Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound in COVID-19

March 5, 2024 updated by: Misun Hwang, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) Detection of Microvascular Perfusion Impairment in COVID-19 Pediatric Patients

Initial data from COVID-19 patients suggests that one of the primary causes of death is significant endothelial injury leading to blood clotting and impaired multiorgan microvascular perfusion. The current study uses a safe, convenient bedside imaging tool called contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to estimate the extent of microvascular perfusion impairment in the heart, kidneys and/or brain of COVID-19 pediatric patients in vivo and assess the significance of imaging findings by correlating to clinical outcomes.

This pilot study will be conducted at one site, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The investigators plan to enroll and evaluate 30 patients.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

The current study uses a safe, convenient bedside imaging tool called contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to measure the extent of microvascular perfusion impairment in the heart, kidneys and/or brain of COVID-19 pediatric patients and, as exploratory analysis, to assess the significance of imaging findings by correlating to clinical outcomes.

Sulfur hexafluoride lipid-type A microspheres (LumasonTM, Bracco Inc) is an FDA-approved ultrasound contrast agent. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound scan with a duration of approximately 15 minutes will be performed when a COVID-19 diagnosis has been made (or is highly suspected) according to established clinical procedures. One CEUS will be performed per patient, with up to 2 intravenous injections of the contrast agent. The dosing plan will be weight-adjusted, based on a dose of 0.03 mL/kg (with a maximum dose of 2.4 mL per injection). Organ perfusion will be evaluated in the heart, kidneys, and/or brain. Clinical outcomes during hospital stay will be collected for correlation to CEUS-based measures.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

4

Phase

  • Phase 3

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

    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

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 minute to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patient (male/female) hospitalized at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
  2. Patient 17 years of age or younger.
  3. Diagnosis of COVID-19 or high clinical suspicion for COVID-19 despite negative tests (according to the definition of probable case by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control).
  4. Patients have evidence of cardiovascular compromise, myocardial injury, acute kidney injury and/or new-onset neurological symptoms.
  5. Parental/guardian permission (informed consent)

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Medical history of Lumason hypersensitivity

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Contrast-enhanced Ultrasonography
Intravenous administration of contrast agent Sulfur hexafluoride lipid-type A microspheres before performing contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). In pediatric patients, after reconstitution 0.03 mL per kg is administered intravenously. The weight-based dose of 0.03 mL per kg will be repeated one time during a single examination. Following each injection, an intravenous flush of 0.9% Sodium Chloride is injected. The study duration per subject will be approximately 15 minutes including the time to prepare the contrast agent and perform the CEUS, as well as the 60 minute monitoring period after the first and second injection (if there are two injections of contrast) of the contrast agent.
Injection of Sulfur hexafluoride lipid-type A microspheres (Lumason) contrast agent will be performed via the existing peripheral intravenous line using the FDA-recommended dose of 0.03 mg/kg. Two bolus injections will be performed to evaluate for dynamic bowel perfusion and several 2-minute cine clips as well as static images will be acquired during the exam.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Estimate the Proportion of Patients With Normal Perfusion Versus Area(s) of Hypoperfusion in Heart, Kidneys and/or Brain
Time Frame: 15 minutes.

Assess microvascular perfusion of the heart, kidneys and/or brain using CEUS in patients with confirmed or probable diagnosis of COVID-19.

A sufficient diagnostic quality to analyze the ultrasound examination was accomplished in three out of four patients.

15 minutes.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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 (Actual)

December 18, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 17, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

September 17, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 19, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 19, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

November 23, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 8, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 5, 2024

Last Verified

March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

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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