Nerve Repair Using Hydrophilic Polymers to Promote Immediate Fusion of Severed Axons and Swift Return of Function

NCT ID: NCT02359825

Last Updated: 2025-10-17

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: PHASE1
• Total Enrollment: 18 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-09-19
• Study Completion Date: 2028-07-01

Brief Summary

Current strategies for peripheral nerve repair are severely limited. Even with current techniques, it can take months for regenerating axons to reach denervated target tissues when injuries are proximally located. This inability to rapidly restore the loss of function after axonal injury continues to produce poor clinical outcomes. The investigators propose testing the efficacy and safety of a combination therapy: polyethylene glycol (PEG) assisted axonal fusion technique to repair peripheral nerve injuries in humans.

Detailed Description

Our own preclinical animal studies have been designed to take advantage of PEG. We have used the fusogenic properties of PEG and this has allowed us to demonstrate a rapid and decisive electrophysiological recovery of either crushed or completely severed sciatic nerves in a commonly accepted mammalian model for peripheral nerve injury (Bittner et al JSR 2012).

Recently, we modified previously published mammalian techniques. Our goal was to eliminate laboratory solutions that have not been approved for use in humans and replace them with readily available reagents commonly used in clinical applications. PEG is commercially available in many molecular formulations and our earlier experiments with PEG having a molecular weight of 2 kD. Unfortunately, this molecular weight is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human usage. In our more recent preclinical studies, we have demonstrated that PEG 3.35 kD, the main ingredient in the commonly used cathartic known as MiraLAX© (MERCK; Whitehouse Station, NJ), actually generates superior fusion over PEG 2KD in a cut nerve model. Thus the clinical trial that forms the basis of this proposal was developed with the FDA approved 3.35 kD PEG and these other two FDA approved solutions.

Additional studies in our complex nerve injury model have also demonstrated that the repair does not have to be performed immediately after nerve injury. Epineural repair with PEG 3.35 kD treatment can be performed up to 24hrs after injury and postoperative CAPs are obtained in all PEG 3.35 kD treated animals (n=3, data not shown). The remarkable finding is that in the 24-hour injury model, PEG significantly improves behavioral outcome measured at 72 hours postoperatively.

Based on the published reports and our own in vivo studies, we demonstrate that PEG based repair can restore CAPs immediately and improve functional recovery significantly post injury. These preclinical findings suggest that we can offer a novel therapy to test in humans who have experienced complete transection of a peripheral nerve. Patient risk is minimized as we have optimized the PEG facilitated fusion technique to utilize commonly used FDA approved drugs, solutions and electrolytes to augment standard neurorrhaphy techniques. The experimental protocol entails 100% transection injury to a peripheral nerve followed by a standard neurorrhaphy. The repair is then irrigated gently with PEG for two minutes and sterile water in standard fashion is used to wash away the PEG.

The most likely scenarios, that explain rapid compound action potential (CAP) restoration, are the rapid restoration of cytoplasmic flow within the nerves, the rapid ability of membranes to depolarize and possibly the prevention of Wallerian degeneration.

Conditions

Peripheral Nerve Injury

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

standard epineural repair <24 hours

epineural repair following treatment with standard epineural repair alone in sensory nerve injuries in the upper extremity in short-term acute injuries (repaired \<24 hours after injury); no medication used

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

standard epineural repair >24 - 72 hours

epineural repair following irrigation with standard epineural repair alone in sensory nerve injuries in the upper extremity in short-term chronic injuries (\>24-\<72 hours after injury); no medication used

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

epineural repair with autografting within 48 hours

epineural repair with auto grafting within 48 hours; no medication used

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

epineural repair <24 hours using PEG

epineural repair following treatment with standard epineural repair using PEG in sensory nerve injuries in the upper extremity in short-term acute injuries (repaired \<24 hours after injury); PEG is used during the surgical procedure

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Polyethylene glycol (PEG)

Intervention Type: DRUG

For the control groups, epineural repair or interposition grafting will be undertaken in the standard end-to-end fashion using interrupted nylon suture after irrigation of the wound with normal saline as deemed necessary by the operating surgeon. For the experimental group, the nerve(s) will be repaired using standard suture neurorrhaphy techniques and a 149.25 mM (50%) solution of PEG 3.35 kD in sterile water will then be irrigated onto the neurorrhaphy site for one minute. Following this, the approximated nerve ends will be irrigated with sterile water gently for 2 minutes. All wounds will be closed in the fashion deemed appropriate by the operating surgeon.

epineural repair >24 but <72 hours using PEG

epineural repair following treatment with standard epineural repair using PEG in sensory nerve injuries in the upper extremity in short-term acute injuries (repaired \>24 hours but \< 72 hours after injury); PEG is used during the surgical procedure

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Polyethylene glycol (PEG)

Intervention Type: DRUG

For the control groups, epineural repair or interposition grafting will be undertaken in the standard end-to-end fashion using interrupted nylon suture after irrigation of the wound with normal saline as deemed necessary by the operating surgeon. For the experimental group, the nerve(s) will be repaired using standard suture neurorrhaphy techniques and a 149.25 mM (50%) solution of PEG 3.35 kD in sterile water will then be irrigated onto the neurorrhaphy site for one minute. Following this, the approximated nerve ends will be irrigated with sterile water gently for 2 minutes. All wounds will be closed in the fashion deemed appropriate by the operating surgeon.

epineural repair with autografting within 48 hours, using PEG

epineural repair with auto grafting within 48 hours

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Polyethylene glycol (PEG)

Intervention Type: DRUG

For the control groups, epineural repair or interposition grafting will be undertaken in the standard end-to-end fashion using interrupted nylon suture after irrigation of the wound with normal saline as deemed necessary by the operating surgeon. For the experimental group, the nerve(s) will be repaired using standard suture neurorrhaphy techniques and a 149.25 mM (50%) solution of PEG 3.35 kD in sterile water will then be irrigated onto the neurorrhaphy site for one minute. Following this, the approximated nerve ends will be irrigated with sterile water gently for 2 minutes. All wounds will be closed in the fashion deemed appropriate by the operating surgeon.

Interventions

Polyethylene glycol (PEG)

For the control groups, epineural repair or interposition grafting will be undertaken in the standard end-to-end fashion using interrupted nylon suture after irrigation of the wound with normal saline as deemed necessary by the operating surgeon. For the experimental group, the nerve(s) will be repaired using standard suture neurorrhaphy techniques and a 149.25 mM (50%) solution of PEG 3.35 kD in sterile water will then be irrigated onto the neurorrhaphy site for one minute. Following this, the approximated nerve ends will be irrigated with sterile water gently for 2 minutes. All wounds will be closed in the fashion deemed appropriate by the operating surgeon.

Intervention Type: DRUG

Other Intervention Names

PEG

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Diagnosis of a Sunderland Class 5 traumatic neuropathy (transection injury) of a digital nerve in the upper extremity
• candidates for immediate operative repair (Arm 1);
• injury proceeding repair no longer than 72 hours; and
• repair within 48 hours of injury that require nerve grafting;
• N0 significant medical comorbidities precluding immediate repair;
• willing to comply with all aspects of the treatment and evaluation schedule over a 12 months period.

We plan to include subjects who have peripheral nerve injuries that are complicated by significant vascular or orthopedic damage.

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients will be excluded from enrollment if their injuries exhibit gross contamination, in circumstances where soft tissue coverage is inadequate, or when staged repair is planned.
• We will also exclude patients that are diabetic, have been diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease, or are undergoing chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or other treatments known to affect the growth of the neural and vascular system.
• We will exclude all patients currently enrolled in another investigational study or those who are unlikely to complete the normal regime of occupational therapy. Individuals will be excluded from participation if their time of injury falls outside study parameters.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 75 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Wesley Thayer

MD, PHD

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Wesley Thayer, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Locations

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Wesley Thayer, MD

Role: CONTACT

wesley.thayer@vanderbilt.edu

615-936-0160

Julia Yao, BSN

Role: CONTACT

jun.yao@vumc.org

615-343-8426

Other Identifiers

191655

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id