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RecruitingNCT04910815Updated Jan 30, 2024

Feasibility of a New Diagnostic Device to Assess Small Intestinal Dysbiosis in Routine Clinical Setting.

An interventional study of Atmo Gas Capsule and Glucose Breath Test in Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, sponsored by Atmo Biosciences Pty Ltd. Recruiting at 2 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-01-30.

Sponsored by Atmo Biosciences Pty Ltd · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Jun 2024, 2 years 4 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Jul 2021; still recruiting 5 years 2 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
150
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to determine if the gas-sensing capsule can be used to identify increased numbers and a change of the composition of microbiota or microorganisms in the gut to assess small intestinal dysbiosis

Read the detailed description

In order to diagnose an increased bacterial density in the small intestine (e.g small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) metabolic activity of the microbiota colonising the small intestine is measured by exposing these bacteria with readily fermentable carbohydrates and measure subsequently (e.g. for 2 hrs) the change of the concentration of hydrogen (H2) and/or methane in the exhaled breath that results from carbohydrate fermentation in the small intestine. This is the principle of existing breath hydrogen tests, but they are poor at distinguishing where in the intestine the H2 is being produced, and their sensitivity is diminished by 'noise' in the breath H2 as a consequence of hydrogen or methane producing bacteria in the colon and this is frequently observed in the routine clinical setting. These shortcomings can be theoretically overcome by using the Atmo Gas CapsuleR which measures after ingestion gas concentrations during gastrointestinal transit in the lumen of the gut. As a consequence at the site of fermentation parts per hundred can be measured, rather than the parts per million (ppm) when methane or hydrogen are measured in the exhaled breath. An additional advantage is that the location of the capsule is known, and therefore the source of gas production from increased bacterial load can be determined. Preliminary studies using the gas capsule have shown good correlation of patterns of breath H2 with those of regional H2 patterns generated by the gas-sensing capsule. In fact, the capsule demonstrated far greater sensitivity in measuring H2 production and a vastly superior signal-to-noise ratio in response to a fermentable load than breath testing. Hence, investigating the utility of the gas-sensing capsule as a means for 'direct' assessment of microbial density presents an opportunity to overcome the shortcomings associated with the current breath test.

02

Conditions studied

  • Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

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03

In context

Dysbiosis

186 studies on the registry are indexed under Dysbiosis; 59 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 150 is above the median of 60 across 134 interventional studies indexed under Dysbiosis.

Browse Dysbiosis studies →

Lead sponsor

Atmo Biosciences Pty Ltd is the lead sponsor of 3 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Patients aged over 18 years presenting to the Department of Gastroenterology \& Hepatology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital who require and are booked for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy as part of the routine diagnostic work up of e.g. otherwise unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Radiation Enteritis
  • Pregnancy
  • Gastric bezoar
  • Swallowing disorders/dysphagia to food or pills
  • Obese, with BMI over 35
  • Suspected or known strictures of the GI tract
  • Fistulas or physiological/mechanical GI obstruction
  • GI surgery within the past 3 months
  • Diverticultis
  • Patients with implantable or portable electro-mechanical medical devices, e.g. pacemakers
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
150 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Primary recruitment

    Capsules will be ingested within 30 minutes prior to endoscopy pre- and post-antimicrobial intervention (if the patients has had a treatment) to determine if it can be used to identify increased microbial load through gas detection, and to identify responders to therapy.

    Device: Atmo Gas Capsule · Procedure: Jejunal Aspiration and culture

  • Active comparator
    Active SIBO Arm - Rifaximin

    If increased microbial load is determined through culture of aspiration during initial endoscopic procedure, randomised administration of Rifaximin (550g) 1 capsule twice a day for 14 days. The post-antimicrobial endoscopic procedure will be conducted at 6 weeks post the start of treatment. These hydrogen concentration results will be compared to the following conventional breath tests in a crossover study design. Immediately after the endoscopic procedure, the patient will undergo a FOS challenge recording hydrogen breath samples for 2 hours in 20 min intervals while they recover from the endoscopic procedure. A standard Glucose breath test will be performed by the patients at home not earlier that 8 hours after the endoscopic procedure.

    Device: Atmo Gas Capsule · Diagnostic Test: Glucose Breath Test · Diagnostic Test: Fructoolifosaccharides (FOS) Breath Test · Procedure: Jejunal Aspiration and culture · Drug: Rifaximin

  • Placebo comparator
    Active SIBO Arm - Placebo

    If increased microbial load is determined through culture of aspiration during initial endoscopic procedure, randomised administration of placebo capsule twice a day for 14 days. The placebo will be encapsulated maize starch and pregelatinised maize starch. The post-antimicrobial endoscopic procedure will be conducted at 6 weeks post the start of treatment. These hydrogen concentration results will be compared to the following conventional breath tests in a crossover study design. Immediately after the endoscopic procedure, the patient will undergo a FOS challenge recording hydrogen breath samples for 2 hours in 20 min intervals while they recover from the endoscopic procedure. A standard Glucose breath test will be performed by the patients at home not earlier that 8 hours after the endoscopic procedure.

    Device: Atmo Gas Capsule · Diagnostic Test: Glucose Breath Test · Diagnostic Test: Fructoolifosaccharides (FOS) Breath Test · Procedure: Jejunal Aspiration and culture · Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • DeviceAtmo Gas Capsule

    The Atmo gas capsule is an ingestible electronic device. This capsule consists of gas and temperature sensors, electronic circuits, radio transmitter and silver oxide batteries. It can measure the concentrations and types of intestinal gases in individuals and give an indication of gut transit time. This data is used for research purposes to gain an understanding of the microbiota's localised functionality. The data from the sensors is transmitted out of the body over the radio frequency to a handheld receiver. The capsule passes out of the human body at the end of the measurement and is disposable.

  • Diagnostic testGlucose Breath Test

    Glucose is a sugar that will be broken down by bacteria if present in the small bowel with hydrogen gas as a by-product. The hydrogen produced through fermentation is measured in the patients exhaled breath

  • Diagnostic testFructoolifosaccharides (FOS) Breath Test

    FOS is a long chain carbohydrate that can only be broken down by bacteria with hydrogen gas as a by-product. The hydrogen produced through fermentation is measured in the patients exhaled breath

  • ProcedureJejunal Aspiration and culture

    Endoscopic procedure to determine microbial load of the Small bowel. This is the gold standard to determine the Active SIBO cases

  • DrugRifaximin

    Rifaximin (550g) 1 capsule twice a day for 14 days.

  • DrugPlacebo

    randomised administration of either placebo or Rifaximin (550g) 1 capsule twice a day for 14 days. The placebo will be encapsulated maize starch and pregelatinised maize starch

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Structured Assessment of Gastro-Intestinal Symptoms

    22 item assessing gastrointestinal symptoms. Response items are on a 5-point scale from (1 )no problem to (5) very severe problem. This is given to patients attending the Department of Gastroenterology \& Hepatology at Princess Alexandra Hospital as part of their routine clinical care.

    Time frame: 30 minutes prior to endoscopy

  2. Hydrogen fermentation in the small intestine as measured by the Atmo capsule

    Approximately 30 minutes before the endoscopic procedure, participants will be asked to swallow the capsule (Atmo capsule), which is the size of a large vitamin pill. If the capsule still is in the stomach at the time of the procedure it will be endoscopically pushed into the small intestine. 5g of Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) in 25mL of water will be flushed via the working channel of the endoscope into the small intestine to ensure that carbohydrates are available for fermentation. Subsequently the capsule is propelled by the normal peristaltic waves through the whole gut and is excreted after several days with the faeces. During transit the capsule transmits data about the concentration of specific gases (e.g. hydrogen) in the gut to a small receiver outside of the body.

    Time frame: 30 minutes prior to endoscopy

  3. Small Intestine microbial load as assessed by Jejunal Aspiration and Culture

    The density of the bacterial colonisation of mucosal biopsies obtained during endoscpoy will be used to determine the role of the bacterial density

    Time frame: During endoscpoic procedure

Secondary outcomes

  1. FOS Breath samples on the day of the endoscopy

    Immediately prior to the endoscopy a baseline breath sample (approximately 400 cc) will be collected. FOS will be administered into the duodenum during endoscopy. After completion of the endoscopic procedure additional samples will be taken every 20 minutes up to 2 hours after the procedure.

    Time frame: Up to 2 hours after the endescopic procedure

  2. Glucose Breath Test

    The patients will be asked to perform (not earlier than at least 8 hours after the endoscopic procedure) at home a standard glucose test consistent with the established clinical protocol for the diagnosis of SIBO (see SOP for Hydrogen Breath Test for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth). For this test patients will drink 75 g of glucose and breath samples will be taken at baseline and every 20 minutes for 2 hrs. Samples will be analysed for increased hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide using a Breathtracker digital microlyser (Quintron Inc USA). If bacteria are present in the upper part of the small intestine, a rise in 12ppm of hydrogen over baseline is indicative of bacterial overgrowth.

    Time frame: Not earlier than 12 hours after the endoscopic procedure

07

Study locations

1 of 2 sites recruiting
  • Princess Alexandra Hospital
    Woolloongabba, Queensland 4102, Australia
    • Teressa Hansen · Contact · Teressa.Hansen@health.qld.gov.au · 07 3176 9190
    • Professor Gerald Holtmann, MD, PhD, MBA · Principal investigator
    • Dr. Ayesha Shah, MD, PhD · Sub investigator
    • Dr. Sahar Pakneshan, MD · Sub investigator
    • Dr. Natasha Koloski, PhD · Sub investigator
    Recruiting
  • Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences
    Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226014,, India
    Not yet recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

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 Jan 30, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04910815
Lead sponsor
Atmo Biosciences Pty Ltd
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 2, 2021
Start date
Jul 14, 2021
Primary completion
Jun 1, 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 1, 2024 (estimated)
Last update
Jan 30, 2024

Study contacts

Teressa Hansen, PhD
Contact
Teressa.Hansen@health.qld.gov.au
07 3176 9190
Dr. Natasha Koloski
Contact
n.koloski@uq.edu.au
+61 407 126 897
Professor Gerald Holtman, MD, PhD, MBA
principal investigator · The University of Queensland

Oversight

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

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