Arrhythmia Burden, Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death and Stroke in Patients With Fabry Disease (RaILRoAD)

Arrhythmia Burden, Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death and Stroke in Patients With Fabry Disease: the Role of Implantable Loop Recorders

Fabry disease (FD) is a genetic disorder that leads to progressive accumulation of fat or 'sphingolipid' within the tissues, including the heart muscle and conductive tissue. Improvements in the detection of FD, together with more organised clinical services for rare diseases, has led to a rapid growth in the disease prevalence. Earlier and more frequent diagnosis of asymptomatic individuals before development of the disease itself has focused attention on early detection of organ involvement and closer monitoring of disease progression. Moreover, the introduction of enzyme replacement therapy within the last two decades has changed the natural history of FD as follows: a) increased life expectancy; b) improved morbidity; c) modification of the main cause of morbidity and mortality from renal (kidney) to cardiovascular (heart) events, including heart failure, abnormal heart rhythms, stroke and sudden death. Although symptoms such as palpitations and blackouts are extremely common, information on the frequency of proven abnormal heart rhythms is limited. In addition, the rate and appropriateness of implantation of life-saving devices is very variable, including pacemakers to boost the heart when too slow and cardio-defibrillators that stop the heart when too fast. The main markers of risk in similar diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy cannot be used in FD. While patients are routinely followed up in clinic with heart tracings and echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart), a recent small study has emphasised that these tests under-estimate the burden of abnormal heart rhythms in patients with advanced FD. The use of continuous heart monitoring with an implantable loop recorder (ILR) has led to a significant change in treatment in 13 out of 15 of FD patients. The investigators believe that more frequent use of ILRs will identify a greater need for change in therapy in many more patients than currently treated, with the aim of reducing morbidity and mortality in this patient cohort. In addition this will provide valuable data to inform an estimate of future risk for these patients.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Fabry Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Implantable Loop Recorder

Detailed Description

This is a 3-year open-label multicentre randomised controlled trial assessing arrhythmia burden in patients with Fabry cardiac disease. This is an observational study, but with implantable loop recorder (ILR) insertion at recruitment and removal at end of trial for the intervention arm.

Null hypothesis: There will be no difference in the identification of arrhythmia between patients following standard care compared to patients following standard care but with the addition of ILR monitoring.

Beyond the proposed hypothesis, data collected will be used to inform whether ILR in FD will:

1. Reveal a high burden of unrecognised arrhythmia
2. Lead to frequent treatment modification (anti-coagulation, pacemaker and ICD implantation, ablation)
3. Enable the development of FD specific risk prediction algorithms
4. Identify predictive power of new (Troponin, BNP, lysoGB3, T1 and T2 mapping) and traditional biomarkers

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 169
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Australia
  • Sydney, Australia
    • University of Sydney
• United Kingdom
  • Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 0QQ
    • Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Cardiff, United Kingdom
    • Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
  • London, United Kingdom, NW3 2QG
    • Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust
  • Manchester, United Kingdom, M6 8HD
    • Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sheffield, United Kingdom
    • Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • West Midlands
    • Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom, B15 2TH
      • University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients with genotypically or enzymatically confirmed FD
• Adults > 18 years of age
• Evidence of cardiac involvement from FD involving either:
• Any ECG abnormality associated with FD
• Low T1 on CMR (below centre-specific normal range according to sex)
• LVH on transthoracic echo (defined as MWT >12mm)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient with an existing cardiac device (PPM, ICD or ILR).
• Known dual pathology:
• Known coronary artery disease (positive non-invasive imaging, confirmed myocardial infarction, percutaneous or surgical revascularisation). Patients >40 years old with symptoms that could be from coronary artery disease will have this excluded
• Known cardiomyopathy disease causing mutation (e.g. SCN5, MYBPC3)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Interventional Arm; Using an Implantable Loop Recorder fo continuous rhythm monitoring and home follow-up. This will be combined with standard care procedure, which will include annual ECG, 24 hour Holter/5 day ECG monitoring and further investigation dependent on symptom status.	Device: Implantable Loop Recorder; An implantable loop recorder (ILR), also known as an insertable cardiac monitor, is a small device (smaller than a AAA battery) that is inserted under the skin on the front of the chest. The ILR is inserted using local anesthetic as an out-patient procedure and lasts approximately 30 minutes. The ILR captures a continuous ECG of your heart activity, which allows doctors to detect any abnormal heart rhythms at any point. If you have the ILR, you will have the device for 3 years, after which it will be removed under local anesthetic during an out-patient procedure, again lasting approximately 30 minutes. The ILR device is completely safe and shouldn't affect your day to day living.
No Intervention: Standard of Care Arm; The standard of care with annual ECG, 24 hour Holter/5 day ECG monitoring and further investigation dependent on symptom status.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
First occurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) requiring anticoagulation	This will include all descriptions of AF, which can be defined as: paroxysmal - self-terminating episodes lasting between 48 hours to 7 days; persistent - intermittent episodes lasting between 7 days to 1 year; permanent - episodes lasting longer than 1 year	Total monitoring time period in study - 3 years
First occurrence of bradyarrhythmia requiring cardiac pacing	This would include: Symptomatic significant AV block.; Mobitz type 2 AV block or complete heart block irrespective of symptoms.	Total monitoring time period in study - 3 years
First occurrence of supraventricular arrhythmia requiring drug treatment or ablation.		Total monitoring time period in study - 3 years
First occurrence of non-sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmia requiring drug treatment, ICD implantation or ablation	This is classified as three or more ventricular beats at a rate >120bpm, for a duration of less than 30 seconds.	Total monitoring time period in study - 3 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Frequency of arrhythmia in patients with and without late gadolinium enhancement (LGE)	The study will aim at quantifying the extent of LGE deposited with myocardial tissue on cardiac MRI scanning. This will subsequently be correlated with the burden of arrhythmia detected to assess for potential risk factors.	3 years
Frequency of arrhythmia according to location of myocardial fibrosis (inferolateral vs. non-inferolateral)	The study will aim to correlate the location of myocardial fibrosis with the presence or absence of cardiac arrhythmia to define location of fibrosis as a potential risk factor for arrhythmia.	3 years
Frequency of arrhythmia in those patients with a QRS duration greater or less than 120ms		3 years
Frequency of arrhythmia in those with an atrial size above or below indexed normal range for age and sex		3 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
• Collaborators: Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust; Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Royal Free Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; University of Sydney; Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Richard Steeds, MD, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Vijapurapu R, Kozor R, Hughes DA, Woolfson P, Jovanovic A, Deegan P, Rusk R, Figtree GA, Tchan M, Whalley D, Kotecha D, Leyva F, Moon J, Geberhiwot T, Steeds RP. A randomised controlled trial evaluating arrhythmia burden, risk of sudden cardiac death and stroke in patients with Fabry disease: the role of implantable loop recorders (RaILRoAD) compared with current standard practice. Trials. 2019 May 31;20(1):314. doi: 10.1186/s13063-019-3425-1.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 18, 2019
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 21, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 3, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): October 9, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 14, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 11, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Pathologic Processes; Heart Diseases; Metabolism, Inborn Errors; Genetic Diseases, Inborn; Metabolic Diseases; Lipid Metabolism Disorders; Genetic Diseases, X-Linked; Lysosomal Storage Diseases; Brain Diseases, Metabolic, Inborn; Brain Diseases, Metabolic; Lipid Metabolism, Inborn Errors; Heart Arrest; Death, Sudden; Lysosomal Storage Diseases, Nervous System; Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases; Sphingolipidoses; Lipidoses; Death, Sudden, Cardiac; Death; Fabry Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: FD-ILR-001

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: There is no plan to make individual participant data available to other researchers. Data analysis conducted using anonymised patient data will be shared through publications.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No