Brain-based Prediction of the Dying Duration in Humans After Withdrawal of Life Sustaining Therapies to Inform Donation After Circulatory Death (NeuroDCD)

July 7, 2026 updated by: Myp Sekhon, University of British Columbia
The purpose of this study is to develop a new tool that uses information collected before life-sustaining treatments are withdrawn to better predict whether a patient will die within the time needed for organ donation to be possible. The tool created should help improve planning for organ donation and provide families and healthcare teams with more accurate information.

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.

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.
102

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

  • Canada
      • Vancouver, Canada
        • St Paul Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Boyd John, MD
    • Alberta
      • Calgary, Alberta, Canada
    • British Columbia
      • Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada
        • UBC/East Kootenay Regional Hospital
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Denise Jaworsky, MD
        • Contact:
      • Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
        • Kelowna General Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Benjamin Wierstra, MD
      • New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
        • Royal Columbian Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Andrew Wormsbecker, MD
      • Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
        • Surrey Memorial Hospital
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Anish Mitra, MD
        • Contact:
      • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V5Z1M9
        • Vancouver General Hospital
        • Contact:
          • Mypinder Sekhon, MD, PhD
          • Phone Number: 604-875-5949
          • Email: myp@mail.ubc.ca
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Mypinder Sekhon, MD, PhD
    • Manitoba
      • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
    • Ontario
      • London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7
        • University Hospital - London Health Sciences Centre
        • Contact:
      • Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, L1G 8A2
        • Lakeridge Health
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Shannon Fernando, MD
        • Contact:
          • Shannon Fernando, MD
          • Phone Number: 6335 (613) 549-6666
          • Email: sfernando@lh.ca
      • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
        • Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sonny Dhanani, 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

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

ICU

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Age ≥ 19;
  2. Eligible for DCD

Exclusion Criteria:

Exclusion criteria will consist of :

  1. concurrent vasopressor doses of norepinephrine >0.05 mcg/kg/min (or dose equivalent)
  2. PaO2/FiO2 ratio <150 mmHg
  3. complete high cervical spinal cord injury (C5 and above)
  4. cardiac support devices (e.g., ECMO, balloon pump, ventricular assist device)
  5. pacemaker in situ
  6. tracheostomy

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.
The study cohort will consist of patients eligible for donation after circulatory determination of

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
To develop a clinically applicable model to predict dying duration in a cohort of patient eligible for donation after circulatory death
Time Frame: The models will be built to predict death within 30, 60 and 120 minutes
Specifically, we aim at assessing the predictive ability of blood-based brain biomarkers, optic nerve sheet diameter as measured by head computed tomography (CT) scans as a surrogate of intracranial pressure and autonomic dysfunction as reflected by abnormal heart rate variability (HRV) to predict the dying duration.
The models will be built to predict death within 30, 60 and 120 minutes

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
Comparison of the brain-to-heart model to existing models
Time Frame: The models will be compared for death within 30, 60 and 120 minutes
Our secondary aim will be to compare the created models with available models (e.g., DCD-N, UNOS, Wisconsin) and to physician gestalt
The models will be compared for death within 30, 60 and 120 minutes

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 of British Columbia

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.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

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.
January 1, 2027

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, 2030

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, 2030

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).
July 7, 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.
July 7, 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.
July 13, 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 7, 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.
January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

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.
  • H25-03465

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Data will be avaiable to be shared on demand. However, statistical analysis and prediction modeling computer code will be made publicly available on GitHub.

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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