ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06404294Updated May 8, 2024

The External Diaphragm Pacemaker Assisted Extubation in Premature Infants With Invasive Mechanical Ventilation

An interventional study of External Diaphragm Pacemaker treatment in Invasive Mechanical Ventilation and Extubation, sponsored by Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 1 Day to 3 Months. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-05-08.

Sponsored by Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2024, 1 year 10 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Mar 2024; still recruiting 2 years 7 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
40
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
1 Day to 3 Months
Sex
All
01

Study summary

With the development of perinatal medicine, more and more newborns with respiratory failure can be treated due to the use of respiratory support technology. However, long-term invasive mechanical ventilation treatment can lead to a series of complications such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, atelectasis and air leakage syndrome, and increase the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and neurodevelopmental lag of premature infants. It also leads to longer hospital stays and higher hospital costs. To shorten the invasive mechanical ventilation time and improve the success rate of withdrawal through various ways is the development direction of neonatal mechanical ventilation therapy.

Respiratory muscle atrophy is common and rapid in children receiving invasive mechanical ventilation, and is an important cause of ventilator dependence and withdrawal failure. The diaphragm of newborns is the main respiratory muscle, of which the diaphragm type 1 endurance fiber accounts for only about 30%, far lower than the proportion of about 55% in adults, so the diaphragm of newborns is more prone to fatigue. Previous animal experiments and clinical studies in children and adults have confirmed that diaphragmatic pacing therapy applied to patients with long-term invasive mechanical ventilation can prevent diaphragmatic atrophy, reverse diaphragmatic injury, significantly improve diaphragmatic thickness, improve diaphragmatic anti-fatigue ability, thereby increasing lung ventilation, relieving dyspnea, and achieving the effect of assisted extubation.

The neonatology Department of the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University started neonatal external diaphragm pacemaker treatment in 2022, and has completed 1383 cases so far, initially showing the effectiveness and safety of external diaphragm pacemaker treatment in neonatal population. But so far, there is no systematic evaluation of clinical intervention effect of external diaphragm pacemaker treatment on neonatal respiratory failure patients at home and abroad. Based on this, the project team intends to conduct a prospective randomized controlled study to systematically evaluate the safety of external diaphragm pacemaker in preterm infants requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for ≥7 days at 28 to 35 weeks of gestation, and to evaluate the efficacy of external diaphragm pacemaker in adjuvant extubation.

Read the detailed description

Neonatal respiratory failure is the central or peripheral respiratory dysfunction caused by various reasons, and is an important clinical critical disease of newborns. With the development of perinatal medicine, more and more newborns with respiratory failure can be treated due to the use of respiratory support technology. However, long-term invasive mechanical ventilation treatment can lead to a series of complications such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, atelectasis and air leakage syndrome, and increase the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and neurodevelopmental lag of premature infants. It also leads to longer hospital stays and higher hospital costs. To shorten the invasive mechanical ventilation time and improve the success rate of withdrawal through various ways is the development direction of neonatal mechanical ventilation therapy.

Respiratory muscle atrophy is common and rapid in children receiving invasive mechanical ventilation, and is an important cause of ventilator dependence and withdrawal failure. The diaphragm of newborns is the main respiratory muscle, of which the diaphragm type 1 endurance fiber accounts for only about 30%, far lower than the proportion of about 55% in adults, so the diaphragm of newborns is more prone to fatigue. Studies have shown that phrenic atrophy usually begins within 18-69 hours of invasive mechanical ventilation and progresses at a rate of 4-7% per day.

Previous animal experiments and clinical studies in children and adults have confirmed that diaphragmatic pacing therapy applied to patients with long-term invasive mechanical ventilation can prevent diaphragmatic atrophy, reverse diaphragmatic injury, significantly improve diaphragmatic thickness, improve diaphragmatic anti-fatigue ability, thereby increasing lung ventilation, relieving dyspnea, and achieving the effect of assisted extubation.

In February 1987, the external diaphragm pacemaker independently developed by Chen et al at Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Science was applied to clinical practice, setting a precedent for external diaphragmatic pacing at home and abroad. The basic principle is to perform low-frequency pulse electrical stimulation of the phrenic nerve through the electrodes on the body surface to make the regular contraction and relaxation of the diaphragm and increase the degree of movement of the diaphragm, so as to improve the ventilation function of the patient. In China, Cai et al observed that external diaphragm pacemaker can increase the degree of immediate diaphragm movement in normal people, and significantly increase the degree of immediate movement in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the range of diaphragm movement after continuous treatment for 20-30 days, and significantly improve the symptoms of dyspnea.

The neonatology Department of the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University started neonatal external diaphragm pacemaker treatment in 2022, and has completed 1383 cases so far, initially showing the effectiveness and safety of external diaphragm pacemaker treatment in neonatal population. But so far, there is no systematic evaluation of clinical intervention effect of external diaphragm pacemaker treatment on neonatal respiratory failure patients at home and abroad. Based on this, the project team intends to conduct a prospective randomized controlled study to systematically evaluate the safety of external diaphragm pacemaker in preterm infants requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for ≥7 days at 28 to 35 weeks of gestation, and to evaluate the efficacy of external diaphragm pacemaker in adjuvant extubation.

02

Conditions studied

  • Invasive Mechanical Ventilation
  • Extubation

Keywords

  • External Diaphragm Pacemaker
  • Invasive Mechanical Ventilation
  • Extubation
  • Preterm Infants
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University is the lead sponsor of 35 studies on the registry; 13 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
1 Day to 3 Months
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. Premature infants at 28 to 35 weeks.
  2. The premature infant whose invasive mechanical ventilation time ≥7 days.
  3. Parents sign an form.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. The premature infant with congenital airway malformation confirmed by chest CT or bronchofiberscopy.
  2. The premature infant with congenital genetic metabolic disease.
  3. The premature infant with complex congenital heart disease.
  4. The premature infant undergoing surgery.
  5. The premature infant with severe brain damage.
  6. The premature infant with neuromuscular diseases.
  7. The premature infant with congenital skin disease, local skin damage or infection.
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.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
40 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    External Diaphragm Pacemaker treatment group

    On the basis of conventional treatment, the patients in this group were treated with external diaphragm pacemaker for 2 weeks or until extubation.

    Device: External Diaphragm Pacemaker treatment

  • No intervention
    No External Diaphragm Pacemaker treatment group

    The patients in this group were treated with conventional treatment.

Interventions

  • DeviceExternal Diaphragm Pacemaker treatment

    On the basis of conventional treatment, the patients in this group were treated with external diaphragm pacemaker for 2 weeks or until extubation.The treatment process of external diaphragm pacemaker is as follows: Set parameters: pacing frequency: 5-9 times /min, generally starting from 5 times /min, and adjusted according to the tolerance of the child; Pulse frequency 30 hertz; The stimulation intensity generally starts from 2-3. If the respiratory waveform of the child on the machine is not disturbed, it indicates that the child can tolerate it and the intensity can be appropriately increased. Treatment time: generally starts from 5 minutes, the longest is not more than 20 minutes, the frequency of treatment: 1 time/day in the first week, 2 times/day in the second week.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Invasive mechanical ventilation time

    Time from invasive mechanical ventilation to extubation

    Time frame: through study completion, up to 100 days of life

Secondary outcomes

  1. Diaphragm geometry and function

    Diaphragm ultrasound

    Time frame: through study completion, up to 100 days of life

  2. Duration of oxygen use

    Duration of oxygen use

    Time frame: through study completion, up to 100 days of life

  3. Incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

    Incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

    Time frame: through study completion, up to 100 days of life

  4. Mortality

    Mortality

    Time frame: through study completion, up to 100 days of life

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Johnson RW, Ng KWP, Dietz AR, Hartman ME, Baty JD, Hasan N, Zaidman CM, Shoykhet M. Muscle atrophy in mechanically-ventilated critically ill children. PLoS One. 2018 Dec 19;13(12):e0207720. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207720. eCollection 2018. PubMed 30566470 ↗
  • Dassios T, Vervenioti A, Dimitriou G. Respiratory muscle function in the newborn: a narrative review. Pediatr Res. 2022 Mar;91(4):795-803. doi: 10.1038/s41390-021-01529-z. Epub 2021 Apr 19. PubMed 33875805 ↗
  • Sieck GC, Fournier M, Blanco CE. Diaphragm muscle fatigue resistance during postnatal development. J Appl Physiol (1985). 1991 Aug;71(2):458-64. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1991.71.2.458. PubMed 1834623 ↗
  • Levine S, Nguyen T, Taylor N, Friscia ME, Budak MT, Rothenberg P, Zhu J, Sachdeva R, Sonnad S, Kaiser LR, Rubinstein NA, Powers SK, Shrager JB. Rapid disuse atrophy of diaphragm fibers in mechanically ventilated humans. N Engl J Med. 2008 Mar 27;358(13):1327-35. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa070447. PubMed 18367735 ↗
  • Grosu HB, Lee YI, Lee J, Eden E, Eikermann M, Rose KM. Diaphragm muscle thinning in patients who are mechanically ventilated. Chest. 2012 Dec;142(6):1455-1460. doi: 10.1378/chest.11-1638. PubMed 23364680 ↗
  • Francis CA, Hoffer JA, Reynolds S. Ultrasonographic Evaluation of Diaphragm Thickness During Mechanical Ventilation in Intensive Care Patients. Am J Crit Care. 2016 Jan;25(1):e1-8. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2016563. PubMed 26724302 ↗
  • Zambon M, Beccaria P, Matsuno J, Gemma M, Frati E, Colombo S, Cabrini L, Landoni G, Zangrillo A. Mechanical Ventilation and Diaphragmatic Atrophy in Critically Ill Patients: An Ultrasound Study. Crit Care Med. 2016 Jul;44(7):1347-52. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000001657. PubMed 26992064 ↗
  • Breuer T, Hatam N, Grabiger B, Marx G, Behnke BJ, Weis J, Kopp R, Gayan-Ramirez G, Zoremba N, Bruells CS. Kinetics of ventilation-induced changes in diaphragmatic metabolism by bilateral phrenic pacing in a piglet model. Sci Rep. 2016 Oct 19;6:35725. doi: 10.1038/srep35725. PubMed 27759115 ↗
  • Hsin YF, Chen SH, Yu TJ, Huang CC, Chen YH. Effects of transcutaneous electrical diaphragmatic stimulation on respiratory function in patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation. Ann Thorac Med. 2022 Jan-Mar;17(1):14-20. doi: 10.4103/atm.atm_158_21. Epub 2022 Jan 14. PubMed 35198044 ↗
  • Sotak M, Roubik K, Henlin T, Tyll T. Phrenic nerve stimulation prevents diaphragm atrophy in patients with respiratory failure on mechanical ventilation. BMC Pulm Med. 2021 Oct 8;21(1):314. doi: 10.1186/s12890-021-01677-2. PubMed 34625059 ↗
09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 8, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06404294
Lead sponsor
Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University
Responsible party
Wang Jianhui (Attending neonatologist, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) — Principal investigator
First posted
May 8, 2024
Start date
Mar 31, 2024
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2024 (estimated)
Last update
May 8, 2024

Study contacts

Jianhui Wang, M.D
Contact
wangjh@cqmu.edu.cn
+86-13678428167
Yuan Shi, M.D
study director · Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University

Oversight

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

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