An observational study in Ventilator Lung, Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury and Diaphragm Disease, sponsored by Unity Health Toronto. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-05-20.
Sponsored by Unity Health Toronto · Observational
This will be a prospective observational study where the investigator will scan patients' necks with an ultrasound and look for anatomical landmarks that may help identify the phrenic nerve.
Patients under protective mechanical ventilation, an intervention that saves lives, may need sedation and paralyzing agents. However, sedation and paralyzing agents are associated with multiple complications, including diaphragm dysfunction.
Several strategies have been proposed to reduce diaphram dysfunction. A novel approach is to stimulate the phrenic nerve, either transvenously or transcutaneously. Transvenous stimulation requires a catheter, which eventually is associated with increased risk of infection and thrombosis. In this scenario, transcutaneous phrenic nerve pacing is attractive but may be more susceptible to patients' anthropometric measures.
The correlation between patients' anthropometric measures and the location of the phrenic has been poorly studied.
399 studies on the registry are indexed under Lung Injury; 50 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 63 is close to the median of 70 across 136 observational studies indexed under Lung Injury.
Browse Lung Injury studies →Unity Health Toronto is the lead sponsor of 434 studies on the registry; 76 are open to participants now.
Of its 5 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 1 (20%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Adult patients admitted to the ICU
Exclusion Criteria
The investigators will scan patients' necks with an ultrasound and look for anatomical landmarks to identify the phrenic nerve
To evaluate the number of participants where the investigators will successfully identify the phrenic nerve using only ultrasound and anatomical landmarks
Time frame: 25-30 minutes
To measure both phrenic nerves depth with an ultrasound in a heterogeneous population in the ICU
Time frame: 25-30 minutes
To measure the distance, in milimeters, between each phrenic nerve and other homolateral cervical structures such as the carotid artery and the jugular vein
Time frame: 25-30 minutes
To describe potential clinical and anthropometric variables associated with phrenic nerve depth
Time frame: 25-30 minutes
To assess how long it takes to find the phrenic nerve with ultrasound visualization.
Time frame: 25-30 minutes
Plan to share: No
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in May 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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