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Cervical Pessary vs. Vaginal Progesterone for Preventing Premature Birth in IVF Twin Pregnancies

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Pregnancy
Interventions
Device: Cervical pessary
Registration Number
NCT02623881
Lead Sponsor
Vietnam National University
Brief Summary

To compare the effectiveness of cervical pessary (Arabin) and vaginal progesterone for preventing premature birth in twin pregnancies after IVF

Detailed Description

This will be a randomized controlled trial.

Women with twin pregnancies, at 16-22 weeks of gestation, will be invited to participate into the study.

Subjects meeting the study criteria will be randomized into two groups: (1) treated with cervical pessary (Arabin) or (2) treated with 400mg vaginal progesterone, once daily. Randomization will be done by third party via telephone, using a computer generated random list, with a variable block size of 2, 4 or 8. Apart from randomization, patients will be examined and treated according to local protocol.

Patients in pessary group will have an Arabin pessary placed within a week after randomization. A pessary certified by European Conformity (CE0482, MED/CERT ISO 9003/ EN 46003; Dr. Arabin, Witten, Germany) will be inserted through the vagina of the woman in the recumbent position and will be placed upward around the cervix. The research-team members who inserted the Arabin pessary have experience with Arabin pessary for singleton pregnancy before.

Patients in progesterone group will use vaginal progesterone (Cyclogest 400mg) once daily before bedtime, starting from the day of randomization onwards. They will be given a monitoring sheet and instructed to note everyday the date of using. If they forget one dose of any night, and remember it in the next morning or afternoon, they will use immediately the forgotten dose and continue with the dose of that day at night. If one dose is missed until the next evening, there will be no compensation use, they will only use the dose of the next day. Any change in using medication should be noted in the monitoring sheet.

In both groups, intervention will be stopped at 36 weeks of gestation or at delivery. All the participants will have follow-up visits every 4 weeks. If patients develop (threatened) preterm labor, they will receive treatment as routine practice.

Statistical analyses will be by intention to treat. For dichotomous endpoints, we will calculate rates. These will be compared by calculating a relative risk and a 95% confidence interval. Between-group differences in non-continuous variables will be assessed using the χ2-test. Results of continuous variables were given in mean ± SD or in percentage. Between-group differences of continuous variables were assessed with the Student's t-test. We will consider correlation between neonatal endpoints when we analyse at the level of the child. We assessed time to delivery by Cox proportional hazard analysis and Kaplan-Meier estimates, and compared results with a log-rank test. We plan an exploratory subgroup analysis in women with a cervical length of less than the 25th percentile (according to the distribution in all twins), as well as 25th - 50th percentile, 50th - 75th percentile and \> 75th percentile. We also plan an exploratory subgroups analyses for chorionicity. A p-value \< 0.05 will be considered to indicate a statistically significant difference. The analysis will be done with statistical Package for Social Sciences version 19 (SPSS, USA).

Sample size has been set at 290. This was incorporated in an amendment of the protocol, and was approved by the IRB on 22 Sept 2016.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
Female
Target Recruitment
300
Inclusion Criteria

To be eligible for enrolment into this trial, each female subject must fulfil all of the following criteria at the start of enrolment, unless specified otherwise:

  • Women with a twin pregnancy (mono- and di-chorionic)
  • 16 0/7 to 22 0/7 weeks of gestation
  • Maternal age ≥ 18 yrs
  • Cervical length less than 38 mm
  • Informed consent
  • Not participating in another PTB study at the same time
Exclusion Criteria

To be eligible for enrolment in this study each subject must not meet any of the following criteria:

  • History of cervical surgery
  • Cervical cerclage in place
  • Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome
  • Stillbirth or major congenital abnormalities in any of the fetus
  • Severe vaginal discharge, acute vaginitis
  • Premature rupture of membranes
  • Premature labor

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Vaginal ProgesteroneVaginal progesteroneVaginal progesterone (Cyclogest 400 mg) once a day will be used, from 16-22 to 36 weeks of pregnancy or in case of premature rupture of membranes, signs of preterm labour or patient severe discomfort.
Cervical pessaryCervical pessaryCervical pessary (Arabin) will be inserted to participants at 16-22 weeks and removed at 36 weeks of pregnancy or in case of premature rupture of membranes, signs of preterm labour or patient severe discomfort.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Preterm birth before 34 weeks of gestationAt birth

Birth before 34 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Mode of deliveryAt birth

Spontaneous, forceps/ventouse, emergency C-section, planned C-section

BirthweightAt birth

Weight of babies

Birthweight < 1500gAt birth

Weight of babies \< 1500g

Delivery before 28 weeks of gestationAt birth

Birth before 28 weeks

Delivery before 32 weeks of gestationAt birth

Birth before 32 weeks

Delivery before 24 weeks of gestationAt birth

Birth before 24 weeks

Maternal morbidityFrom randomization to birth

Thromboembolic complications, urinary tract infection treated with antibiotics, pneumonia, endometritis, hypertension disorder, eclampsia or HELLP syndrome, or death

5-minute Apgar scoreAt birth

Apgar score at 5 minute after birth

5-minute Apgar score < 7At birth

Apgar score \< 7 at 5 minute after birth

Length of NICU admissionUp to 28 days after birth

Number of days admittance of newborn to NICU

Severe respiratory distress syndromeWithin 24 hours after delivery

Grade 2 or worse, as diagnosed by Giedion et al

Labour inductionAt birth

Labor initiated with a method such as oxytocin, Foley bulb, or artificial rupture of membranes.

Use of tocolytics drugFrom 24 weeks to 34 weeks

Use of tocolytics drug to prevent premature labor

Admission days for preterm laborFrom 24 weeks to 37 week

Days admission to hospital due to preterm labor

ChoriamnionitisFrom randomization to birth

Intraamniotic infection

Birthweight < 2500gAt birth

Weight of babies \< 2500g

Congenital anomaliesAt birth

Congenital malformation of newborn

StillbirthAt birth

Baby born with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks

Use of corticosteroidsFrom 24 weeks to 34 weeks

Use of corticosteroids to prevent respiratory distressed syndrome

Bronchopulmonary dysplasiaAt time of discharge home or at 36 weeks of gestational age

Diagnosed according to the international consensus guideline as described by Jobe and Bancalari

Livebirth at any gestational ageAt birth

Birth of at least one newborn that exhibits any sign of life, such as respiration, heartbeat, umbilical pulsation or movement of voluntary muscles

Intrauterine death before 24 weeks of gestationFrom randomisation to 24 weeks

Death of any fetus intrauterine before 24 weeks

Delivery before 37 weeks of gestationAt birth

Birth before 37 weeks

Prelabour rupture of membraneFrom randomization to less than 37 weeks

Prelabour rupture of membranes and gestational age less than 37 weeks

Admission to NICUWithin 7 days after delivery

The admittance of newborn to NICU

Intraventricular haemorrhageUp to 28 days after birth

Grade II B or worse, as diagnosed by repeated neonatal cranial ultrasound by the neonatologist according to the guidelines on neuro-imaging described by de Vries et al. and Ment et al

Death before dischargeUp to 28 days after birth

Death of newborn before discharge from nursery

Maternal side effectsFrom randomisation to birth

Vaginal discharge, fever, other signs of infections, pain, pessary repositioning and necrosis or rupture of the cervix

Necrotising enterocolitisUp to 28 days after birth

\> stage 1, will be diagnosed according to Bell

Proven sepsisUp to 28 days after birth

The combination of clinical signs and positive blood cultures.

Withdrawal from treatmentFrom randomization to 36 weeks of gestation

Patient's discontinuation of arabin or vaginal progesterone use

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

My Duc Hospital

🇻🇳

Ho Chi Minh City, Tan Binh District, Vietnam

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