Tracheal Cuff Pressure and Postoperative Complications (TCP-POC)

August 8, 2026 updated by: Andre Prato Schmidt, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre

Tracheal Cuff Pressure and Postoperative Complications: Prospective Observational Study.

This prospective observational study aims to identify risk factors for tracheal mucosal injuries caused by orotracheal tube use during the intraoperative period in patients undergoing elective surgeries at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. The study will recruit patients sequentially for elective procedures requiring general anesthesia and orotracheal intubation. Primary outcomes include symptoms such as hoarseness, pharyngolaryngeal pain, cough, and hemoptysis, assessed up to 30 days post-surgery. A risk score for tracheal injuries will be derived.

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

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.

Detailed Description

Orotracheal tubes are widely used in medical practice to secure the airway and enable invasive mechanical ventilation. Modern tubes are made of medical-grade PVC with an inflatable cuff at the distal end to isolate the lower airway, prevent gas leaks from ventilation, and reduce contamination risks from upper airway secretions or gastric content. Although current cuffs are high-volume, low-pressure, overinflation complications are common, leading to variable severity lesions (isolated or confluent lesions, tracheal mucosal edema, erosions, or ulcerations with bleeding), and symptoms like dysphonia/aphonia (15-80%), cough, pain, and hemoptysis (10-15%). Overinflation can compromise tracheal mucosal perfusion, causing ischemia, necrosis, tracheoesophageal fistulas, or tracheal rupture, especially in patients requiring prolonged intubation. Even short exposures (hours) can cause significant lesions. Many physicians rely on manual palpation or experience to set cuff pressure, often inaccurately. This study will evaluate risk factors in elective surgical patients at HCPA, using multivariate regression to identify independent variables and derive a risk score.

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.
Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

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.
362

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 Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • Brazil
    • Rio Grande Do Sul (RS)
      • Porto Alegre, Rio Grande Do Sul (RS), Brazil, 90410-000
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA)
        • Contact:

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients scheduled for elective procedures requiring general anesthesia and orotracheal intubation.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age greater than 18 years.
  • Patients scheduled for elective procedures requiring general anesthesia and orotracheal intubation.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age less than 18 years.
  • Refusal to participate in the study.
  • Surgeries performed on an urgent or emergency basis.
  • Surgeries in pregnant women.
  • Cardiac surgeries.
  • Surgeries requiring single-lung ventilation.
  • Head and neck surgeries.
  • Surgeries on the cervical segment of the dorsal spine.
  • Surgeries requiring lateral or prone positioning.
  • Anticipated difficult airway (unanticipated difficult airways will be included).
  • Insufficient fasting time.
  • Surgeries in patients admitted to intensive care units.
  • Patients presenting the same symptoms included in the outcomes to be measured (pre-existing hoarseness, pain, cough, hemoptysis).
  • Tracheostomized patients or those with previous tracheobronchial segment lesions.

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Single Group - Elective Surgical Patients
Single Group - Elective Surgical Patients (All patients undergoing elective surgeries with general anesthesia and orotracheal intubation; no arms as it is observational).

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
Presence of Tracheal Injury Symptoms (Composite Outcome).
Time Frame: First 24 hours post-op to 30 days post-op
Composite of hoarseness, pharyngolaryngeal pain, cough, and hemoptysis related to orotracheal tube use during surgery. Hoarseness, pain, and cough assessed via verbal numerical scale (0 = absent, 10 = worst possible). Hemoptysis assessed as present/absent, and volume (>100 ml/24h considered massive).
First 24 hours post-op to 30 days post-op

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
Measure Description
Time Frame
Independent Variables for Tracheal Complications.
Time Frame: Intraoperative and up to 30 days post-op.
Identification of independent variables (e.g., sex, age, tube duration, tube diameter, intubation attempts, unanticipated difficult airway, surgical table position, vasopressor use, comorbidities like hypertension, myocardial infarction, diabetes, peripheral arterial disease).
Intraoperative and up to 30 days post-op.

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.
Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

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.
  • Principal Investigator: Clovis Tadeu Bevilacqua Filho, MD, MSc., Serviço de Anestesia e Medicina Perioperatória, HCPA.
  • Study Chair: Andre P Schmidt, MD, PhD, Serviço de Anestesia e Medicina Perioperatória, HCPA.

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 (Actual)

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.
January 5, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

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.
July 31, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

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.
April 30, 2029

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).
November 24, 2025

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.
November 24, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

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 4, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

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.
August 11, 2026

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.
August 8, 2026

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.
August 1, 2026

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.
  • 92008125.9.0000.5327

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data will not be shared with other researchers in its complete form. However, an anonymized database with partially included data can be shared with others if requested and for scientific purposes (including editorial requests). The data collected will be stored in REDCap and archived securely in an appropriate location, and will not be used for any purpose other than the objectives proposed by the project. All participants in the study will sign a term of commitment for the use of institutional data.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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