ClinicalTrials.gg
TerminatedNCT04904562Updated Apr 13, 2026Results posted

Angiotensin II for Distributive Shock

A Phase 4 interventional study of Angiotensin II and Placebo in Distributive Shock, sponsored by Northwestern University. Terminated at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-13.

Sponsored by Northwestern University · Phase 4, Interventional, and Prevention

Why this study was terminated
Enrollment Challenges
Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
2
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study. A total of 40 patients who develop distributive shock, intra-operatively or post-operatively within 48 hours of heart transplant or left ventricular assist device placement will be enrolled. Participants will be randomized to Angiotensin II (Giapreza) vs. placebo plus standard of care, as a first line agent for vasoplegia. Two groups of patients will be enrolled:

  • Group A: Heart Transplant (10 control, 10 treatment)
  • Group B: LVAD implant (10 control, 10 treatment)
Read the detailed description

Patients undergoing implantation of a durable left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) or a heart transplantation are at increased risk for cardiac vasoplegia. Vasoplegia, during or following cardiac surgery, is a life-threatening condition that is characterized by poor organ perfusion and may progress to multi-organ failure. The prognosis is especially poor for patients with refractory hypotension, despite high doses of vasopressors. Existing data point to total catecholamine dose, cumulative time spent with hypotension, volume overload, need for blood transfusion as contributing factors. Catecholamine vasopressors and vasopressin, which are often used as first line vasopressor therapy, are also independent risk factors for end organ dysfunction. Data comparing mortality with the use of different classes of vasopressors, in various types of shock, have been equivocal to date. In addition, data comparing the use of different classes of vasopressors for vasoplegia during or after heart transplantation and LVAD implantation are lacking. In patients with distributive shock in the intensive care unit, angiotensin II has been shown to reduce total catecholamine dose over 24 hours and the cumulative time spent with hypotension. This study will evaluate, as the primary endpoint, whether first line use of angiotensin II affects total catecholamine vasopressor dose in the first 24 hours after vasoplegia is first. Secondary endpoints include cumulative time spent with mean arterial pressure \< 70 mmHg within the first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed, need for vasoplegia rescue therapies (methylene blue, vitamin B12, Vitamin C, steroids), incidence of acute kidney injury and stroke, time to extubation, incidence of new tachyarrhythmias, need for blood transfusion and fluid overload within the first 24 hours, ICU and hospital length of stay, 30-day mortality and allograft rejection (for heart transplant recipients).

02

Conditions studied

  • Distributive Shock

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Keywords

  • Vasoplegia
03

In context

Vasoplegia

48 studies on the registry are indexed under Vasoplegia; 19 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 2 is below the median of 110 across 27 interventional studies indexed under Vasoplegia.

Browse Vasoplegia studies →

Lead sponsor

Northwestern University is the lead sponsor of 1,423 studies on the registry; 198 are open to participants now.

Of its 105 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 78 (74%) 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

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

  1. Patients (18 years of age or older)
  2. Onset of distributive shock within 48 hours after heart transplantation or VAD placement. Distributive shock defined as MAP less than 55mmHg on CPB, MAP less than 70mmHg before or after CPB, or systemic vascular resistance (SVR) less than 800 dynes/cm/sec5 with cardiac index (CI) greater than 2.0L/min/m2 and clinically determined euvolemia.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients without distributive shock,
  2. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
  3. Patients who do not receive the study drug as a agent for distributive shock
  4. Allergy to angiotensin II, angiotensin II or another vasopressor being used at the time of presentation to the operating room
  5. Preexisting distributive shock
  6. Preexisting thromboembolic disease
  7. Patients who are unwilling to provide consent
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

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.

Line of therapy

A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.

“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.

05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Treatment

    Angiotensin II administered as an intravenous (IV) infusion will be increased every 5 minutes by 5-10ng/kg/min increments up to 80ng/kg/min

    Drug: Angiotensin II

  • Placebo comparator
    Control

    Intravenous (IV) infusion (saline)

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • Angiotensin II started at 5 ng/kg/min and titrated in 5-10 ng/kg/min increments every 5 minutes up to 80ng/kg/min to achieve target arterial pressure (MAP)

    Also known as: Giapreza

  • DrugPlacebo

    Placebo

    Also known as: Saline solution

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Total Catecholamine Dose

    Total catecholamine dose for first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

    Time frame: 24 hours

Secondary outcomes

  1. Cumulative Time Spent With MAP < 70 mmHg

    Cumulative time spent with MAP \< 70 mmHg within the first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

    Time frame: 24 hours

  2. Time to Extubation

    Time to extubation after arrival in the ICU if distributive shock is diagnosed intraoperatively or time to extubation after distributive shock is diagnosed postoperatively

    Time frame: 24 hours

  3. Incidence of Stroke

    Incidence of stroke confirmed by neurologist within 48 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

    Time frame: 48 hours

  4. Incidence of Acute Kidney Injury

    Incidence of acute kidney injury, staged by KDIGO Creatinine criteria, within 48 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

    Time frame: 48 hours

  5. Incidence of New Tachyarrhythmia

    Incidence of new tachyarrhythmia within the first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

    Time frame: 24 hours

  6. Units of Blood Transfused

    Units of blood transfused within first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

    Time frame: 24 hours

  7. Fluid Overload

    Fluid overload within the first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

    Time frame: 24 hours

  8. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Length of Stay

    Total time spent in the ICU after initial diagnosis of distributive shock

    Time frame: 1 year

  9. Hospital Length of Stay

    Total time spent in the hospital after diagnosis of distributive shock

    Time frame: 1 year

  10. 30-day Mortality

    Subject death within 30 days of diagnosis of distributive shock

    Time frame: 30 days

07

Results

Posted Apr 13, 2026

Participant flow

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestoneTreatmentControl
Started11
Completed11
Not completed00

Outcome measures

PrimaryTotal Catecholamine Dose

Total catecholamine dose for first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

Time frame:
24 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryCumulative Time Spent With MAP < 70 mmHg

Cumulative time spent with MAP \< 70 mmHg within the first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

Time frame:
24 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryTime to Extubation

Time to extubation after arrival in the ICU if distributive shock is diagnosed intraoperatively or time to extubation after distributive shock is diagnosed postoperatively

Time frame:
24 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryIncidence of Stroke

Incidence of stroke confirmed by neurologist within 48 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

Time frame:
48 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryIncidence of Acute Kidney Injury

Incidence of acute kidney injury, staged by KDIGO Creatinine criteria, within 48 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

Time frame:
48 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryIncidence of New Tachyarrhythmia

Incidence of new tachyarrhythmia within the first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

Time frame:
24 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryUnits of Blood Transfused

Units of blood transfused within first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

Time frame:
24 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryFluid Overload

Fluid overload within the first 24 hours after distributive shock is first diagnosed

Time frame:
24 hours

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryIntensive Care Unit (ICU) Length of Stay

Total time spent in the ICU after initial diagnosis of distributive shock

Time frame:
1 year

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryHospital Length of Stay

Total time spent in the hospital after diagnosis of distributive shock

Time frame:
1 year

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

Secondary30-day Mortality

Subject death within 30 days of diagnosis of distributive shock

Time frame:
30 days

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

Adverse events

Collected over 1 year. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
Treatment0/1 (0%)0/1 (0%)0/1 (0%)
Control0/1 (0%)0/1 (0%)0/1 (0%)

Baseline characteristics

Only 2 participants were enrolled in this study. Based on the low enrollment number, no data is reported here in order to protect and maintain participant privacy/confidentiality.

Age, Categorical
Age, CategoricalTreatmentControlTotal
<=18 years———
Between 18 and 65 years———
>=65 years———
Age, Continuous
Age, ContinuousTreatmentControlTotal
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, MaleTreatmentControlTotal
Female———
Male———
Race (NIH/OMB)
Race (NIH/OMB)TreatmentControlTotal
American Indian or Alaska Native———
Asian———
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander———
Black or African American———
White———
More than one race———
Unknown or Not Reported———
Region of Enrollment
Region of Enrollment(participants)TreatmentControlTotal
08

Study locations

1 site
  • Northwestern University
    Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
09

References and documents

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

10

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Jun 2022 to primary completion in May 2024, 23 months.

Results were first posted in Apr 2026, 1 year 11 months after primary completion.

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

Registered
May 12, 2021
First posted
May 27, 2021
StartActual
Jun 1, 2022
Primary completionActual
May 1, 2024
CompletionActual
Jul 1, 2024
Results first posted
Apr 13, 2026
Last update
Apr 13, 2026
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 Apr 13, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04904562
Collaborators
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 27, 2021
Start date
Jun 1, 2022
Primary completion
May 1, 2024
Completion
Jul 1, 2024
Results posted
Apr 13, 2026
Last update
Apr 13, 2026

Study contacts

Choy Lewis, MD
principal investigator · Northwestern University

Oversight

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

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Studies of the drug tested here: Angiotensin II

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