Screening Expiratory Flow Limitation by Flow-time Curve (FLOWLY)

May 15, 2025 updated by: Unity Health Toronto
Expiratory flow limitation (EFL) is defined as a dynamic condition that expiratory flow cannot be further increased with higher expiratory driving pressure. Under mechanical ventilation, it can cause intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and dynamic hyperinflation, and be associated with worse clinical outcome. The detection of EFL however needs special maneuvers and offline analysis of flow-volume curves, which are infeasible in routine practice and cannot be used during real-time monitoring. The investigators propose a new and simple approach using flow derived parameters to detect EFL in real time without needing any intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

45

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Contact

Study Locations

    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 1W8
        • St. Michael's Hospital

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 99 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Intubated patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) receiving mechanical ventilation.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Age ≥18 years, intubated or tracheostomized
  2. Receiving invasive mechanical ventilation in assist/control mode with PEEP ≥ 5 cmH2O
  3. Receiving continuous intravenous sedation
  4. Displaying a monotonous regular breathing pattern with no obvious asynchrony

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Severe hypoxemia in baseline clinical ventilator settings (SpO2 < 90%)
  2. Hemodynamic instability (mABP <60 mmHg, systolic arterial pressure >180 mmHg, heart rate <40/min or >150/min)

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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Outcome (Presence / absence of EFL) will be determined by off-line analysis of recorded flow-volume loops during PEEP reduction.
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Percentage of intrinsic PEEP caused by the EFL.
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

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 (Actual)

September 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 12, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

August 12, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 11, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 11, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

July 12, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

May 20, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 15, 2025

Last Verified

May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 17-098

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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