An observational study in Coma, Disorder of Consciousness and Minimally Conscious State, sponsored by McMaster University. Status unknown at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-02-06.
Sponsored by McMaster University · Observational
Electroencephalogram/event-related potentials (EEG/ERP) data will be collected from 50 participants in coma or other disorder of consciousness (DOC; i.e., Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome [UWS] or Minimally Conscious State [MCS]), clinically diagnosed using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). For coma patients, EEG recordings will be conducted for up to 24 consecutive hours at a maximum of 5 timepoints, spanning 30 days from the date of recruitment, to track participants' clinical state. For DOC patients, there will be an initial EEG recording up to 24 hours, with possible subsequent weekly recordings up to 2 hours. An additional dataset from 40 healthy controls will be collected, each spanning up to a 12-hour recording period in order to formulate a baseline. Collected data are to form the basis for automatic analysis and detection of ERP components in DOC, using a machine learning paradigm. Salient features (i.e., biomarkers) extracted from the ERPs and resting-state EEG will be identified and combined in an optimal fashion to give an accurate indicator of prognosis.
The Problem: Coma is a state of unconsciousness with a variety of causes. Traditional tests for coma outcome prediction are mainly based on a set of clinical observations (e.g., pupillary constriction). Recently however, event-related potentials (ERPs; which are transient electroencephalogram [EEG] responses to auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli) have been introduced as useful predictors of a positive coma outcome (i.e., emergence). However, such tests require a skilled neurophysiologist, and such people are in short supply. Also, none of the current approaches has sufficient positive and negative predictive accuracies to provide definitive prognoses in the clinical setting.
Objective: The investigators will apply innovative machine learning methods to analyze patient EEGs (50 patients and 40 healthy controls) to develop a simple, objective, replicable, and inexpensive point of care system which can significantly improve the accuracy of coma prognosis relative to current methods. The physical requirements of the proposed system consist only of an EEG system (inexpensive in terms of medical equipment) and a conventional laptop computer.
Methodology: The investigators intend to extend the team's newest algorithms and develop machine learning tools for automatic analysis and detection of ERP components. Preliminary results by the team in this respect have been very promising. The most salient features (i.e., biomarkers) extracted from the ERP will be identified and combined in an optimal fashion to give an accurate indicator of prognosis. Features will be extracted from resting state brain networks and from network trajectories associated with the processing of ERP signals.
Significance: The proposed work will enable critical care physicians to assess coma prognosis with speed and accuracy. Thus, families and their health care team will be provided the most accurate information possible to guide discussions of goals of care and life-sustaining therapies in the context of dealing with the consequences of devastating neurological injury.
138 studies on the registry are indexed under Coma; 35 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 33 is below the median of 100 across 58 observational studies indexed under Coma.
Browse Coma studies →McMaster University is the lead sponsor of 741 studies on the registry; 127 are open to participants now.
Of its 7 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 3 (43%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
The Coma/DOC Group will include 50 patients from the Intensive Care Units, Neurological Step Down Unit, or Coronary Care Unit at Hamilton General Hospital (Ontario, Canada) who are in coma (GCS score =3-8), or who have other disorders of consciousness (MCS or UWS).
The Control Group of 40 matched healthy controls will be recruited primarily from the Hamilton community (Ontario, Canada).
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Healthy Controls:
Inclusion:
Exclusion:
(During the COVID-19 pandemic only)
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Child-Pugh class
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Patients in coma (GCS score of 3-8) or with other disorder of consciousness, primarily Minimally Conscious State (MCS) or Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS; also known as vegetative state)
Matched healthy controls without current neurological diagnoses
Change in multiple electrophysiological measures across specified time points during coma
Event-related potentials (ERP) and resting state periods will be assessed at the specified intervals as a difference between successive timepoints. The ERP measures will include amplitude and latency values of N1, P2, MMN, P3a, P3b, and N400 to assess different levels of conscious processing and presence of signs of a conscious state predictive of subsequent emergence. Also, resting EEG measures will be obtained at regular intervals. EEG/ERP data will be recorded for up to 24 consecutive hours at a maximum of 5 timepoints spanning 30 days from the date of recruitment to track the participants' progression. The date of the initial assessment will be denoted as Day 0, and the subsequent assessments will take place ideally on Day 3, Day 10, Day 20 and Day 30, unless there is a ≥ 2 point of change in the patient's GCS score. Change in all specified measures will be assessed across the up to 24-hour recordings taken at 5 different timepoints.
Time frame: up to 30 days from date of recruitment
Change in multiple electrophysiological measures across specified time points during MCS or UWS
Event-related potentials (ERP) and resting state periods will be assessed at the specified intervals as a difference between successive timepoints. The ERP measures will include amplitude and latency values of N1, P2, MMN, P3a, P3b, and N400 to assess different levels of conscious processing and presence of signs of a conscious state predictive of subsequent emergence. Also, resting EEG measures will be obtained at regular intervals. EEG/ERP data will be recorded for an initial period of up to 24 consecutive hours, followed by up to 2-hour long recordings that may be conducted approximately once a week until the patient either regains full consciousness, is no longer within the Hamilton Health Sciences system, or until 6 months from the date of their enrollment into the study, whichever occurs first. Change in all specified measures will be assessed across the recordings taken at each timepoint.
Time frame: up to 6 months from date of recruitment
Correlation between behavioral and electrophysiological measures after coma/DOC emergence
Patient emergence will be monitored using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). In the case of patient emergence, the full electrophysiological test procedures are recorded to correlate with traditional behavioral measures. The electrophysiological measures obtained at this timepoint (emergence) will be compared to the same measures obtained at the different time points during coma/DOC (Outcome 1/2) to detect both clinically relevant change and possible prognostic markers that may have been obtained at an earlier test point.
Time frame: Within a 30-day time period post recruitment
Sensitivity and specificity of prognostic capabilities of electrophysiological measures
Analyses will compare the electrophysiological measures as outcome predictors to traditional behaviorally-based tools.
Time frame: Within a 30-day time period post recruitment
Feasibility of procedure
The team will also evaluate whether the repeated EEG sessions, lasting up to 24 hours, during the coma/DOC duration is a feasible approach to predict the emergence and outcome from coma.
Time frame: up to 6 months from date of recruitment
Correlation between individual patient factors, EEG results, and outcome for coma
The study also collects demographic, medical history, injury information, and other physiological markers from the patient's health record and concurrent physiological assessment during the study period. Analyses will assess correlations between these factors and coma outcome and EEG findings.
Time frame: up to 30 days from date of recruitment
Correlations between individual patient factors, EEG results, and outcome for DOC
The study also collects demographic, medical history, injury information, and other physiological markers from the patient's health record and concurrent physiological assessment during the study period. Analyses will assess correlations between these factors and DOC outcome and EEG findings.
Time frame: up to 6 months from date of recruitment
Plan to share: Undecided — To be decided
Ran from Oct 2019 to primary completion in Aug 2022, 34 months.
Of 24 observational studies under Coma, half reached primary completion within 34 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 14 and three quarters within 60. This study's 34 months is close to that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is status unknown, as verified in Feb 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.