Efficacy Study of Hypothermia Plus Magnesium Sulphate(MgSO4) in the Management of Term and Near Term Babies With Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (MagCool)

April 3, 2013 updated by: Sajjad Rahman

A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial of Therapeutic Hypothermia Plus Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4) Versus Therapeutic Hypothermia Plus Placebo in the Management of Term and Near Term Babies With Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy

The purpose of this study is to assess whether the addition of a drug such as Magnesium sulphate while providing therapeutic hypothermia (or cooling) to babies who are asphyxiated at birth provides additional benefit to the babies' survival and outcome compared to cooling alone.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Perinatal Asphyxia continues to be a major cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity even in the most technologically advanced and prosperous countries of the world. The incidence remains unchanged; 1-2% of live births in developed world countries and much higher in developing world countries. Perinatal Asphyxia is a multisystem disorder. Neonatal brain is the most important organ affected by Asphyxic insult because the resulting neuronal damage is permanent. Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), the pathognomonic clinical syndrome of asphyxic neuronal insult, occurs in 50-60% of babies with Perinatal Asphyxia. Moderate and severe HIE causes significant neonatal mortality and morbidity. Among patients with moderate HIE, 10-20% die and 30-40% develop neurological deficit, whereas 50% of patients with severe HIE die and almost all survivors develop neurological deficits. Hence the toll on the society continues to be very high in spite of dramatic improvements in neonatal intact survival, particularly in developed world countries.

Until recent years, the management of HIE was limited to supportive intensive care only because there was no specific treatment available to rescue neurons during HIE. However, over the last decade, therapeutic Hypothermia, has emerged as a promising new therapy in reducing neonatal mortality and morbidity due to HIE. This is due to improved understanding of the physiology of neuronal damage during asphyxia insult. Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) is a dynamic process which evolves over a period of seventy two hours starting from the time of insult. Two distinct episodes of neuronal damage occur during this time:

  1. The immediate (primary) hypoxic insult followed by a
  2. latent period of recovery which lasts for almost six hours.

This is followed by a much longer and profound period of secondary neuronal damage due to the release of chemical mediators. Therapeutic modalities which can potentially reduce the release of these chemical mediators will provide neuronal rescue. Moderate controlled hypothermia (33.5-34.5 0C) offered during the first 72 hours after the asphyxic insult is one such therapeutic modality which has been the subject of animal studies as well as extensive multicenter trails in human infants over the last two decades.

The studies on animal models have not only confirmed the safety of moderate therapeutic hypothermia; they have also shown a dramatic neuronal rescue in experimental HIE model of lambs subjected to prolonged therapeutic hypothermia immediately after birth. This was followed by pilot RCT's in human infants; the outcomes of which were very encouraging. However a universal change of practice requires large well designed multicenter trails and Meta analyses.

After having established therapeutic hypothermia as a safe and effective modality for neuroprotection in HIE, the neonatologists are facing a new question. Can the investigators enhance the neuroprotective effect of therapeutic hypothermia by adding other potential neuroprotective agents? These potential therapeutic agents include Xenon, Erythropoetin, Magnisium sulphate, Allopurinol, opoids, Topiramate, Inhaled Nitric Oxide (iNO), N-Acetylcystine, Minocycline and Melatonin.13,17 Due to their different mechanisms of action, it is likely that these neuroprotective therapies may add incrementally to the proven beneficial effects of hypothermia. Indeed hypothermia may buy additional time for these neuroprotective agents to act within an expanded 'therapeutic window'.13 These Hypothermia plus therapies are going to be the subject of many new RCT's worldwide over the next few years.

Magnesium Sulphate, a potential neuroprotective agent, acts by reducing neuronal excitotoxicity. MgSO4 has long been used in Obstertrics as a tocolytic agent and has a proven neuroprotective effect in preterm babies born to mothers tocolyzed with MgSO4. A recently conducted RCT in human neonates has compared postnatal magnesium sulfate with placebo in the management of Neonatal HIE. This study, which did not use hypothermia therapy due to lack of facilities, has shown that treatment with MgSO4 improves neurologic outcomes at discharge in term neonates with severe perinatal asphyxia. The animal studies done by Knuckley's group has compared a combination of therapeutic hypothermia and MgSO4 with therapeutic hypothermia alone. In their rat model MgSO4 alone had a minimal beneficial effect. However, MgSO4 plus hypothermia had a significant beneficial effect in reducing the size of the post asphyxia infarct. This animal focal stroke model provides an intriguing suggestion that hypothermia plus MgSO4 provides an additive neuroprotection. No human studies have been done so far to test the difference between therapeutic hypothermia alone and therapeutic hypothermia plus MgSO4. Mag Cool Study (Hypothermia plus MgSO4 Vs Hypothermia plus placebo) will test this hypothesis.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

300

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

  • Name: Sajjad Ur Rahman, MBBS.DCH.MCPS.FCPS.FRCPCH.FNP
  • Phone Number: +974-44396123
  • Email: Srahman4@hmc.org.qa

Study Locations

  • Egypt
      • Mansoura, Egypt
        • Recruiting
        • Mansoura University Children's Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Mohamed T Khashaba
  • Malaysia
      • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
        • Recruiting
        • University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC)
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Lucy CS Lum, Professor
  • Qatar
      • Doha, Qatar, 00000
        • Recruiting
        • NICU,Women's Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Samawal Lutfi, MD, CABP, NPM (Dalhousie)
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Hussain Parappil, MBBS,MD,DCH,FRCPCH
  • Saudi Arabia
      • Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
        • Recruiting
        • Arrayan Hospital-Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Jassim Anabress, MD
  • Turkey
      • Ankara, Turkey
        • Recruiting
        • Zekai Tahir Burak Maternity Teaching Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Fuat E Canpolat, MD
      • Diyarbakir, Turkey
        • Recruiting
        • Diyarbakir Children's Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Melek Akar, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Heybet Tuzun, Pharm
  • United Arab Emirates
      • AlAin, United Arab Emirates
        • Recruiting
        • Tawam Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Aiman Rahmani, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Fares Chedid, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Moghis Rehman, MD

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

No older than 6 hours (CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

The babies will be assessed sequentially by criteria A, B and C listed below:

A. Evidence of Perinatal Asphyxia at birth: Infants ≥35 completed weeks gestation admitted to the NICU with at least one of the following:

  1. Apgar score of <5 at 10 minutes after birth
  2. Continued need for resuscitation, including endotracheal or mask ventilation, at 10 minutes after birth
  3. Acidosis within 60 minutes of birth (defined as any occurrence of umbilical cord arterial or venous pH <7.00 or otherwise arterial or capillary pH <7.00)
  4. Base Deficit (-16 mmol/L or more) in umbilical cord or any blood sample (arterial, venous or capillary) within 60 minutes of birth

Infants that meet criteria A will be assessed for whether they meet the neurological abnormality entry criteria (B) by trained personnel:

B. Clinical Evidence of Moderate to severe encephalopathy, consisting of altered state of consciousness (lethargy, stupor or coma) AND at least one of the following:

  1. hypotonia
  2. abnormal reflexes including oculomotor or pupillary abnormalities
  3. absent or weak suck
  4. clinical seizures

Infants who meet criteria A & B will be assessed by aEEG only in units where facility for Cerebral Function Monitoring (CFM) is available.

C. (Optional) At least 30 minutes duration of amplitude integrated EEG recording that shows abnormal background aEEG activity or seizures. There must be one of the following:

  1. normal background with some seizure activity
  2. continuous seizure activity
  3. moderately abnormal activity: Only Lower border below 5 mV. upper border remains above 10mV
  4. Severely Abnormal activity (suppressed activity): Both Lower border below 5 mV and upper border below 10mV

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Infants expected to be > 6 hours of age at the time of randomization.Every effort will be made to ensure entry to the study before 3 hours of age.
  • Major congenital abnormalities, such as diaphragmatic hernia requiring ventilation, or congenital abnormalities suggestive of chromosomal anomaly or other syndromes that includes brain dysgenesis.

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: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: QUADRUPLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Hypothermia + Magnesium Sulphate
Drug: Magnesium Sulphate

10% MgSo4 (100mg/ml) given in a dose of 250mg/kg IV q 24 hrly for 3 doses(2.5ml/kg).

Diluent: Dextrose 5%.

Other Names:
  • MgSo4
PLACEBO_COMPARATOR: Hypothermia+ Placebo
Drug: Placebo
Normal Saline 0.9% Sodium Chloride is diluted in 5% Dextrose to be given as 2.5ml/kg IV q24 hrly for 3 doses.
Other Names:
  • 0.9% Sodium Chloride
  • Normal Saline

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Combined outcome of Mortality and Severe Neurodevelopmental Disability
Time Frame: 18 - 24 months of age
Severe Neurodevelopmental Disability will be assessed at discharge from hospital and at 18-24 months of age to assess developmental delay and cerebral palsy using the Bayley Scale of Infant Development II.
18 - 24 months of age

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Persistent Hypotension
Time Frame: Duration of hypothermia therapy( ie during the first 96 hours)
The development of persistently low blood pressure despite adequate measures to maintain normal blood pressure will be assessed and recorded throughout the hypothermia therapy.
Duration of hypothermia therapy( ie during the first 96 hours)
Pulmonary Hemorrhage
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of Pulmonary hemorrhage at any stage during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Intracranial Hemorrhage
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of Intracranial Hemorrhage at any stage during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded by serial head ultrasounds on day 1 , day 3 and as required.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Pulmonary Hypertension
Time Frame: Duration of Hypothermia therapy (ie during the first 96 hours)
The development of pulmonary hypertension at any stage during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded.
Duration of Hypothermia therapy (ie during the first 96 hours)
Prolonged Blood Coagulation time
Time Frame: Duration of hypothermia therapy ( ie during the first 96 hours)
The development of abnormal coagulation profile during hypothermia therapy will be recorded.
Duration of hypothermia therapy ( ie during the first 96 hours)
Culture Proven sepsis
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of sepsis with a positive blood culture during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Necrotizing enterocolitis
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of necrotizing enterocolitis during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Cardiac Arrhythmias
Time Frame: Duration of hypothermia therapy (ie during the first 96 hours)
The development ofcardiac arrythmia during hypothermia therapy will be recorded.
Duration of hypothermia therapy (ie during the first 96 hours)
Thrombocytopenia
Time Frame: Duration of hypothermia therapy (ie during the first 96 hours)
The development of low platelet count (<20,000) during hypothermia therapy will be recorded
Duration of hypothermia therapy (ie during the first 96 hours)
Major venous thrombosis
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of major venous thrombosis or a major vein thrombus during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Renal Failure
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of renal failure during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Abnormal liver funcion tests (elevated liver enzymes)
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The devlopment of raised liver enzymes during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Pneumonia
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of pneumonia during the patient's hospital stay will be assessed and recorded.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Pulmonary air leak syndrome
Time Frame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The development of pulmonary air leak syndrome during the patient's hospital stay will be recorded.
Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Prolonged vs shortened hospital stay
Time Frame: First day of NICU admission till the day of discharge, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
The entire duration of hopital stay will be assessed
First day of NICU admission till the day of discharge, an expected average of up to 4 weeks
Neurodevelopment score
Time Frame: On the day of discharge from hospital, an expected average of 4 weeks after admission
A developmental paediatrician blinded to the study groups will assess the patient's neurodevlopment on the day of his or her discharge.
On the day of discharge from hospital, an expected average of 4 weeks after admission
Abnormal aEEG
Time Frame: Before randomization and during hypothermia therapy (0 hours till 96 hours)
The aEEG is used to measure the severity of Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (moderate or severe).
Before randomization and during hypothermia therapy (0 hours till 96 hours)
Presence of multiple handicaps
Time Frame: 18-24 months of age
Multiple handicaps (( defined as the presence of any two of the following in an infant at the age of 18-24 months: neuromotor disability (level 3-5 on GMF Classification), mental delay (Bayley MDI score <70),epilepsy, cortical visual impairment, sensorineural hearing loss)).
18-24 months of age
Bayley Psychomotor Development Score less than 70
Time Frame: 18-24 months of age
18-24 months of age
Sensorineural hearing loss equal to, or more than, 40 dB
Time Frame: 18-24 months of age
18-24 months of age
Epilepsy
Time Frame: 18-24 months of age
Epilepsy is defined as recurrent seizures beyond the neonatal period, requiring anticonvulsant therapy at the time of assessment
18-24 months of age
Microcephaly
Time Frame: 18-24 months of age
Defined as Head circumference more than 2 standard deviations below the mean
18-24 months of age
Result of EEG or MRI
Time Frame: within the first 14 days of life
To moniter any abnormal EEG patterns and any evidence of Ischemic/Hemorrhagic lesions on MRI
within the first 14 days of life

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Sajjad Rahman

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sajjad Ur Rahman, MBBS.DCH.MCPS.FCPS.FRCPCH.FNP, Hamad Medical Corporation

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

May 1, 2012

Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED)

December 1, 2013

Study Completion (ANTICIPATED)

June 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 5, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 19, 2012

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

July 20, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 4, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 3, 2013

Last Verified

April 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • GC 1028A
  • HMC-GC1028A (OTHER: Hamad Medical Corporation)

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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