PROSEVO Trial (Propofol-Sevoflurane Delirium Target Trial Emulation)

June 3, 2026 updated by: Claudia Spies, Charite University, Berlin, Germany

The results of this study have significant implications for clinical practice and guideline development. The current European guideline on postoperative Delirium prevention (ESAIC 2024) explicitly identifies a lack of large, adequately powered studies comparing different anesthetic techniques and is therefore currently unable to provide clear recommendations on the selection of an optimal technique. This study will close this knowledge gap and thus support future guideline recommendations. The results could show that a particular anesthetic technique (e.g., propofol) is associated with a significantly lower risk of postoperative delirium; if so, this would have immediate implications for modifying standard anesthesia protocols in hospitals.

Furthermore, Delirium is a significant public health challenge in aging societies. With demographic aging, the number of older patients undergoing surgery is continuously increasing. The societal costs of Delirium are estimated at several billion euros per year in major industrialized nations. A reduction in the incidence of postoperative Delirium by just 10% through optimization of the anesthetic procedure would therefore have major health economic implications.

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

This retrospective, single-center cohort study analyzes routine data from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and its clinical partners for the period from January 1, 2011, to January 31, 2026.

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.
100000

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

  • Germany
      • Berlin, Germany, 12203
        • Recruiting
        • Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (CBF), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sascha Treskatsch, MD, Prof.
        • Contact:
      • Berlin, Germany, 13353
        • Recruiting
        • Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine Berlin
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Claudia Spies, MD, Prof.
        • Contact:
          • Claudia Spies, MD, Prof.
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Maximilian Markus, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Hannah Zoe Wurm
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Nils Daum, MD

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

N/A

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

  • Adult patients (≥18 years) at the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (CCM/CVK) and the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (CBF) at Charité,
  • undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia
  • with a planned surgery duration of ≥ 30 minutes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult patients (≥18 years) at the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (CCM/CVK) and the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (CBF) at Charité,
  • undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia
  • with a planned surgery duration of ≥ 30 minutes

In addition, the following conditions must be met:

  • The surgery must be the patient's first surgery per hospital stay to avoid dependencies and repeated measurements of the same person within a short time frame;
  • The surgeries take place at Charité between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2025.

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients in any of the following situations are excluded:

  1. Cardiac surgery (this patient group requires specialized monitoring strategies and has postoperative delirium risk profiles that differ significantly from those of other types of surgery)
  2. preoperatively diagnosed delirium, defined as positive results on the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (NU-DESC) or the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) during preoperative evaluations;
  3. severe preoperative cognitive impairment, defined as a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score <15 points, or
  4. preoperatively documented severe dementia
  5. neurosurgical procedures (neurosurgical patients require specialized monitoring protocols and differ from other surgical patients in their postoperative delirium (POD) symptoms)
  6. Patients who were already admitted to intensive care units prior to their elective surgery (these patients already have increased mortality and a different risk profile)
  7. Patients who were already intubated or sedated prior to surgery (this group cannot undergo standardized POD screening)
  8. High preoperative risk for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) (specifically, patients with documented PONV grade 3 or PONV grade 4 risk are excluded, as this group is indicated for anesthesia with propofol)

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

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
Incidence of postoperative delirium I
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
The occurrence of postoperative delirium (yes/no) within the 5-day follow-up period, defined as a positive NU-DESC or CAM-ICU test result on at least one day of hospitalization.
01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025

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
Incidence of postoperative delirium II
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Incidence of postoperative delirium specifically in the recovery room
01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Delirium severity
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Delirium severity according to the Delirium Detection Score (DDS)
01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Duration of delirium
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Number of days with positive delirium screening results
01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Time to first occurrence of postoperative delirium
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Time to first occurrence of delirium in days after surgery
01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Length of hospital stay
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Length of hospital stay in days
01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Unplanned intensive care unit admission
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
Unplanned ICU admission by hospital records
01.01.2011 - 31.12.2025
30-day mortality
Time Frame: 01.01.2011 - 31.01.2026
30-day mortality by hospital records
01.01.2011 - 31.01.2026

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.
Charite University, Berlin, Germany

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: Claudia Spies, MD, Prof., Charite University, Berlin, Germany

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.
June 3, 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.
December 1, 2027

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.
December 1, 2027

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).
May 21, 2026

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.
May 21, 2026

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.
May 28, 2026

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.
June 4, 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.
June 3, 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.
June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

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.
  • PROSEVO

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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.

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings