Remifentanil and Laryngeal Reflex Responses in Pediatric Patients With URI

October 29, 2015 updated by: Thomas Erb

Impact of Remifentanil Administration on Laryngeal Reflex Responses in Pediatric Patients With Upper Respiratory Anesthetized With Propofol

To describe respiratory and laryngeal responses to laryngeal stimulation during propofol anesthesia in children with upper airway infections. To determine whether the co-administration of remifentanil blunts these reflex responses. To test whether the co-administration of remifentanil results in a significant reduction of apnea with laryngospasm in these patients.

Hypotheses:

I: In children with a URI undergoing anesthesia with propofol, the incidence of apnea and laryngospasm after controlled stimulation is expected to occur 2.5 times more frequently than in children without URI (20 vs. 8%).

II: The incidence of apnea and laryngospasm is diminished after administration of remifentanil.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients undergoing anesthesia in the presence of an upper respiratory infection (URI) are very common in pediatric anesthesia practice. Although, clinical data confirm that children with URIs are at increased risk of perioperative complications, it has become standard practice not to postpone anesthesia in the presence of URI. While complications (such as cough, hypoxemia) can be anticipated, recognized, and treated, laryngospasm remains the most severe and dramatic complication. In clinical practice, patients who develop laryngospasm are greater than 2.5 times more likely to have an active upper respiratory infection; therefore, knowledge that allows for rational selections of anesthetic agents under this condition is highly warranted. Based on our results obtained in healthy children, the use of propofol appears to be most promising under these circumstances. For this reason, the laryngeal and respiratory reflex responses should be assessed in patients with URI anaesthetized with propofol.

Commonly held believes suggest, that the administration of opioids blunts airway reflexes, including laryngospasm. However, in a previous study of our group in children anesthetized with sevoflurane the administration of fentanyl effectively blunted all airway reflexes but laryngospasm. These results are in contrast to those obtained in adults anesthetized with propofol where fentanyl also effectively blunted laryngospasm.

In children the combined use of propofol and remifentanil has become more frequent, particularly because of its synergistic pharmacodynamic effect. Besides its use during surgical procedures, this regime is also being increasingly advocated for diagnostic procedures such as bronchoscopy and esophago-gastroduodenoscopy. These interventions include instrumentation of the airway in children that are at an increased risk of harmful effects of laryngeal reflex responses.

Despite their obvious clinical significance, reflexes that involve the function of the upper airway are only minimally understood and information on such reflexes is scarce in anesthetized humans. Nonetheless, a model was developed by analyzing respiratory variables and endoscopic images after stimulating the laryngeal mucosa with a small amount of distilled water. This model was successfully adapted to the pediatric setting by our group assessing the impact of propofol, sevoflurane, fentanyl and lidocaine administration on laryngeal reflex responses in preschool children.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

62

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Locations

  • Switzerland
      • Basel, Switzerland, 4058
        • University Children'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

2 years to 7 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ASA I + II
  • elective intervention under general anesthesia
  • acute upper respiratory tract infection

Exclusion Criteria:

  • chronic respiratory tract infection
  • fever >38,3° celsius
  • productive cough
  • neuromuscular disease
  • malignant hyperthermia
  • cardiac disease

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: 1
Larynx assessment under stimulation
Drug: propofol, remifentanil
propofol 3micrgr/ml (TCI plasma concentration Kataria model) versus propofol 3micrgr/ml and remifentanil 0.05microgr/kg/min
Other Names:
  • Ultiva
  • Disoprivan
  • Recofol

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Occurence of laryngospasm (defined as complete closure of the vocal or false cords with apnea lasting >10sec) after laryngeal stimulation
Time Frame: 5min
5min

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Thomas Erb

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Thomas O Erb, MD, Universitiy children's hospital Basel

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

January 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 25, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 7, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

February 8, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

October 30, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 29, 2015

Last Verified

October 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UNIBAS:UKBB_ANE_LR5
  • SNF3200B0-109322 (Other Identifier: SNF 3200B0-109322)

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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