Phenytoin and Multidose Activated Charcoal

September 4, 2014 updated by: Brent W Morgan, MD, Emory University

Prospective Randomized Study of Multidose Activated Charcoal in Supratherapeutic Phenytoin Serum Levels

Phenytoin is a medicine used to treat seizures. If too much is taken, patients have ill effects including sleepiness, unsteady gait, and eye problems. The amount of drug in their system can be measured in their blood. Charcoal is a medicine that can absorb phenytoin. We want to see if giving multiple doses of charcoal will quicken the removal of phenytoin from the blood. This is theorized to occur as charcoal absorbs phenytoin from across the intestines and then is secreted in the stool. Patients will be selected to receive either charcoal in multiple doses or no charcoal and their serum levels will be drawn repeatedly to follow their level. The different groups will then be compared to see if multidose charcoal does indeed increase the elimination of phenytoin from the body.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

See above

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

17

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • United States
    • Georgia
      • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30303
        • Grady Memorial 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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Phenytoin level > 30 mg/L

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age < 18
  • Known allergy to Activated Charcoal
  • Pregnant
  • Inability to take PO drugs
  • Non English speaking
  • Inability to give consent
  • Any prisoners

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Multiple Doses of Activated Charcoal
Patients will receive 50 grams of activated charcoal by mouth every 4 hours until phenytoin levels drop below 25 ug/cc
Drug: Activated Charcoal
50 grams by mouth every 4 hours until serum phenytoin level is less than 25.
Other Names:
  • Charcoal
No Intervention: Control
Will not receive activated charcoal. Serum levels will be followed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Time of Elimination of Phenytoin in Patients With Elevated Phenytoin Levels
Time Frame: Serum phenytoin levels were obtained every 6 hours for 24 hours then once every 24 hours
We enrolled patients with elevated phenytoin levels into the study with greater than 30 ug/cc. The treatment arm received multiple doses of activated charcoal and the control arm received no activated charcoal. We obtained serum phenytoin levels every 6 hours for 24 hours then once every 24 hours. The time to reach a subtoxic level was determined in each arm by looking at serum phenytoin levels and documenting when it was below 25 ug/cc.
Serum phenytoin levels were obtained every 6 hours for 24 hours then once every 24 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Emory University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Carl Skinner, MD, Emory 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

August 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 14, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 14, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

January 15, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 11, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 4, 2014

Last Verified

September 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB00008017

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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