An observational study in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Nosocomial Infection and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Complication, sponsored by Policlinico Hospital. Active, not recruiting at 2 sites in Italy. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 100 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-24.
Sponsored by Policlinico Hospital · Observational
Nosocomial Infections (NI) are a common and dreadful complication for patients suffering from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) treated with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). Unfortunately, no study has thoroughly evaluated NI in this fragile patient cohort. Newly developed antibiotics may help manage such infections, but their pharmacokinetics (PK) during ECMO has not been evaluated.
Objectives of this prospective observational multicenter pharmacological no-profit study are: 1) describe incidence, microbial etiology, and resistance patterns, and assess risk factors for NIs in a large prospective cohort of ARDS patients undergoing ECMO. 2) provide a PK analysis of ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, and cefiderocol in adult patients undergoing ECMO Incidence, microbial etiology, and antibiotic resistance patterns of confirmed NIs will be prospectively collected and analyzed. In the subgroup of patients treated with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol as per clinical practice, blood and bronchoalveolar concentration of the antibiotic will be measured, and PK modeling carried out.
The most severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) cases require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ECMO is a life-support technique utilized in patients with reversible refractory respiratory failure. Nosocomial infections (NI) are common complications in ECMO patients due to predisposing factors such as patients' comorbidities, immunocompromise associated with the critical illness, and invasiveness of ECMO and other life support procedures. Few studies have assessed the incidence, risk factors, microbial etiology, and antibiotic resistance of NIs during ECMO. In a monocentric retrospective observational analysis, a high incidence of NI was detected in ECMO patients. The most common NI was ventilation-associated pneumonia (VAP), frequently caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. Patients developing an infection had a longer duration of ECMO and mechanical ventilation and a more prolonged ICU stay. The rate of MDR bacterial isolates was very high, and the first NI episode caused by MDR germs was an independent risk factor for death. To date, no prospective study has studied the epidemiology and clinical significance of NIs during ECMO. Better knowledge of NIs epidemiology during ECMO may allow us to target possibly causative agents using more specific empirical antibiotic therapy, increase accuracy, and optimize the timing of antimicrobial treatment. In turn, this may lead to better treatment of NIs in patients undergoing ECMO, thus reducing the overall burden of infections in such a fragile population and allowing a significant decrease in the costs of treatment.
Several new antimicrobial agents utilized for the treatment of MDR infections (i.e., ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, cefiderocol) have been granted approval in Europe for the treatment of VAP. Antibiotic efficacy in pneumonia requires sufficient unbound drug concentrations at the pulmonary site of infection, and determination of the bronchopulmonary availability of antibiotics in epithelial lining fluid (ELF) allows penetration into the lung to be characterized. While population pharmacokinetic (PK) models have been carried out in healthy volunteers, no data is available relative to the PK of those antibiotics ECMO patients. In general, ECMO has been shown to impact PK in three primary ways: direct extraction by the circuit increased volume of distribution, and altered clearance5. Thus, knowledge of the PK of these newly introduced antibiotic agents in ECMO patients suffering from VAP due to MDR bacteria may be of great clinical impact.
Based on these premises, in a large cohort of ECMO patients with ARDS, the investigators will carry out a prospective multicenter observational study to describe NIs and their risk factors. Overall, with this study, the investigators will significantly broaden the data as regards to NIs during ECMO.
In addition, in a subgroup of patients treated with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol for VAP during ECMO treatment, the investigators will carry out a pharmacokinetic study.
1,387 studies on the registry are indexed under Respiratory Distress Syndrome; 283 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 200 is above the median of 100 across 475 observational studies indexed under Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
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The study population for the Aim 1 study will comprise adult patients admitted to the aforementioned ICUs suffering from ARDS (as defined by the Berlin criteria) and treated with ECMO.
The study population for the Aim 2 study will comprise the subgroup of patients as per Aim 1, whose clinical course is complicated by VAP necessitating antibiotic treatment with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol
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Adjunctive Inclusion Criterium for the sole Secondary Objective:
- Antibiotic treatment with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol.
Exclusion Criteria:
The study population for the Aim 1 study will comprise adult patients admitted to the participating ICUs treated with ECMO. The study population for the Aim 2 study will comprise the subgroup of patients as per Aim 1, whose clinical course is complicated by VAP necessitating antibiotic treatment with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol.
The study population for the Aim 2 study will comprise the subgroup of patients as per Aim 1, whose clinical course is complicated by VAP necessitating antibiotic treatment with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol.
Diagnostic Test: Collection of blood and bronchoalveolar samples to study Pharmacokinetics of ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/varbobactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol
The antibiotic treatment with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol will follow the standard clinical practice. The concentration of ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol will be measured at specific timepoints in plasma samples and bronchoalveolar lavage samples, and a PK analysis and modeling will be carried out .
Incidence of NIs in a large prospective cohort of patients undergoing ECMO.
Only microbiologically-confirmed infections will be considered. Accordingly, the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient) will be composed of the following NIs: ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI), bloodstream infection (BSI), and catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI). Incidence of pulmonary aspergillosis and clostridium difficile colitis will be collected but not included in the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient). To carry out this aim, a supervisor for each participating center will be in charge of patients' follow-up. For each center, a critical care specialist and an infectious disease specialist will review the available clinical and laboratory data. Incidence will be expressed as: 1) percentage of patients who will develop a NI/total of patients; 2) rate of incidence: number of infection/total time at risk of NIs.
Time frame: January 2023-December 2025
Microbial etiology of NIs in a large prospective cohort of patients undergoing ECMO.
Only microbiologically-confirmed infections will be considered. Accordingly, the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient) will be composed of the following NIs: ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI), bloodstream infection (BSI), and catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI). Incidence of pulmonary aspergillosis and clostridium difficile colitis will be collected but not included in the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient). To carry out this aim, a supervisor for each participating center will be in charge of patients' follow-up. For each center, a critical care specialist and an infectious disease specialist will review the available clinical and laboratory data. Different microbial etiology will be described according to simple descriptive statistics methods.
Time frame: January 2023-December 2025
Resistance patterns of NIs in a large prospective cohort of patients undergoing ECMO.
Only microbiologically-confirmed infections will be considered. Accordingly, the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient) will be composed of the following NIs: ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI), bloodstream infection (BSI), and catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI). Incidence of pulmonary aspergillosis and clostridium difficile colitis will be collected but not included in the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient). To carry out this aim, a supervisor for each participating center will be in charge of patients' follow-up. For each center, a critical care specialist and an infectious disease specialist will review the available clinical and laboratory data. Resistance patterns of NIs' microbes will be described according to simple descriptive statistics methods.
Time frame: January 2023-December 2025
Risk factors of NIs in a large prospective cohort of patients undergoing ECMO.
Only microbiologically-confirmed infections will be considered. Accordingly, the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient) will be composed of the following NIs: ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI), bloodstream infection (BSI), and catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI). Incidence of pulmonary aspergillosis and clostridium difficile colitis will be collected but not included in the composite outcome (i.e., infected patient). To carry out this aim, a supervisor for each participating center will be in charge of patients' follow-up. For each center, a critical care specialist and an infectious disease specialist will review the available clinical and laboratory data. Multivariate analysis will be conducted to evaluate risk factors of NIs. For each risk factor identified Odds Ratio with 95% Confidence Interval will be reported.
Time frame: January 2023-December 2025
Plasma concentration of ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, and cefiderocol in adult patients undergoing ECMO
For this aim, there will be no modification of patients' treatment and antibiotic use. The antibiotic treatment with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol will follow the standard clinical practice. The concentration of ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol will be measured in plasma samples at four specific timepoints (the first before the 5th administration of antibiotic, and then 1, 2 and 4 hours after the administration) to evaluate Maximum Plasmatic Concentration of antibiotic and its pharmacokinetics.
Time frame: January 2023-December 2025
Bronchoalveolar lavage concentration of ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, and cefiderocol in adult patients undergoing ECMO
For this aim, there will be no modification of patients' treatment and antibiotic use. The antibiotic treatment with ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol will follow the standard clinical practice. The concentration of ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, or cefiderocol will be measured in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples before the 5th administration of antibiotic to evaluate BAL Concentration of antibiotic.
Time frame: January 2023-December 2024
Plan to share: Yes
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form
Time frame: Available online already
Access criteria: Open access
Data sharing details ↗ · infecmo.unimi.it
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