Clinical trial NCT00095251: MENDS Study: Trial in Ventilated ICU Patients Comparing an Alpha2 Agonist Versus a Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)-Agonist to Determine Delirium Rates, Efficacy of Sedation, Analgesia and Discharge Cognitive Status
Official title: A Randomized, Double-blind Trial in Ventilated ICU Patients Comparing Treatment With an Alpha2 Agonist Versus a Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)-Agonist to Determine Delirium Rates, Efficacy of Sedation, Analgesia and Discharge Cognitive Status
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE2
Conditions: Delirium
Keywords: Delirium
Hypnotics and Sedatives
Adrenergic alpha-Agonists
efficacy of sedation
cognitive impairment
Lead sponsor: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2004-11-02
Enrollment: 100
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Delirium has recently been shown as a predictor of death, increased cost, and longer length of stay in ventilated patients. Sedative and analgesic medications relieve anxiety and pain, but may contribute to patients' transitioning into delirium. It is possible that modifying the paradigm for sedation using novel therapies targeted at different receptors, such as dexmedetomidine targeting alpha2 receptors and sparing the GABA receptors, could provide efficacious sedation yet reduce the development, duration, and severity of acute brain dysfunction (delirium).

Detailed description: Delirium occurs in 60-80% of ventilated Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients and is independently associated with prolonged hospital stay, higher cost, a 3-fold increased risk of dying by six months and ongoing neuropsychological dysfunction. Hypothesis: Based on our preliminary work, we hypothesize that standard use of GABA agonist sedatives such as lorazepam and propofol may contribute to ICU delirium and its attendant untoward clinical outcomes. An alternative sedation strategy targeting alpha2 receptors and sparing GABA receptors (dexmedetomidine) might reduce delirium, provide adequate sedation, reduce analgesic requirement, and concurrently improve cognitive performance.

Long-term objective: To standardize and compare different strategies of sedation and analgesia for ventilated ICU patients in order to optimize their clinical outcomes focusing on delirium and the long-term neuropsychological dysfunction of ICU survivors.

Specific Aims:

* to study prevalence and duration of delirium in critically ill patients using differential exposure to alpha2 vs. GABA receptor agonists while evaluating efficacy of sedation and analgesia;
* to compare clinical outcomes including duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU length of stay and severity of neuropsychological dysfunction at hospital discharge; and
* to develop pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models for dexmedetomidine and lorazepam when used for up to 5 days in ICU patients.

Relationship to anesthesiology: We will study whether the adverse clinical outcomes associated with ICU delirium including long-term neuropsychological dysfunction can be modified by the choice of psychoactive agents frequently used by anesthesiologists and intensivists.

Design: A blinded, randomized controlled trial of adult mechanically ventilated patients using a sedation strategy of dexmedetomidine ± fentanyl versus lorazepam ± fentanyl, with relevant outcomes and safety monitoring.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Male or female adult patients admitted to the medical and surgical ICU for critical illnesses requiring mechanical ventilation with expectation of being mechanically ventilated for greater than 24 hours

Exclusion Criteria:

* Subjects who are less than 18 years of age
* Subjects who are pregnant (a pregnancy test will be performed on all women of child bearing age)
* Inability to obtain informed consent from the patient or his/her surrogate
* Subjects in the ICU due to a lack of beds elsewhere in the hospital, triage issues, or withdrawal of care decisions rather than severity of illness
* Subjects admitted with alcohol or drug overdoses, suicide attempts, or alcohol/delirium tremens
* Subjects who are physiologically benzodiazepine dependent, and at risk for withdrawal syndromes
* Subjects with chronic pain syndromes on maintenance narcotics
* Subjects treated within the last 30 days with a drug or device that has not received regulatory approval as of study entry
* Subjects with a psychiatric history for which they are on neuroleptic treatment
* Subjects with documented moderate to severe dementia
* Subjects with anoxic brain injuries, strokes, neurotrauma, or neuromuscular disorders such as myasthenia gravis or Guillain Barre syndrome
* Medical team following patient unwilling to use the sedation regimens
* Subjects whose family and/or physician have not committed to aggressive support for 72 hours or who are likely to withdraw within 72 hours
* Subjects who are moribund and not expected to survive 24 hours
* Subjects not expected to survive hospital discharge due to preexisting uncorrectable medical condition
* Documented allergy to study medications
* Subjects who have either Child-Pugh Class B or C cirrhosis
* Subjects with active coronary artery disease at time of screening as defined by any recent evidence of ischemia, documented myocardial infarction, or coronary intervention within the past 6 months.
* Subjects with advanced heart block at time of screening

Primary outcomes:
measure: achieving target sedation level
timeFrame: Patients will receive study drug for a maximum of 120 hours (5 days)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: duration and severity of delirium
timeFrame: Patients will receive study drug for a maximum of 120 hours (5 days)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Nashville
country: United States
facility: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
state: Tennessee
Study officials:
affiliation: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
name: E Wesley Ely, MD, MPH
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Ely EW, Shintani A, Truman B, Speroff T, Gordon SM, Harrell FE Jr, Inouye SK, Bernard GR, Dittus RS. Delirium as a predictor of mortality in mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit. JAMA. 2004 Apr 14;291(14):1753-62. doi: 10.1001/jama.291.14.1753.
citation: Milbrandt EB, Deppen S, Harrison PL, Shintani AK, Speroff T, Stiles RA, Truman B, Bernard GR, Dittus RS, Ely EW. Costs associated with delirium in mechanically ventilated patients. Crit Care Med. 2004 Apr;32(4):955-62. doi: 10.1097/01.ccm.0000119429.16055.92.
citation: Ely EW, Gautam S, Margolin R, Francis J, May L, Speroff T, Truman B, Dittus R, Bernard R, Inouye SK. The impact of delirium in the intensive care unit on hospital length of stay. Intensive Care Med. 2001 Dec;27(12):1892-900. doi: 10.1007/s00134-001-1132-2. Epub 2001 Nov 8.
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citation: Maldonado J, Wysong A, Starre Pvd, Block T. Postoperative Sedation and the Incidence of ICU Delirium in Cardiac Surgery Patients. ASA. 2004;Abstract and Poster Presentation.
citation: Stollings JL, Thompson JL, Ferrell BA, Scheinin M, Wilkinson GR, Hughes CG, Shintani AK, Ely EW, Girard TD, Pandharipande PP, Patel MB. Sedative Plasma Concentrations and Delirium Risk in Critical Illness. Ann Pharmacother. 2018 Jun;52(6):513-521. doi: 10.1177/1060028017753480. Epub 2018 Jan 24.
citation: Pandharipande PP, Sanders RD, Girard TD, McGrane S, Thompson JL, Shintani AK, Herr DL, Maze M, Ely EW; MENDS investigators. Effect of dexmedetomidine versus lorazepam on outcome in patients with sepsis: an a priori-designed analysis of the MENDS randomized controlled trial. Crit Care. 2010;14(2):R38. doi: 10.1186/cc8916. Epub 2010 Mar 16.
citation: Pandharipande PP, Pun BT, Herr DL, Maze M, Girard TD, Miller RR, Shintani AK, Thompson JL, Jackson JC, Deppen SA, Stiles RA, Dittus RS, Bernard GR, Ely EW. Effect of sedation with dexmedetomidine vs lorazepam on acute brain dysfunction in mechanically ventilated patients: the MENDS randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2007 Dec 12;298(22):2644-53. doi: 10.1001/jama.298.22.2644.