Hypertonic Saline as Add on Therapy in Preschool Children With Acute Wheezing Attack.

August 7, 2011 updated by: Wolfson Medical Center

Interventional Study: Hypertonic Saline as Add on Treatment to the Usual Therapy for Preschool Children With Acute "Asthmatic" Attack Presenting to the ER: A Double Blind Control Study

To investigate the efficacy of adding Inhaled Hypertonic Saline treatment (HS) for 1-6 year old children with "asthmatic" attack presenting to Emergency Department (ED).

Background: In 1-6 year old children, the most common causes of acute exacerbations of asthma requiring urgent medical care are viral respiratory infections. Most of these children are not atopic and often do not respond very well to bronchodilators and steroids. Thus novel treatments are needed.

HS is considered an effective and safe treatment for infants with acute viral bronchiolitis (Cochrane 2008). HS acts in the airways in several mechanisms: HS re-hydrates secretions and improving mucus rheology, reduce edema of the airway wall by absorbing water from the mucosa and submucosa, causes sputum induction and cough, which can help to clear the sputum out of the bronchi, stimulates cilial beat via the release of prostaglandin E2, breaks the ionic bonds within the mucus gel, thereby lowering the viscosity and elasticity of the mucus secretion.

It is estimated that all the above HS responding elements may play a role in this viral induce wheezing. The above mentioned theoretical benefits provide the rationale for the possible treatment of viral induced acute wheezing ("asthma") attack with nebulized HS in young pre-school children presenting to the Pediatric Emergency Unit with acute (mostly viral induced) wheezing.

Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to 1. Investigate the addition of frequently nebulized 5% HS/albuterol combination to standard therapy of acute asthmatic episodes presenting to the emergency department (ED) in preschool children in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled fashion.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

A randomized double blind, controlled, (DBCR) trial. To investigate the efficacy of adding inhaled Hypertonic Saline (HS) treatment for 1-6 year old children with asthmatic attack presenting to ED

Background:

Children under the age of 5 years have the highest hospitalization rate of asthma. The most common causes of acute exacerbations of asthma requiring urgent medical care are viral respiratory infections. Most of these children < 6 years old are not atopic.

These investigators have previously demonstrated in wheezy infants with acute viral bronchiolitis that nebulized hypertonic saline produces a clinical significant reduction in length of hospital stay and improves the clinical score and is considered an effective and safe treatment for infants with acute viral bronchiolitis (Cochrane 2008).

Hypertonic saline solution acts in the airways in several mechanisms:

It Stimulates ciliar beat via the release of prostaglandin E2 and increases mucociliary clearance.

It Breaks the ionic bonds within the mucus gel, thereby reducing the degree of cross linking and entanglements and lowering the viscosity and elasticity of the mucus secretion.

HS induces an osmotic flow of water into the mucus layer, re-hydrating secretions and improving mucus rheology.

HS reduces edema of the airway wall by absorbing water from the mucosa and submucosa.

HS can cause sputum induction and cough, which can help to clear the sputum outside of the bronchi and thus improve airway obstruction.

It is estimated that many of the above hypertonic saline responding elements may play a role in this viral induce wheezing such as: mucosal and submucosal edema, peribronchial infiltrate of inflammatory cells, necrosis and desquamation of ciliated epithelial cells, and excess mucus secretion. The combination of an airway wall swelling, sloughing of necrotic debris, increased mucus production and impaired secretion clearance, eventually contribute in addition to bronchospasm to airway obstruction, gas trapping, atelectasis and impaired gas exchange. Moreover, as postulated in "status asthmatic", the relative contribution of these "non-spasmodic" pathological and pathophysiological consequences of viral and asthmatic inflammation to airway obstruction, gas trapping, atelectasis and impaired gas exchange become even more important in these children already treated with maximum dilatation dose of bronchodilating drugs in the emergency department.

The above mentioned theoretical benefits provide the rationale for the possible treatment of viral induced acute wheezing ("asthma") attack with nebulized hypertonic saline solution in young pre-school children presenting to the Pediatric Emergency Unit with acute (mostly viral induced) wheezing.

Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the addition of frequently nebulized 5% HS/albuterol combination to standard therapy of acute asthmatic episodes presenting to the ED in preschool children in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled fashion.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

41

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

      • Holon, Israel
        • The Edith Wolfson MC

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

1 year to 6 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Children, age: 1-6 years old
  • Presenting to the ED with acute wheezing episode

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any chronic (lung, cardiac, immunologic, neurologic) 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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Hypertonic saline-salbutamol combination
NaCl 5% - 4cc (with standard treatment - salbutamol 0.5cc)
hypertonic saline 5% with 0.5cc salbutamol
Other Names:
  • Preschool asthma,Induced sputum, Metacholine,Adenosine
Placebo Comparator: normal saline-salbutamol combination
Standard treatment normal saline 4cc with salbutamol 0.5cc
normal saline - 4cc with salbutamol 0.5cc
Other Names:
  • Preschool asthma

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
shortening length of stay (LOS)
Time Frame: From admision to ready to discharge.
From admision to ready to discharge.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Hospitalization rate
Time Frame: From presenting to ED until admission to hospital
From presenting to ED until admission to hospital
Improvement in clinical score (CS)
Time Frame: Post inhalations on presentation to the ED and daily during hospitalization
Post inhalations on presentation to the ED and daily during hospitalization

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Avigdor Mandelberg, MD, The Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel

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.

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, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 18, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 22, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

February 23, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 9, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 7, 2011

Last Verified

August 1, 2011

More Information

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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