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Prophylaxis for Patients at Risk to Eliminate Post-operative Atrial Fibrillation

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Atrial Fibrillation
Interventions
Drug: Placebo
Drug: Amiodarone
Registration Number
NCT04392921
Lead Sponsor
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Brief Summary

After surgery on the lungs or esophagus, 12-46% of patients experience an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. Although usually transient, post-operative atrial fibrillation is associated with longer stay in hospital, greater complications, and increased risk of death. Several medications have been shown to be effective at reducing the risk of atrial fibrillation after their surgery with the greatest effectiveness and safety demonstrated with amiodarone. Nevertheless, amiodarone has potential side effects, and so it is only recommended in patients with increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation. A tool has been developed and validated to identify high-risk patients but no clinical trial has looked at the effectiveness of administering amiodarone in this high-risk group. This study aims to assess the feasibility and safety of conducting a clinical trial where patients are randomized to receive amiodarone or placebo. This is critical before considering a full-scale trial to assess the effectiveness of amiodarone in reducing atrial fibrillation after surgery on the lungs or esophagus.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
80
Inclusion Criteria
  • Aged 18 years or greater
  • Undergoing major non-cardiac pulmonary or esophageal surgery (including esophagectomy, pulmonary wedge resection, lobar resection, pneumonectomy, or gastrectomy)
  • POAF prediction score greater than or equal to 4
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Exclusion Criteria
  • Aged less than 18 years
  • History of atrial arrhythmia (paroxysmal or persistent), or Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW), or 2nd or 3rd degree heart block without a pacemaker
  • Current antiarrythmic therapy (including amiodarone, propafenone, sotalol, flecainide, and dronedarone)
  • Previous severe adverse reaction or contraindication to amiodarone (including pre-existing interstitial lung disease, or history of hepatotoxicity from amiodarone)
  • QTc interval longer than 450ms
  • Serum alanine transaminase or aspartate transaminase over 3 times the upper limit of normal, or Child-Pugh class C
  • Allergy to amiodarone
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Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Control ArmPlaceboPatients randomized to placebo treatment
Intervention ArmAmiodaronePatients randomized to amiodarone treatment
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Knowledge of which patients received intervention and placeboUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Feasibility of blinding of participant, care provider, investigator, and outcomes assessor to the intervention allocation of participants will be evaluated by administering a survey to assess their knowledge of which patients received the intervention and placebo

Intervention deliveryUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Intervention delivery will be assessed by determining if protocol adherence rates exceed \>90% and recording observational data on the quality of intervention delivery using a data collection sheet

Adherence to safety protocolUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Monitoring of safety will be assessed by determining the rate and efficiency of reporting adverse events if they occur and monitoring adherence rates to safety and monitoring protocols

ResourcesUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Resources required to conduct a future multi-centre PREP-AF trial will be assessed by evaluating the administrative capacity of the POAF research team, including the required number of hours of research assistant time, as well as the feasibility of the designated study budget

Capability for enrolmentUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Capacity for enrolment will be assessed, in order to determine recruitment potential and an optimal sample size estimated for a full-scale RCT, by measuring the following outcomes: proportion of patients risk stratified and screened, proportion of eligible individuals consenting to involvement in the study, proportion of recruited individuals who are enrolled in the study.

Proportion of patients randomized who receive the interventionUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Feasibility of the randomization process will be evaluated including the proportion of patients randomized who receive the intervention

Protocol complianceUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Monitoring of protocol compliance will be measured by the frequency, rate, and rationale of events when study activities diverge from the REB-approved protocol

Proportion of patients for which data could be abstractedUpon study completion, 1 year following study initiation

Feasibility of data extraction analysis will be evaluated by the proportion of patients for which the required data could be abstracted: medication use, incidence of post-operative atrial fibrillation, post-operative outcomes, etc.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillationWithin 30 days post-surgery

Incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation, as defined by atrial fibrillation proved by electrocardiogram with an irregular narrow complex tachycardia without p waves

Hospital length of stayWithin 30 days post-surgery

Hospital length of stay, as defined as the number of days inclusive between the day of surgery, and the day of discharge

Severity of postoperative atrial fibrillationWithin 30 days post-surgery

Severity of postoperative atrial fibrillation, as classified by the Clavien-Dindo classification schema, defined for thoracic surgery using the published Ottawa Thoracic Morbidity and Mortality system

Other postoperative complicationsWithin 30 days post-surgery

Other postoperative complications using the taxonomy of the Ottawa Thoracic Morbidity and Mortality definitions. All complications are recorded with incidence, date, and severity. Of note, post-operative mortality is a grade V complication and is recorded along with its cause as well

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

The Ottawa Hospital

🇨🇦

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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