Tonsillotomy or Follow-up in PFAPA Syndrome

Sponsor
University of Oulu (Other)
Overall Status
Completed
CT.gov ID
NCT03331497
Collaborator
Oulu University Hospital (Other), Tampere University (Other), Tampere University Hospital (Other), Turku University Hospital (Other), University of Turku (Other)
22
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2
51.3
7.3
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Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Children with periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, adenitis (PFAPA) -syndrome diagnosis will be randomised either to tonsillotomy (partial tonsillectomy) or 3 months follow up. At follow up visit 3 months after randomisation the children from either groups with ongoing symptoms will be sent to tonsillectomy.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Procedure: Tonsillotomy
N/A

Detailed Description

Children with periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, adenitis (PFAPA) -syndrome diagnosis will be randomised either to tonsillotomy (partial tonsillectomy) or 3 months follow up.

In both groups the symptoms are monitored with symptom diaries. At follow up visit 3 months after randomisation the children from either groups with ongoing symptoms will be sent to tonsillectomy (total remove of palatine tonsil).

The design is sequential trial. From the previous trials we know that the effect of tonsillectomy is about 90% and that during follow up for six months as much as 50% of the patients will recover. Because the syndrome is rare and because the rescue operations of the tonsils (tonsillectomy in a person who has gone through tonsillotomy), the sample size has to be as low as possible. That is the reason why we chose sequential design, with assessments after every 8 patient.

Randomization is made in blocks of four. In sequential design we use the following assumptions:

  • We are looking for a 40% absolute difference in cure rate between tonsillotomy (90%) and follow up (50%) groups.

  • Two sided Whitehead design

  • Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE)

  • Five assessments (sample size 4+4, 8+8. 12+12, 16+16 and 19+19)

  • type 1 error 5 % and power 80%

  • The sample size will be from 8 to 38 patients depending on when the trial can be stopped along assessments.

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
22 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Sequential Assignment
Masking:
None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
Tonsillotomy or Follow-up in PFAPA -Syndrome - Randomised, Controlled Study Using Sequential Design
Actual Study Start Date :
Oct 24, 2017
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Dec 30, 2021
Actual Study Completion Date :
Feb 2, 2022

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Tonsillotomy

The patients diagnosed with PFAPA will have tonsillotomy performed in one month from randomisation.

Procedure: Tonsillotomy
About 2/3 of the palatine tonsil tissue is removed with coplator or bipolar knife.

No Intervention: Follow up

The patients diagnosed with PFAPA will be monitored for 3 months time. If the symptoms still persist, tonsillectomy will be performed

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

  1. Cure [3 months from randomization]

    Proportion of patients who do not have any PFAPA symptoms

Secondary Outcome Measures

  1. Rescue surgery [12 months from randomization]

    Proportion of patients needing rescue surgery (tonsillectomy)

  2. Days with fever [3 months from randomization]

    Number of days with fever >38C in symptom diaries

  3. Cure [6 months from randomization]

    Proportion of patients who do not have any PFAPA symptoms

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:
1 Year to 12 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
No
Inclusion Criteria:
  • Diagnosed PFAPA syndrome: regularly occurring fever episodes for 3-5 days for at least five times or for 6 months
Exclusion Criteria:
  • prior tonsil surgery

Contacts and Locations

Locations

Site City State Country Postal Code
1 Oulu Unversity Hospital Oulu Finland
2 Tampere University Hospital Tampere Finland
3 Turku University Hospital Turku Finland

Sponsors and Collaborators

  • University of Oulu
  • Oulu University Hospital
  • Tampere University
  • Tampere University Hospital
  • Turku University Hospital
  • University of Turku

Investigators

None specified.

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.
Responsible Party:
University of Oulu
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT03331497
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • TT 50_2017
First Posted:
Nov 6, 2017
Last Update Posted:
Feb 21, 2022
Last Verified:
Feb 1, 2022
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:
No
Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Feb 21, 2022