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Pain, PostoperativeNCT03057782

Innovative Approaches to Assessment of Pain Control and Sedation in the NICU

An observational study of Pain, Postoperative, run by Boston Children's Hospital at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

It is difficult to assess pain and agitation in the NICU population because for a multitude of reasons including the pre-verbal nature of the patient population, the atypical pain response of premature infants, and the use of muscle relaxing medications that exclude motor response in pain assessments. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 1 hour to 6 months
Conditions the study is for
Pain, Postoperative
What is being tested?
Waveguard (TM) EEG cap, Micro Movement Sensor and Pico Movement Sensor
Type of treatment
Medical device
How many people
50 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
Oct 2016to Sep 2022
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 1 hour to 6 months
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child

Study population: This is a prospective, non-interventional study designed to assess neurophysiologic responses and clinical signs to noxious and non-noxious stimuli following procedural pain in infants requiring NICU care following elective surgery. Simultaneous measures of neurophysiological, autonomic and behavioral responses to non-noxious and clinically-required noxious stimuli will be collected from patients in the NICU.

Who may be able to join

  • All patients will be admitted to the NICU, and having a post-menstrual age of >28 weeks. Participants will be divided into four groups according to the following criteria:
  • Group A
  • Plan for major surgery anticipated to cause pain and agitation (i.e. esophageal atresia treatment);
  • Patients who are anticipated to receive prolonged post-surgical neuromuscular blockade
  • Group B
  • Plan for major surgery anticipated to cause pain and agitation (i.e. bowel surgery);
Show all 9Show fewer
  • Patients who are not anticipated to receive acute post-surgical neuromuscular blockade
  • Group C Plan for minor surgery anticipated to cause pain and agitation (i.e. hernia repair);
  • Group D No plan for surgery

Who cannot join

  • Confirmed or suspected clinical seizures
  • Metabolic abnormalities or inborn error of metabolism
  • Skin abrasions or wounds located at the site of research sensor placement i.e. scalp, which interfere with the application of electrodes

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Boston Children's Hospital

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02115

Other trials in United States

About this study

It is difficult to assess pain and agitation in the NICU population because for a multitude of reasons including the pre-verbal nature of the patient population, the atypical pain response of premature infants, and the use of muscle relaxing medications that exclude motor response in pain assessments. Current assessment tools are based on physical exam and vital signs. The investigators propose to study the role of EEG and palmar conductance (PD) as additional tools in the assessment of pain and agitation

Read the detailed description

This is a prospective, non-interventional study designed to assess noxious-specific neurophysiologic responses and clinical signs following procedural pain in infants requiring hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) following elective surgery.

The main goal of the study is to develop a method that reliably quantifies the level of pain induced from clinically-required noxious procedures to infants hospitalized in the NICU. This method will use measures of neurophysiological, autonomic, and behavioral responses to non-noxious and clinically-required noxious stimuli in order to guide the pharmacological treatment of NICU patients with analgesic agents, sedatives and/or muscle relaxants.

The investigators hypothesize that resting state activity and physiological responses to noxious and non-noxious stimuli provide a more reliable assessment of the level of pain of infants hospitalized in the NICU compared to behavioral-based pain scores.

Being tested
Waveguard (TM) EEG cap, Micro Movement Sensor, Pico Movement Sensor, QS Piezostimulator, tactileTM sensory evaluator
Keywords
Pain, Sedation, Surgery
Medical subject headings
Pain, Postoperative, Pain

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Waveguard (TM) EEG capDevice

    The device is an EEG cap - a non-invasive EEG positioning system used to quickly place a large number of surface electrodes in a quick and consistent manner on the head. The device will measure electrophysiological signals from the scalp at the time points in the study listed in the protocol.

  • Micro Movement SensorDevice

    This device is not FDA approved. This device is in clinical use for all age groups and used for research purposes by neurologists, physiologists and anesthesiologists. In this study, the device is used to monitor breathing and movement in children; the device is not used for validation purposes.

  • Pico Movement SensorDevice

    This device is not FDA approved. This device is in clinical use for all age groups and used for research purposes by neurologists, physiologists and anesthesiologists. In this study, the device is used to monitor respiration rate and gross body movement in children. The device will not be used for validation purposes.

  • QS PiezostimulatorDevice

    This device is not FDA approved. This device is used for research purposes by neurologists and physiologists. It is a mechanical tactile stimulator for use in functional imaging experiments like MEG, fMRI or EEG. The stimulation is realized by using several different pin matrices. In this study, the device is used to stimulate the children's extremities in order to elicit somatosensory evoked responses.

  • tactileTM sensory evaluatorDevice

    This device is not FDA approved. This device is used for clinical and research purposes by neurologists and physiologists. It is used to stimulate the children's extremities in order to elicit somatosensory evoked responses.

Study groups in NCT03057782
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Group A1. Plan for major surgery anticipated to cause pain and agitation (i.e. esophageal atresia treatment); 2. Patients who are anticipated to receive prolonged post-surgical neuromuscular blockade (NMB) The following devices will be used in this Group: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Micro Movement Sensor; Pico Movement Sensor; QS Piezostimulator; tactileTM sensory evaluator. These subjects will also receive EMG monitoring. Subjects in this group will also have video recordings that may be used for novel analysis such as subdermal blood flow or micro-movement.
Receives: Device: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Device: Micro Movement Sensor; Device: Pico Movement Sensor; Device: QS Piezostimulator; Device: tactileTM sensory evaluator
Group B1. Plan for major surgery anticipated to cause pain and agitation (i.e. bowel surgery); 2. Patients who are not anticipated to receive acute post-surgical NMB The following devices will be used in this Group: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Micro Movement Sensor; Pico Movement Sensor; QS Piezostimulator; tactileTM sensory evaluator. Subjects in this group will also have video recordings that may be used for novel analysis such as sub-dermal blood flow or micro-movement.
Receives: Device: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Device: Micro Movement Sensor; Device: Pico Movement Sensor; Device: QS Piezostimulator; Device: tactileTM sensory evaluator
Group CPlan for minor surgery anticipated to cause pain and agitation (i.e. hernia repair) The following devices will be used in this Group: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Micro Movement Sensor; Pico Movement Sensor; QS Piezostimulator; tactileTM sensory evaluator. Subjects in this group will also have video recordings that may be used for novel analysis such as sub-dermal blood flow or micro-movement.
Receives: Device: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Device: Micro Movement Sensor; Device: Pico Movement Sensor; Device: QS Piezostimulator; Device: tactileTM sensory evaluator
Group DNo plan for surgery The following devices will be used in this Group: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Micro Movement Sensor; Pico Movement Sensor; QS Piezostimulator; tactileTM sensory evaluator. Subjects in this group will also have video recordings that may be used for novel analysis such as sub-dermal blood flow or micro-movement.
Receives: Device: Waveguard (TM) EEG cap; Device: Micro Movement Sensor; Device: Pico Movement Sensor; Device: QS Piezostimulator; Device: tactileTM sensory evaluator

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Noxious Stimuli Results

    To assess pain-specific brain activity and autonomic responses post surgery in response to an acute noxious procedure in newborn infants admitted to the NICU. This outcome will be correlated with current behavioral and physiological based pain assessment tools as follows:

    Procedural-specific brain activity in infants with varying conditions with pre or post-operative pain. EEG: amplitude of noxious-event related potential evoked by a time-locked noxious stimulus. Pain-specific electro-dermal activity (EDA), electromyography (EMG) and subdermal skin flow; Pain-evoked behavioral measures including: Body movement; Eye squeeze, brow bulge and nasolabial furrow duration. Pain-evoked physiological measures including: Respiration rate; Heart rate; Blood pressure; Oxygen saturation; Observational pain scores (PIPP); EMG activity.

    Measured: Up to 1 year

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Resting State Results

    Characterize resting state activity in post-operative or control subjects as follows:

    Baseline brain (EEG) activity (power spectra of baseline EEG signal) in post operative or control subjects. Baseline EDA, EMG and subdermal skin flow; Baseline behavioral measures including: Presence of body movement, eye squeeze, brow bulge and nasolabial furrow. Baseline physiological measures including: Respiration rate; Heart rate; Blood pressure; Oxygen saturation; Observational pain scores (PIPP).

    The relationship with resting brain activity, electrodermal activity, behavior, physiological, and observational pain scores will be evaluated.

    Measured: Up to 1 year

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted20 Feb 2017
  2. Study startOct 2016
  3. Primary completionSep 2022
  4. Study completionSep 2022

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
50 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03057782
Sponsor's protocol ID
IRB-P00022180
Status last verified
Sep 2022
First submitted
28 Nov 2016
Last updated
15 Sep 2022
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
Individual data sharing
No

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Pain, Postoperative, run by Boston Children's Hospital at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 9 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 15 Sep 2022. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Noxious Stimuli Results (time frame: Up to 1 year). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 15 Sep 2022.

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