ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT03176043Updated Jun 5, 2017

Patient Controlled Fluid Administration

An Early Phase 1 interventional study of IV Fluid Administration in Dehydration (Physiology), Thirst; Due to Deprivation of Water and Plasma Osmolality Increased, sponsored by University College, London. Status unknown at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to male participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-06-05.

Sponsored by University College, London · Early Phase 1, Interventional, and Device feasibility

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jun 2017), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 9 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Aug 2016, registered May 2017).
Phase
Early Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
16
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
Male
01

Study summary

The purpose of the study is to determine whether participants who are dictating their own administration of IV fluid boluses in response to thirst, receive better protection from hypovolaemia and volume overload than those who undergo routine fluid management.

Thirst is prominent in critically ill patients and is related to dehydration. In a recent study of the symptoms experience in ITU patients at high risk of dying, the sensation of thirst was reported in 70.8% of assessments made and was considered to be one of the most intense stressors. Thirst and dehydration can be combated in an ITU setting by consuming oral fluids and through administration of intravenous fluids. However, in older adults, frailty and dysphagia reduces patients' capability to access fluid and results in thirst. In addition, the administration of IV fluids is determined by the attending physician and is often only re-evaluated on a daily or twice-daily basis.

The Quench machine has been designed to allow the patient to have more control over their oral and IV fluid administration protocol. This may help reduce the sensation of thirst and dehydration in patients. The machinery is an automated fluid delivery system that will administer a given bolus of IV fluid in response to a trigger provided by the patient.

The purpose of the current study is to examine the physiological basis for the functional benefit of this Quench system by investigating the effectiveness of the thirst response in healthy humans as a guide for administration of intravenous fluid boluses.

To explore this, the investigators have designed a randomised, cross-over study. On one visit IV fluid boluses will be administered as per the participants' request in response to thirst. In the second arm of the study participants will be administered routine IV fluid maintenance as per NICE guidelines. Body mass at the end of a 4 hour fluid administration intervention will be our primary research outcome and will be compared between the two arms of the study.

From this comparison the investigators hope to show that a patient would be able to accurately manage their level of hydration, both in terms of correcting dehydration and avoiding fluid overload. It is thought that avoiding states of fluid imbalance can reduce post surgical recovery times, reduce the incidence of post operative complications and avoid critical complications of fluid imbalance, such as acute kidney injury.

Read the detailed description

The purpose of the study is to investigate whether participant dictated fluid bolus administration in response to their symptom of experienced thirst is a viable basis to guide a clinical practice of fluid maintenance and correction of hydration status. To this end the experiment will compare the implementation of this fluid maintenance mechanism on volume depleted healthy participants to a program of routine fluid maintenance.

The null hypothesis is that the hydration state of the participants, as measured by change in body weight and plasma osmolality, will be no better corrected and managed by a thirst dictated management system than by routine maintenance.

The study has a cross-over design, used to ensure differences in hydration status, or lack there of, can be attributed to the methods of fluid administration in question, without differences between individuals confounding the results.

The participants will be required to attend the laboratory on two occasions for approximately 5 hours each visit, for arm A and B of the study. The two visits will be separated by 7 to 14 days. On each visit standard IV fluids will be administered The evening before each visit participants will be required to take 40mg of the water tablet called furosemide and refrain from drinking fluids. This is used in order to dehydrate the participant and reduce body mass by between 2 - 4%. The participant needs to be dehydrated in order to promote a thirst response so that the interventions can be studied in a cohort of participants representative of hypovolemic patients post surgery

On both visits an indwelling cannula will be placed into a vein in the participants' arm, to administer IV fluid on the participants' non dominant side. Before fluid administration this will be used to draw a blood sample for plasma osmolality measurements. A second blood sample with be drawn from a vein on the opposite arm following the fluid infusion.

For arm A: the participant will request the administration of 200ml boluses of IV fluid at any point that they experience thirst. This administration will be limited to one bolus every 15 minutes.

For arm B: participants will receive routine fluid maintenance as dictated by the NICE guidelines.

During both trials, low intensity exercise will be permitted (walking, standing, sitting) although high intensity exercise is not allowed. Entertainment in the form of a computer with internet access and DVDs will be provided.

The arm of the study the patient will undergo in the first week will be determined according to a randomised list. However, due to the nature of the investigation the arm of the study be undergone by the patient can not be blinded from the researchers or participant. All measurements, except the perception of thirst questioning, are objective measures, such as weight, plasma osmolality, haematocrit and blood sodium levels. This will minimise any researcher bias.

02

Conditions studied

  • Dehydration (Physiology)
  • Thirst; Due to Deprivation of Water
  • Plasma Osmolality Increased
  • Hypovolemia
03

In context

Dehydration

208 studies on the registry are indexed under Dehydration; 29 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 16 is below the median of 42 across 150 interventional studies indexed under Dehydration.

Browse Dehydration studies →

Lead sponsor

University College, London is the lead sponsor of 647 studies on the registry; 145 are open to participants now.

Of its 6 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 2 (33%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 65 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Healthy male volunteers, age range of 18-65 years weighing between 60-100 kg,

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals will not be allowed to take part in the study if health screening reveals any cardiovascular, respiratory, renal or metabolic disorder, or identifies any contraindication to Furosemide administration. Furthermore, individuals presenting at the laboratory with febrile symptoms will not be allowed to take part in the study until the fever subsides. During the period of study, individuals will not be allowed to take medications other than those stated in the study protocol and will be excluded if avoiding medication conflicts with previous medical advice.
05

Study design

Phase
Early Phase 1
Primary purpose
Device feasibility
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
16 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Thirst Driven infusion

    Subjects who are self administering fluid will be instructed when (at any point in the experiment) they are experiencing thirst to request a fluid bolus with an electronic trigger. In response to this trigger the researcher will then deliver a 200ml bolus of IV fluid. After delivery of the fluid bolus, a lockout period is set for 15mins within which the researcher will not deliver another bolus in response to the trigger.

    Procedure: IV Fluid Administration

  • Active comparator
    NICE infusion

    Subjects receiving standard fluid maintenance will receive a baseline infusion rate of 30 mL/kg/24hr (1.25 mL/kg/hr). In addition to this a 500 mL bolus will be delivered if any of the following clinical signs, indicating hypovolaemia, are observed on regular examination: low peripheral perfusion, heart rate \>90 /min, systolic BP \<100 mmHg, respiratory rate \>20, peripheral capillary refill \>2sec. A maximum of 2000 mL of fluid will be delivered by additional boluses.

    Procedure: IV Fluid Administration

Interventions

  • ProcedureIV Fluid Administration

    Administration of 4% Dextrose in 0.18% Sodium Chloride, through an IV cannula via a volumetric infusion pump.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Volume of Fluid Administered

    Volume of Fluid Administered, this total volume measured in ml will be logged by the volumetric pump.

    Time frame: 4 hours

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in body mass

    Change in body mass from the beginning to the end of each infusion. Measured as the subject stands on an electronic scale. Any urine output will we weighed in containers and added to the final mass.

    Time frame: 4 hours

  2. Change in urine specific gravity

    Change in urine specific gravity from the beginning to the end of each infusion. Urine samples taken at the beginning of the study and at the end (subjects having emptied their bladders 30 minutes prior) will be dipped to measure specific gravity.

    Time frame: 4 hours

  3. Change in plasma osmolality

    Change in plasma osmolality in the blood samples drawn at the beginning and end of each infusion. Samples will be centrifuged before being analysed by freezing point depression.

    Time frame: 4 hours

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Institute of Sport Exercise & Health
    London, W1T7HA, United Kingdom
    • Hugh Montgomery, MB BS · Contact
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Hughes F, Ng SC, Mythen M, Montgomery H. Could patient-controlled thirst-driven fluid administration lead to more rapid rehydration than clinician-directed fluid management? An early feasibility study. Br J Anaesth. 2018 Feb;120(2):284-290. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2017.11.077. Epub 2017 Dec 2. PubMed 29406177 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Aug 2016 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Aug 2017, 12 months after the start.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
May 30, 2017
First posted
Jun 5, 2017
StartActual
Aug 1, 2016
Primary completionEst.
Aug 2017
CompletionEst.
Aug 2017
Last update
Jun 5, 2017
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 5, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03176043
Responsible party
Fintan Hughes (Research Associate, University College, London) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 5, 2017
Start date
Aug 1, 2016
Primary completion
Aug 2017 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 2017 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 5, 2017

Study contacts

Fintan Hughes
Contact
fint@nhugh.es
0044 773 140 3686

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is status unknown, as verified in Jun 2017. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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