Pessary to Prevent Prematurity in Twins in Case of Short Cervix (PESSAR'ONE)

November 27, 2025 updated by: University Hospital, Toulouse
For 25 years, the twin pregnancy rate has regularly increased in the majority of European countries and in the United States, by 35% between 1981 and 2006. Increased use of medically assisted procreation and older maternal age are the two main causes. At the present time twin pregnancies represent nearly 20% of premature deliveries. The rate of very premature births (< 32-34 weeks) is 7 times higher in twin pregnancies than in singleton pregnancies. As prematurity accounts for 75% of neonatal morbidity and mortality, and extreme prematurity is the principal cause of neonatal mortality and of brain sequelae in twins, the search for a preventive treatment appears as a priority in perinatal medicine. The investigators recently showed in a prospective multicenter study that cervical ultrasound at 22 and 27 wks was a better predictive investigation of premature delivery < 34 wks than digital examination. Recently in a randomized trial in a population of short-cervix singleton pregnancies, the premature delivery rate decreased by 40% in the pessary group compared with the usual management group. No other trial of pessary use in short-cervix twin pregnancies was published today. Recently, in a historical comparison of twins with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome treated with laser, Carreras et al. have showed a decreased rate of preterm delivery with the use of pessary in case of short cervix. The investigators wish to set up a randomized multicenter study in France in the population of short-cervix twin pregnancies to show a potential benefit of the pessary compared with simple surveillance.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

For 25 years, the twin pregnancy rate has regularly increased in the majority of European countries and in the United States, by 35% between 1981 and 2006. Increased use of medically assisted procreation and older maternal age are the two main causes. At the present time twin pregnancies represent nearly 20% of premature deliveries. The rate of very premature births (< 32-34 weeks) is 7 times higher in twin pregnancies than in singleton pregnancies. As prematurity accounts for 75% of neonatal morbidity and mortality, and extreme prematurity is the principal cause of neonatal mortality and of brain sequelae in twins, the search for a preventive treatment appears as a priority in perinatal medicine. The investigators recently showed in a prospective multicenter study that cervical ultrasound at 22 and 27 wks was a better predictive investigation of premature delivery < 34 wks than digital examination.[1] As there is currently no recommended preventive treatment for prematurity in twin pregnancies[2], the 2009 guidelines of the College of Obstetricians leave the teams with the option of carrying out systematic cervical ultrasound or not during follow-up investigations.[3] Recently in a randomized trial in a population of short-cervix singleton pregnancies, the premature delivery rate decreased by 40% in the pessary group compared with the usual management group.[4] In a recent multicenter trial (ProTWIN), while therapeutic efficacy of the pessary (versus usual management) was not demonstrated in the overall group of twin pregnancies, in the short-cervix subgroup (< 25th percentile of the population) the < 32 wks delivery rate decreased from 29% to 14% (OR= 0.49 (0.24-0.97) and neonatal morbidity also decreased.[5] No other trial of pessary use in short-cervix twin pregnancies was published today. Recently, in a historical comparison of twins with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome treated with laser, Carreras et al. have showed a decreased rate of preterm delivery with the use of pessary in case of short cervix.[6] The investigators wish to set up a randomized multicenter study in France in the population of short-cervix twin pregnancies to show a potential benefit of the pessary compared with simple surveillance.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
324

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
      • Angers, France
        • CHU Angers
      • Bordeaux, France
        • CHU Bordeaux
      • Caen, France
        • CHU Caen
      • Marseille, France
        • Hôpital Marseille AP-HM
      • Nantes, France
        • CHU Nantes
      • Paris, France
        • Hopital Robert Debre
      • Paris, France
        • Hopital Necker
      • Paris, France
        • Hôpital Bicêtre
      • Paris, France
        • GH Pitié Salpêtrière
      • Paris, France
        • Hôpital Antoine Béclère
      • Paris, France
        • Maternité Port-Royal Cochin
      • Poissy, France
        • CHI Poissy
      • Saint-Etienne, France
        • Chu Saint-Etienne
      • Strasbourg, France
        • Hôpital Universitaire de Strasbourg
      • Tours, France
        • CHU Tours
    • France
      • Toulouse, France, France, 31059
        • CHU Toulouse
    • Lille
      • Lille, Lille, France
        • CHRU Lille
    • Marseille
      • Marseille, Marseille, France
        • Hôpital Saint-Joseph

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 60 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Asymptomatic twin pregnancies between 16 and 24+0 weeks CL < 25th percentile for GA

- < 35mm between 16 and 24+0d weeks Vaginal swabs for bacteriological analysis < 72 hours Patient age > 18 years Written informed consent obtained French first language (speak, read, understand) French social security cover

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Painful regular contractions
  • Major fetal abnormalities
  • Fetal malformation
  • Active vaginal bleeding, placenta praevia
  • Discordance fetal weight more than 40%
  • Treatment with progesterone
  • Patient with cerclage
  • Ruptured of membrane
  • Twin to twin transfusion syndrome
  • Uterine malformation
  • Chronic maternal disease (diabetes, hypertension, renal insufficiency, Heparin Treatment)
  • Conisation history
  • patients subject to a judicial safeguard order, participating in another research study including an exclusion period which has not expired at the time of screening will not be included

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Pessary
The device will be placed in the vagina during the consultation. It is rinsed in sterile water for lubrification and left in place until delivery or remove at 36 weeks in case of no delivery before. There is no need to use any analgesia. The good position of the pessary is checking in the same time than the placement with digital examination.
Device: Pessary
The device will be placed in the vagina during the consultation. It is rinsed in sterile water for lubrification and left in place until delivery or remove at 36 weeks in case of no delivery before. There is no need to use any analgesia. The good position of the pessary is checking in the same time than the placement with digital examination.
No Intervention: No pessary
No pessary will be placed in the vagina.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
perinatal death or significant neonatal morbidity until discharge from the hospital
Time Frame: 6 months
it's a composite outcome : perinatal death (i.e medical interruption of pregnancy, intrauterine fetal death, or death occurring during the first four weeks after birth, before day 29), or significant neonatal morbidity until discharge from the hospital, defined as one or more of the following complications: bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) grade III or IV, periventricular leucomalacia (PVL), necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) grade II or higher, culture proven sepsis, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) requiring treatment.
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Preterm delivery
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months
To evaluate the prolongation of pregnancy in days
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months
The differential cost-efficacy ratio of the two strategies
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months
Tolerance of the pessary
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University Hospital, Toulouse

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Director: Christophe Vayssière, PhD, University Hospital, Toulouse

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
November 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
October 1, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
October 1, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 29, 2014

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
December 31, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
December 5, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 27, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 13 7048 01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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