthrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)

Clinical symptoms and signs of sepsis and a positive bacterial culture in a specimen obtained from normally sterile fluids or tissue obtained at postmortem

Oliguria7 days postnatal age

urine output less than 1 mL/kg/hour

Duration of hospitalization (days)through hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)
Receipt of open-label rescue medical treatment in the control group7 days postnatal age
Pulmonary hemorrhage7 days postnatal age

blood-stained respiratory secretions with a significant increase in respiratory requirements (MAP\>12 and/or FiO2\>60%)

Duration of invasive mechanical ventilationthrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)

Number of days on mechanical ventilation with an endotracheal tube

Intraventricular hemorrhagethrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)

Grade I-IV according to Papile Criteria

Severe intraventricular hemorrhagethrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)

Grade III-IV according to Papile Criteria

Periventricular leukomalaciathrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)
Gastrointestinal bleedingwithin seven days of the first dose of pharmacotherapy
Gastrointestinal perforationthrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)
Severe retinopathy of prematuritythrough hospital discharge (approximately 20 weeks postnatal age unless death occurs first)

stage 3 or greater

Trial Locations

Locations (9)

Stollery Children's Hospital

🇨🇦

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Children's Hospital of Orange County

🇺🇸

Orange, California, United States

British Columbia Women's Hospital

🇨🇦

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns

🇺🇸

San Diego, California, United States

OU College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma

🇺🇸

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

Mount Sinai Hospital

🇨🇦

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

🇨🇦

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

IWK Health Center

🇨🇦

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec

🇨🇦

Québec City, Quebec, Canada

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath