PRO STRESS Trial: Proactive Low-Dose Norepinephrine to Reduce Intraoperative Fluid Administration in Patients at High-Risk for Postoperative Pulmonary Complications Undergoing Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgery (PRO STRESS)

July 10, 2026 updated by: Suez Canal University

Proactive Low-Dose Norepinephrine to Reduce Intraoperative Fluid Administration in Patients at High-Risk for Postoperative Pulmonary Complications Undergoing Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Intraoperative hypotension is commonly treated with fluid administration; however, excessive fluid therapy may contribute to postoperative pulmonary complications. This randomized double-blind controlled trial evaluates whether proactive administration of fixed low-dose norepinephrine reduces intraoperative crystalloid administration while maintaining hemodynamic stability in high-risk patients undergoing laparoscopic abdominal surgery. One hundred and thirty patients will be randomized to receive either norepinephrine infusion (0.03 µg/kg/min) or placebo from induction until skin closure within a protocolized hemodynamic strategy guided by mean arterial pressure and pulse pressure variation.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Not yet 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.

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.

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 (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.
130

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 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 Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Egypt
    • Ismailia Governorate
      • Ismailia, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, 41522
        • Suez Canal University hospitals
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Muhammad Elhossieny Salama, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Mahmoud Hosny Ahmed, 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

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult patients aged 18 years or older.
  • American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I-III.
  • Scheduled for elective laparoscopic major abdominal surgery under general anesthesia with an expected duration greater than 2 hours.
  • Patients with ARISCAT score ≥ 45 indicating high risk for postoperative pulmonary complications.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Known hypersensitivity to norepinephrine.
  • Severe left ventricular dysfunction with ejection fraction < 35%.
  • Significant cardiac arrhythmia.
  • Uncontrolled hypertension defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 180 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 110 mmHg.
  • End-stage renal disease.
  • Requirement for vasopressor support before induction of anesthesia.
  • Emergency surgery.

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: Quadruple

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: Norepinephrine Group
Participants will receive continuous norepinephrine infusion at a fixed dose of 0.03 µg/kg/min initiated immediately after induction of anesthesia and continued until skin closure within a protocolized hemodynamic management strategy.
Drug: Norepinephrine
Continuous norepinephrine infusion administered at a fixed dose of 0.03 µg/kg/min from induction of anesthesia until skin closure.
Placebo Comparator: Control Group
Participants will receive an equivalent volume normal saline infusion initiated immediately after induction of anesthesia and continued until skin closure within the same protocolized hemodynamic management strategy.
Other: Placebo
Equivalent volume normal saline infusion administered from induction of anesthesia until skin closure at the same infusion rate as the active intervention to maintain blinding within a protocolized hemodynamic management strategy.

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
Total intraoperative crystalloid administration
Time Frame: From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (intraoperative period)
Total volume of crystalloid administered intraoperatively from induction of anesthesia until skin closure, measured in milliliters.
From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (intraoperative period)

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
Lactate Levels
Time Frame: After induction of anesthesia, at the end of surgery, and 24 hours postoperatively
Arterial lactate concentration measured in mmol/L serially during the perioperative period
After induction of anesthesia, at the end of surgery, and 24 hours postoperatively
Urine Output
Time Frame: From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Hourly intraoperative urine output measured from urinary catheter collection and expressed as total mL/kg/hour.
From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Intraoperative Blood Loss
Time Frame: From surgical incision until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Estimated intraoperative blood loss measured in milliliters using suction canister volume after subtraction of irrigation fluids in addition to surgical field assessment.
From surgical incision until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Number of Participants with Postoperative Pulmonary Complications
Time Frame: Within seven postoperative days
Incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications defined according to European Perioperative Clinical Outcome (EPCO) criteria using clinical, radiological, and laboratory findings
Within seven postoperative days
Number of Participants With Acute Kidney Injury
Time Frame: Within seven postoperative days
Incidence of acute kidney injury defined according to KDIGO criteria based on serum creatinine changes and urine output.
Within seven postoperative days
Duration of Rescue Norepinephrine Requirement
Time Frame: From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Cumulative duration of rescue open-label norepinephrine infusion for persistent hemodynamic instability measured in minutes.
From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Duration of Intraoperative Hypotension
Time Frame: From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Cumulative duration of intraoperative hypotension defined as mean arterial pressure below 65 mmHg, measured in minutes using nvasive arterial blood pressure monitoring.
From induction of anesthesia until skin closure (Intraoperative period)
Number of Participants Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit
Time Frame: Within seven postoperative days
Number of participants requiring admission to the intensive care unit during the postoperative period.
Within seven postoperative days
Duration of Postoperative Hospital Stay
Time Frame: Within seven postoperative days
Total postoperative hospital stay measured in days during the first seven postoperative days
Within seven postoperative days
Number of Participants With Postoperative Surgical Complications
Time Frame: Within seven postoperative days
Incidence of postoperative surgical complications assessed according to Clavien-Dindo classification grade II or higher during the first seven postoperative days.
Within seven postoperative days

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.
Suez Canal University

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 (Estimated)

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.
July 15, 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.
October 1, 2026

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.
November 1, 2026

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 31, 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 31, 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.
June 4, 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.
July 13, 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.
July 10, 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.
July 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.
  • 6476# (Registry Identifier: Research Ethics Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University)

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