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

Sponsor
Wolfson Medical Center (Other)
Overall Status
Completed
CT.gov ID
NCT01073527
Collaborator
(none)
41
1
2
29.9
1.4

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

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.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Drug: hypertonic saline-salbutamol combination
  • Drug: Normal saline-salbutamol combination
N/A

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 Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
41 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Parallel Assignment
Masking:
Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
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
Study Start Date :
Jan 1, 2009
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Jul 1, 2011
Actual Study Completion Date :
Jul 1, 2011

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Active Comparator: Hypertonic saline-salbutamol combination

NaCl 5% - 4cc (with standard treatment - salbutamol 0.5cc)

Drug: hypertonic saline-salbutamol combination
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

    Drug: Normal saline-salbutamol combination
    normal saline - 4cc with salbutamol 0.5cc
    Other Names:
  • Preschool asthma
  • Outcome Measures

    Primary Outcome Measures

    1. shortening length of stay (LOS) [From admision to ready to discharge.]

    Secondary Outcome Measures

    1. Hospitalization rate [From presenting to ED until admission to hospital]

    2. Improvement in clinical score (CS) [Post inhalations on presentation to the ED and daily during hospitalization]

    Eligibility Criteria

    Criteria

    Ages Eligible for Study:
    1 Year to 6 Years
    Sexes Eligible for Study:
    All
    Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
    No
    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

    Contacts and Locations

    Locations

    Site City State Country Postal Code
    1 The Edith Wolfson MC Holon Israel

    Sponsors and Collaborators

    • Wolfson Medical Center

    Investigators

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

    Study Documents (Full-Text)

    None provided.

    More Information

    Publications

    None provided.
    Responsible Party:
    , ,
    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
    NCT01073527
    Other Study ID Numbers:
    • 1038
    First Posted:
    Feb 23, 2010
    Last Update Posted:
    Aug 9, 2011
    Last Verified:
    Aug 1, 2011
    Keywords provided by , ,
    Additional relevant MeSH terms:

    Study Results

    No Results Posted as of Aug 9, 2011