Conditions: Ischemia Vasopressor
Keywords: Digital ischemia Vasopressor
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 2
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The goal of this project is to determine if performing a "chemical sympathectomy" by injecting botulinum toxin A in critically ill patients on vasopressors can treat digital ischemia. This is a prospective, non-randomized pilot study designed to demonstrate proof of concept. We propose to study patients in the intensive care units of Duke Hospital who, secondary to exposure to vasoactive medications used to maintain acceptable blood pressures, have developed signs and symptoms of digital ischemia. A paired T-test will be used to compare pre- and post-injection Laser Doppler measurements for the experimental hand. We will again use a paired t-test to compare the experimental hand against the contralateral control hand. There were no major adverse events reported by the product information sheet or in other related studies of Botox for digital ischemia.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Use of botulinum toxin A to determine efficacy in treating vasopressor-induced digital ischemia

Interventions: intervention 1: Injection of botulinum toxin A
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: One-time injection of 100 units of botulinum toxin into hand to perform full chemical digital sympathectomy

Protocol document: