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CompletedNCT04372147EMPROTECTUpdated Sep 23, 2024

Embolization of the Middle Meningeal Artery for the Prevention of Chronic Subdural Hematoma Recurrence in High Risk Patients (EMPROTECT)

An interventional study of MMA embolization in Chronic Subdural Hematoma, At Risk of Post-operative Recurrence and Burr-hole Surgery, sponsored by Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris. Completed at 12 sites in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-09-23.

Sponsored by Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
342
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Standard of care for the management of symptomatic chronic subdural hematomas (SDHs) is neurosurgical burr-hole evacuation followed by drainage. Post-operative recurrence rates may be as high as 10 to 20 %. In particular, recurrence rate increases with antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy. Middle meningeal artery (MMA) embolization has been proposed as a novel treatment of chronic SDH. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of MMA embolization in reducing the risk of chronic SDH recurrence at 6 months after burr-hole surgery as compared with standard medical post-operative treatment in patients at high risk of post-operative recurrence.

Read the detailed description

Introduction: chronic SDHs are some of the most frequently encountered neurosurgical emergencies. The gold standard treatment of symptomatic chronic SDHs is burr-hole surgery followed by temporary closed system drainage. Post-operative recurrence rates may be as high as 10 to 20% and are a major source of morbidity and repeated surgery. MMA embolization is a promising minimally invasive procedure recently proposed as a treatment of chronic SDH. It is hypothesized that post-operative MMA embolization may reduce recurrence rate in patients at high risk of recurrence.

Aims: the primary objective of the trial is to assess the efficacy of MMA embolization in reducing the risk of chronic SDH recurrence at 6 months after burr-hole surgery as compared with standard medical treatment in patients at high risk of post-operative recurrence. Secondary objectives include evaluating the impact of post-operative MMA embolization on rate of recurrence requiring new surgery (at 6 months), rate of functional dependency (at 1 and 6 months) , mortality (at 1 and 6 months) , cumulative hospital stay duration, related to the SDH, and complication rate at 6 months.

Methods: multicenter open label randomized controlled trial. Eligible patients will be assigned either to the intervention or a control arm through blocked randomization with randomblock sizes and stratified on the center, antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapy and unilateral vs bilateral SDH. Patients in the intervention group will undergo a CT angiography scan of the supra aortic trunks, followed by MMA embolization procedure within 7 days of the burr-hole surgery in addition to standard medical care. Patients in the control group will receive standard medical care only. Outcomes will be evaluated at 1 and 6 months. The primary outcome measure will be the rate of chronic SDH recurrence 6 months after index burr-hole surgery, as defined bellow. In order to demonstrate a decrease in recurrence rate from 15 to 5% between the intervention and control arms with a power of 80%, bilateral global alpha risk of 5%, with two planned sequential tests according to the method of Lan \& Demets, and 20% patients lost to follow-up, 342 patients are required, 171 in each arm. The primary outcome will be analyzed according to intention to treat.

02

Conditions studied

  • Chronic Subdural Hematoma
  • At Risk of Post-operative Recurrence
  • Burr-hole Surgery

Keywords

  • Chronic Subdural Hematoma
  • Burr-Hole Surgery
  • Recurrence
  • Middle Meningeal Artery
  • Embolization
03

In context

Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic

112 studies on the registry are indexed under Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic; 49 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 342 is above the median of 185 across 86 interventional studies indexed under Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic.

Browse Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic studies →

Lead sponsor

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris is the lead sponsor of 3,592 studies on the registry; 1,033 are open to participants now.

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

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

Patient:

  • Aged ≥ 18 years
  • Operated for a SDH recurrence or operated for a first episode of SDH if at least one of the following recurrence risk factors is present:
  • Chronic alcoholism defined by a daily alcohol consumption > 30g/day
  • Or liver cirrhosis
  • Or antiplatelet therapy
  • Or anticoagulant therapy
  • Or thrombocytopenia with a count \< 100 x10(3) per µL
  • Or surgery without use of external drain
  • With affiliation to a social security scheme
  • Having signed an form or for whom a delegate close relative or a support person has signed an informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • SDH evacuation by craniotomy or twist-drill craniostomy rather than burr-hole surgery
  • Beyond 7 days after the index surgery (surgery for recurrent SDH or first surgery in case of a risk factor as indicated in the inclusion criteria)
  • Functionally dependant patient with an mRS score ≥ 4 before the SDH
  • Patient with a \< 6 months
  • Patient with renal failure as defined by a \< 30 ml/min
  • Pregnancy
  • History of allergy to a iodinated contrast agent
  • Procedure deemed unachievable under local anesthesia (because of patient agitation or discomfort for instance) in a patient with a to both conscious sedation and general anesthesia.
  • Patient refusal
  • Patient for whom follow-up is deemed problematic (living abroad or homeless for instance )
  • Patients under legal guardianship or trusteeship
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

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.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
342 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    intervention group

    MMA embolization procedure within 7 days of the burr-hole surgery in addition to standard medical care

    Procedure: MMA embolization

  • No intervention
    control group

    standard medical care

Interventions

  • ProcedureMMA embolization

    Patients in the intervention group will undergo a CT angiography scan of the supra aortic trunks, followed by MMA embolization procedure within 7 days of the burr-hole surgery in addition to standard medical care

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. SDH recurrence

    Rate of chronic subdural hematoma (SDH) recurrence 6 months after index burr-hole surgery, defined as: * Reappearance of a homolateral SDH with a midline shift \> 5mm or a symptomatic homolateral SDH, including leading to death * Or, the presence of a homolateral SDH \> 10mm in maximal thickness on the 6 months control head CT scan * Or, the need for repeated surgery for a homolateral SDH recurrence * Or, the need for a new hospital admission in relation to a homolateral SDH recurrence

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. repeated surgery

    - Rate of repeated surgery for a homolateral SDH recurrence during the 6 months follow-up period

    Time frame: 6 months

  2. disability and dependency

    - Rate of disability and dependency at 1 and 6 months, defined by a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score ≥ 4. The mRS is an ordered scale coded from 0 (no symptoms at all) through 5 (severe disability) 6 (death)

    Time frame: 1 and 6 months

  3. mortality

    - Mortality rate at 1 and 6 months

    Time frame: 1 and 6 months

  4. hospital stay

    - Total cumulative duration of hospital stay, during the 6 months follow-up period, directly or indirectly related to the SDH

    Time frame: 6 months

  5. complication rates

    - Minor and major embolization procedure-related complication rates

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

12 sites
  • Hôpital d'instruction des armées de Percy
    Clamart, 92190, France
  • Hôpital Beaujon
    Clichy, 92110, France
  • Hôpital Henri-Mondor
    Créteil, 94010, France
  • CHU Lille (Hôpital Roger Salengro)
    Lille, 59037, France
  • CHU de Limoges
    Limoges, 87042, France
  • Hôpital Nord (CHU MARSEILLE)
    Marseille, 13015, France
  • CHU de Marseille
    Marseille, 13385, France
  • Hôpital Lariboisière
    Paris, 75010, France
  • Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière
    Paris, 75013, France
  • Hôpital Sainte Anne
    Paris, 75014, France
  • Fondation Rothschild
    Paris, 75019, France
  • CHU Tours
    Tours, 37044, France
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Data are available upon reasonable request The procedures carried out with the French data privacy authority (CNIL, Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés) do not provide for the transmission of the database, nor do the information and consent documents signed by the patients. Consultation by the editorial board or interested researchers of individual participant data that underlie the results reported in the article after deidentification may nevertheless be considered, subject to prior determination of the terms and conditions of such consultation and in respect for compliance with the applicable regulations.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form

Time frame: Beginning 3 months and ending 3 years following article publication. Requests out of these time frame can also be submitted to the sponsor

Access criteria: Researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Jun 2020 to primary completion in Oct 2023, 40 months.

Of 44 interventional studies with no phase under Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic, half reached primary completion within 45 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 37 and three quarters within 70. This study's 40 months is below that.

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

Registered
Apr 29, 2020
First posted
May 1, 2020
StartActual
Jun 22, 2020
Primary completionActual
Oct 23, 2023
CompletionActual
Oct 23, 2023
Last update
Sep 23, 2024
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 Sep 23, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04372147
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 1, 2020
Start date
Jun 22, 2020
Primary completion
Oct 23, 2023
Completion
Oct 23, 2023
Last update
Sep 23, 2024

Study contacts

Eimad Shotar, MD
principal investigator · Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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