ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT06392087Updated Jul 19, 2024

Prehospital Analgesia in Adults Using Inhaled Methoxyflurane Study

A Phase 4 interventional study of Methoxyflurane and Standard Care in Pain, Acute, sponsored by Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Status unknown. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-07-19.

Sponsored by Ottawa Hospital Research Institute · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jul 2024), so the status shown — last known as Not yet recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
1,800
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study is about a new pain relief medication called methoxyflurane. Pain from injuries, like broken bones, is a big reason people call ambulances. It's important to treat pain well because it can make people sick and slow down healing. But often, pain isn't treated enough, which can lead to more problems.

Paramedics use different drugs to manage pain, but some are hard to give and need special training and equipment. Methoxyflurane is a new option. It's a gas you breathe in through a special inhaler. It's been used in Australia and New Zealand for a long time and has shown to work quickly and safely for different kinds of pain.

This study wants to see if methoxyflurane works well for people with moderate to severe pain from injuries compared to other medicines like Advil, Tylenol and opioids. It's testing if methoxyflurane can give fast pain relief and if paramedics find it easy to use. The study will help understand if methoxyflurane could be a good option for treating pain in ambulances.

Read the detailed description

The aim of this multi-centred study is to evaluate the prehospital use of methoxyflurane in patients ≥ 18 years of age presenting with moderate to severe pain (verbal numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) ≥ 4) secondary to trauma (which is defined as a physical injury of sudden onset and severity which requires immediate medical attention) as compared to other current therapies available to paramedics (NSAIDS and Opioids).

This will be a prehospital prospective stepped-wedge open-label, non-blinded, cluster randomized trial, enrolling patients with trauma related moderate to severe pain (numerical pain rating scale ≥4). It will be composed of three phases, involving a total of seven Ontario paramedic services. Our 24-month study will consist of the three following phases: 1) a 6-month setup and training period, followed by phase 2) the stepped-wedge trial (8-months) and phase 3) a 9-month period for data analysis and knowledge dissemination.

The verbal numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) is a subjective measure in which individuals rate their pain on an eleven-point numeric scale. The scale is comprised of values ranging from 0 (no pain at all) to 10 (worst imaginable pain). After ethics approvals have been secured for all sites, and after the initial 4-week observation period (where paramedics will provide standard care) one paramedic service will be randomized, using a number generator which the study team will be blinded, to the intervention condition (Methoxyflurane). Additional paramedic services will subsequently be randomized, and notified one by one at 4 week intervals until all seven paramedic services have been randomized to the intervention arm. Data will be collected for all eligible patients in each paramedic service for a total duration of 8 months. The study will be conducted in seven paramedic services in Eastern Ontario and will enrol patients who have been treated by paramedics, trained and authorized in the use and administration of methoxyflurane.

Eastern Ontario comprises 35 300 km2 and has a total regional population of 1.76 million. There are eight base hospitals in Ontario that provide medical direction, leadership and advice in the provision of prehospital emergency care. The Regional Paramedic Program for Eastern Ontario (RPPEO) is the base hospital which provides oversight to the seven included paramedic services. These paramedic services are comprised of 944 paramedics (738 of which are Primary Care Paramedics and 256 who are Advanced Care Paramedics). In summary, this study will comprise seven land paramedic services, operating in a catchment area of 10 rural counties and 4 cities, with 18 acute care hospitals and 1 university hospital.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pain, Acute

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • paramedic
  • traumatic pain
  • Ambulance
03

In context

Acute Pain

908 studies on the registry are indexed under Acute Pain; 154 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 1,800 is above the median of 87 across 759 interventional studies indexed under Acute Pain.

Browse Acute Pain studies →

Lead sponsor

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the lead sponsor of 544 studies on the registry; 97 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
Yes

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

Indications for analgesia therapy:

  • Patients ≥ 18 years of age (using a waiver of consent process)
  • Pain score ≥ 4 on the verbal numeric pain rating scale (NPRS)
  • traumatic injury (defined as: physical injuries of sudden onset and severity which requires immediate medical attention)
  • Unaltered (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) ≥ 14)
  • Normotensive (systolic blood pressure ≥100)
  • Treated and transported

Patients will be given methoxyflurane as soon as the treating paramedic has determined they meet inclusion criteria.

Paramedics will follow the Advanced Life Support Patient Care Standards21 for all other care the patient requires (including pain directive if methoxyflurane does not control pain after 10 min).

Contraindications listed in the ALS-PCS will be used by paramedics in providing analgesia. Within the standards paramedics are required to record vital signs every 5 minutes including verbal NPRS.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients with the following characteristics will be excluded (based on the Health Canada Product Monograph):

  • History or family history of malignant hyperthermia
  • Age \<18 years of age
  • Pregnancy or breast-feeding
  • Inclusion in another study not allowing the co-enrollment
  • Known renal impairment
  • Known liver disease
  • History of use of methoxyflurane in the last 3 months
  • Allergy to methoxyflurane
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
1,800 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Control standard care

    The patients who meet the indications of the study trauma-related pain Moderate/Severe (\>4 verbal numeric pain score), are provided current standard of care for pain (Advil or Ketorolac/Tylenol, opioids (for Advanced Care paramedics)

    Other: Standard Care

  • Experimental
    Intervention

    The patients who meet the indications of the study trauma-related pain Moderate/Severe (\>4 verbal numeric pain score) and receive methoxyflurane

    Drug: Methoxyflurane

Interventions

  • Patients ≥ 18 years of age (using a waiver of consent process) Pain score ≥ 4 on the verbal numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) traumatic injury (defined as: physical injuries of sudden onset and severity which requires immediate medical attention) Unaltered (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) ≥ 14) Normotensive (systolic blood pressure ≥100) Treated and transported

    Also known as: Penthrox

  • OtherStandard Care

    Patients ≥ 18 years of age (using a waiver of consent process) Pain score ≥ 4 on the verbal numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) traumatic injury (defined as: physical injuries of sudden onset and severity which requires immediate medical attention) Unaltered (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) ≥ 14) Normotensive (systolic blood pressure ≥100) Treated and transported

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Verbal Numeric Pain Score

    verbal numeric pain rating score (NPRS) initial and at 10 min, 0 referring to no pain and 10 severe pain

    Time frame: 10 min

Secondary outcomes

  1. Rescue Medications

    (as defined by addition of any other pain medication (ketorolac or opioids (fentanyl or morphine) 10 min after methoxyflurane administration, during paramedic care)

    Time frame: 10 min

  2. Transport Time

    From time onscene, to hospital arrival

    Time frame: 8 months

  3. Time to first analgesia

    time to first administration of analgesia (NSAIDs, Opioids or methoxyflurane)

    Time frame: 8 months

  4. Vital signs

    vital signs (Blood pressure, Heart rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, respiratory rate, level of consciousness) (initial and at arrival to hospital) (repeat measures will be captured in data every 5 mins)

    Time frame: 5 min

  5. Verbal numeric pain score during care

    verbal numeric pain rating score (NPRS) initial and at 10 min, 0 referring to no pain and 10 severe pain (as transport times will vary)

    Time frame: 5 min

Other outcomes

  1. Adverse events

    adverse events post administration of analgesia: any advanced airway interventions, oxygen requirement (oxygen saturations \<94%), drop in blood pressure by 40% and/or \<90 systolic, complaints of nausea or vomiting, malignant hyperthermia reaction).

    Time frame: 8 months

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided — de-identified data will be considered if requested for sharing.

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 Jul 19, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06392087
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 30, 2024
Start date
Aug 1, 2024 (estimated)
Primary completion
Mar 1, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 19, 2024

Study contacts

Michael A Austin, MD
Contact
maustin@toh.ca
6132970327
Jane Marchand
Contact
jamarchand@rppeo.ca
6137377228

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 status unknown, as verified in Jul 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Studies of the drug tested here: Methoxyflurane

Start the discussion