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WithdrawnNCT02785003KCRSUpdated Oct 26, 2017

Ketamine in Colorectal Surgery

A Phase 4 interventional study of Placebo and Ketamine in Acute Pain, Pain, Postoperative and Colorectal Surgery, sponsored by Medical College of Wisconsin. Withdrawn at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-10-26.

Sponsored by Medical College of Wisconsin · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was withdrawn
Lack of Funding
Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
0
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of ketamine infusions in the management of acute pain following open or laparoscopic colorectal surgery cases. Half of patients will receive the institutional standard of care and a placebo infusion (no active medication). The other half of patients will receive the institutional standard of care and a ketamine infusion. All subjects and staff will be blinded as to whether they are receiving placebo or ketamine.

Read the detailed description

A prospective randomized, double blinded clinical trial of ketamine use in adult colorectal surgery patients will be conducted. The experimental arm of the trial will receive ketamine infusion therapy while the control arm of the trial receives saline placebo infusions at an equivalent rate. All patients enrolled into the trial will be enrolled in a standardized Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) pathway which includes intravenous opioid medications for breakthrough pain, scheduled acetaminophen, and NSAIDs as indicated. All patients will be managed in accordance with the appropriate Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and Division of Colorectal Surgery policies.

Potential participants will be screened at the time of outpatient clinic visits. Patients who require operative intervention for management of their colonic disease, both malignant and non-malignant, are eligible for enrollment. Individuals who present to the emergency department and are evaluated by the previously mentioned divisions will be screened for eligibility. If a potential participant qualifies for enrollment, he or she will be approached by one of the IRB approved study staff for consent. Prior to randomization and formal enrollment, an investigational drug services pharmacist will screen for any contraindication to potential ketamine therapy. Following investigator and pharmacy approval, patients will be randomized by the Investigational Drug Services (IDS). The two trial arms will be randomized in a 1:1 control to experimental fashion with randomization blocks conducted in sets of 4 patients.

Participants who are enrolled into the trial will undergo randomization into either the experimental or control arm by the IDS department at time of presentation to the hospital. The infusate will be prepared by the IDS department at a ketamine concentration of 500mg/250ml with all IV bags labeled "Investigational Ketamine / Placebo - PRO27024" prior to dispersal to the pre-operative nurse. All elective surgery patients will receive alvimopan beginning in the pre-operative area and administered by the RN at least 30 minutes prior to administration of narcotic medications. A total of 60 patients will be enrolled (see sample size calculation in c.2.3), 30 into each arm. All infusion rates will be calculated based on ideal body weight (IBW), unless actual body weight (ABW) is less than ideal. IBW is calculated for males as 50kg + 2.3*(number of inches over 5 feet) and for females as 45.5kg + 2.3*(number of inches over 5 feet). All investigational infusions will be started by the anesthesia resident or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) at the time of anesthesia induction. Patients will receive a bolus of the investigational solution at a calculated dose of 0.25 mg/kg over 5 minutes following anesthetic induction. A continuous infusion of the investigational solution will immediately follow at a rate of 2 mcg/kg/min. Timing of bolus administration along with time of initiation of continuous infusion will be documented with the continuous infusion to run for a duration of 48-hours.

All subjects will be assessed daily or more frequently for delirium. The institutional CAM and CAM-ICU Delirium screens, which have been validated in the literature, will be utilized (see appendices IV and V). Subjects may remove oneself from the trial or be un-blinded should he/she, pharmacy, and/or clinical staff deem it medically necessary. Medical necessity is determined by inability to treat without knowledge of trial assignment; otherwise treating staff will assume all patients have received ketamine. All adverse events will be recorded and if necessary subjects will be un-blinded in the event of a serious adverse event.

All adverse events will be recorded and if necessary subjects will be un-blinded in the event of a serious adverse event. The research team will monitor all study patients for any adverse event trends. Patients will be followed through the time of discharge.

02

Conditions studied

  • Acute Pain
  • Pain, Postoperative
  • Colorectal Surgery

Keywords

  • Colorectal Surgery
  • Acute Pain
  • Pain
  • post-operative pain
  • ketamine
03

In context

Pain, Postoperative

5,093 studies on the registry are indexed under Pain, Postoperative; 1,140 are open to participants now.

Browse Pain, Postoperative studies →

Lead sponsor

Medical College of Wisconsin is the lead sponsor of 540 studies on the registry; 120 are open to participants now.

Of its 71 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 56 (79%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. Age greater than 18 years
  2. Surgical intervention required for the management of colonic disease
  3. Admission to either the acute care surgery or colorectal surgery service with an anticipated inpatient hospital stay of 72 hours.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. History of adverse reaction to ketamine
  2. Chronic opioid therapy for >3 weeks of >30mg oral morphine equivalents per day
  3. Known substance abuse with prescription opioids or heroin
  4. Anticipated post-operative intubation (>6hr duration)
  5. History of psychosis
  6. Active delirium
  7. Glaucoma
  8. Active acute coronary syndrome
  9. Severe, poorly controlled hypertension (systolic blood pressure > 180)
  10. Concurrent use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
  11. Pregnancy
  12. Prisoners
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator)
Enrollment
0 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Ketamine Infusion

    All infusion rates will be calculated based on ideal body weight. Patients will receive a bolus of the ketamine solution at a calculated dose of 0.25 mg/kg. A continuous infusion of ketamine will immediately follow at a rate of 2 mcg/kg/min. The continuous infusion to run for a duration of 48-hours.

    Drug: Ketamine · Drug: Acetaminophen · Drug: Opioid · Drug: Alvimopan

  • Placebo comparator
    Saline Placebo

    All infusion rates will be calculated based on ideal body weight. Patients will receive a bolus of the saline solution at a calculated dose of 0.25 mg/kg. A continuous infusion of saline will immediately follow at a rate of 2 mcg/kg/min. The continuous infusion to run for a duration of 48-hours.

    Drug: Placebo · Drug: Acetaminophen · Drug: Opioid · Drug: Alvimopan

Interventions

  • DrugPlacebo

    Individuals enrolled into the control arm of the trial will receive a normal saline placebo infusion at a rate equivalent to the dosage of ketamine in the experimental arm.

    Also known as: NaCl Placebo Solution

  • DrugKetamine

    All individuals randomized to the experimental arm of the trial will receive ketamine therapy at a rate of 2 mcg/kg/hr dosed based on ideal body weight.

  • DrugAcetaminophen

    All patients admitted to the hospital will be placed on scheduled acetaminophen 1000mg PO q 6 hours unless signs of liver disease/impairment or creatinine clearance \< 35ml/min at which point dosage would be reduced to 650mg q 8 hours. Individuals unable to take oral medications would be placed on intravenous acetaminophen.

    Also known as: Tylenol

  • DrugOpioid

    All individuals will receive as needed opiate therapy as an adjunct to the scheduled medications and "ketamine/placebo" solution. Choice in opiate therapy will be at the discretion of the attending faculty. Dosage and adjustments will be in accordance with the institutional policy on appropriate opiate dosage adjustment.

    Also known as: Opiate, Narcotic, Morphine, Dilaudid

  • DrugAlvimopan

    All patients enrolled into the trial will be screened for eligibility for alvimopan utilization. Only in circumstances where patients are not on outpatient opioid medications and where they have not received any at time of arrival will alvimopan be administered. It will be given at least 30 minutes prior to surgery.

    Also known as: Entereg

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Inpatient opiate consumption standardized to oral morphine equivalents.

    Standardized to oral morphine equivalents

    Time frame: 1st 48 hours post-infusion initiation

Secondary outcomes

  1. Inpatient Opioid consumption standardized to oral morphine equivalents.

    Standardized to oral morphine equivalents.

    Time frame: Duration of Hospitalization. Typical hospital duration for this patient population is 3-5 days.

  2. Opioid consumption standardized to oral morphine equivalents.

    Standardized to oral morphine equivalents. Will review opioid use in the 24-hours prior to the patient leaving the hospital.

    Time frame: The 24-hours prior to leaving the hospital.

  3. AUCpain

    Area under curve for the pain trajectory (AUCpain) during the 12 - 24 hours after initiation of pain treatment

    Time frame: 12-24 hours post infusion initiation

  4. AUCpain

    Area under curve for the pain trajectory (AUCpain) during the 24-48 hours after initiation of pain treatment

    Time frame: 24-48 hours post-infusion initiation

  5. AUCpain

    Area under curve for the pain trajectory (AUCpain) during the 6-12 hours after initiation of pain treatment

    Time frame: 6-12 hours post-infusion initiation

  6. Length of Stay

    Participants will be followed from time of admission to time of discharge. The average hospital length of stay is expected to be 3-5 days.

    Time frame: Participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 3-5 days.

  7. ICU Length of Stay

    Participants will be followed from time of admission to time of discharge. The average hospital length of stay is expected to be 3-5 days.

    Time frame: Participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 3-5 days.

  8. Opiate Side Effect Frequency

    Nausea, Emesis, Pruritus, Sedation

    Time frame: Participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 3-5 days.

  9. Return of Bowel Function

    Bowel Movements, Flatus

    Time frame: Participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 3-5 days.

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 26, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02785003
Lead sponsor
Medical College of Wisconsin
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 27, 2016
Start date
Jul 2016
Primary completion
Aug 2017 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 2018 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 26, 2017

Study contacts

Thomas W Carver, MD
principal investigator · Medical College of Wisconsin
Carrie Y Peterson, MD
principal investigator · Medical College of Wisconsin

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is withdrawn, as verified in May 2016. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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