Pilot Study of Physiological Effect of High-Flow Nasal Cannula on Respiratory Pattern and Work of Breathing

NCT ID: NCT02514798

Last Updated: 2022-05-10

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

11 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2015-07-31

Study Completion Date

2018-04-01

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

Patients affected with severe parenchymal pulmonary diseases, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD ), may experience dyspnea at rest due to increased work of breathing and reduced oxygenation. The delivery of high-flow humidified nasal oxygen (HFNC) has been shown to have a positive-end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) effect and is able to flush out CO2 from the upper airways, reducing dead space ventilation. Furthermore it has been proven to reduce the respiratory rate shortly after its initiation. These multiple actions offer the potential of changing the respiratory pattern and reducing work of breathing, improving the efficiency of breathing.

In this short-term, physiological, open, randomized, cross-over pilot study the investigator swill describe the effects of varying settings of high-flow nasal oxygen on respiratory rate, tidal volume, and diaphragmatic work of breathing in patients with severe COPD. The investigators will also describe changes in gas exchange and effects on the subjects' comfort and dyspnea and the breathing responses to varying setting of CPAP in the subject population.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

HFNC has been shown to have many advantages in the treatment of acutely hypoxemic patients, improving their clinical outcome. The exact mechanism underlying this beneficial effect is still not completely understood. Few studies have analyzed the effect of HFNC on ventilatory pattern and work of breathing. The majority of these studies have focused on the effects in healthy volunteers. Only one study from Braunlich et al. studied the effects of HFNC on COPD and interstitial lung disease (ILD) patients, showing that high-flow nasal oxygen reduces respiratory rate and increases the tidal volume in these patients.

In adults, a low flow range from 5 to 10 L/min is comparable to flow received by standard oxygen devices (nasal cannula or facial mask). Patients with underlying pulmonary diseases, as in our study population, have a higher inspiratory flow demands range (from 30 to 120 L/min during an acute respiratory failure episode) compared to healthy subjects.

We expect to observe physiological changes in our outcomes with the proposed Optiflow ™ settings of a minimal therapeutic flow of 30 L/min, intermediate of 45 L/min, and the maximal flow rate of 60 L/min. There is an extensive clinical experience using high flow rates in these ranges and they are generally very well tolerated. As mentioned above, HFNC generates a Positive End Expiratory Pressure (PEEP) comparable to CPAP range of 4 - 8 cmH2O (the minimal and the maximal PEEP generated by the HFNC).

Future studies, based on this pilot study, will differ from previous ones in the following ways:

1. We are testing a different technology. The Optiflow delivers substantially higher flow rates than in the previous Braunlich study13.That study used a single flow rate of 24 L/min whereas we are examining a range of flows that extend considerably higher (30 to 60L/min). We are interested in determining how the effects of higher flow rates compare to those in the range used in the Braunlich study, but we are not able to compare the devices directly because the latter device is not available in the US. It is important to understand whether there is any efficacy advantage to using the higher flow rates available with the Optiflow.
2. Future studies will aim to understand mechanisms of the effect of high flow nasal oxygen.

1. Are the effects that we anticipate seeing related to changes in inspiratory muscle effort as determined by measurement of transdiaphragmatic pressure and calculation of the pressure time product of the diaphragm?
2. Or does the flushing of dead space in the nasopharynx improve ventilatory efficiency so that gas exchange can remain stable or even improve (as determined by measurements of minute volume and transcutaneous PCO2 (PtcCO2)? This has implications for use of HFNC to treat patients with COPD exacerbations who are developing respiratory muscle fatigue.

1\) Our focus will be on COPD patients for whom the use of HFNC has not been studied much to date. Most studies have focused on patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure. It is important to understand how HFNC affects breathing pattern and gas exchange in COPD patients because earlier reports suggest that excessive concentrations of oxygen administered to COPD patients retaining CO2 can actually worsen the CO2 retention by blunting respiratory drive. The reduction in respiratory rate and minute volume noted by Braunlich et al could represent a blunting effect of O2 on drive to breathe and could promote greater CO2 retention. By monitoring PCO2, something the Braunlich study didn't do, we can assess this possibility.

2\) We wish to evaluate the effect of CPAP on the same breathing indices as with HFNC in our COPD patients. We plan to use the CPAP response as a "positive control", to determine if our population responds as described by CPAP studies in the literature. Prior studies have demonstrated that in patients with severe COPD, using CPAP in the range we are proposing, lowers the diaphragmatic work of breathing and we wish to determine if our population manifests a similar effect.

Thus future studies, based on the data obtained from this pilot study, will extend the Braunlich et al study by evaluating the effects of higher flow rates using a different technology available in the US, determining effects on inspiratory muscle effort, and monitoring gas exchange which is important from both mechanistic and safety perspectives. We hypothesize that the higher flow rates will have a greater blunting effect on breathing pattern than a low flow rate and that there will be an improvement in ventilator efficiency that will be associated with decreased breathing work of the diaphragm.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

COPD

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

CROSSOVER

Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

High-flow humidified nasal oxygen delivery system

We will describe effects of varying settings of high-flow nasal oxygen (10-30-45-60 L/min) on respiratory rate, tidal volume, and diaphragmatic work of breathing in patients with severe COPD. We will also describe changes in gas exchange and effects on the subjects' comfort and dyspnea. This will be measured using, esophageal and gastric balloons, respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) system, and Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Esophageal and gastric balloons

Intervention Type OTHER

Esophageal and gastric pressures will be measured with an esophageal ballon positioned at the lower third of the esophagus, filled with 0.5 mL of air and a gastric balloon filled with 1 mL of air. The proper position of balloons will be verified using the occlusion test as previously described. Transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) is calculated as the difference between gastric (Pga) and esophageal (Pes) pressure. The pressure time integrals of the diaphragm and the other inspiratory muscles are calculated per breath (PTPdi/b and PTPes/b, respectively) and per minute (PTPdi/min and PTPes/min). Measurements will be collected at baseline, at each randomized HFNC and CPAP settings during the last 4 minutes of each 10 minutes session.

Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography (RIP) system

Intervention Type OTHER

Inspiratory tidal volume (VTi), respiratory rate (RR), breath duration (Ttot), inspiratory time (Ti) and fractional inspiratory time (Ti/Ttot) will be determined using a Respiratory Inductive Plethysmography (RIP) system. This will measure the thoracic and abdominal excursion of the subjects via two inductive wires which are sewn into the elastic bands that encircle the thorax and abdomen. The acquired signals represent changes in cross-sectional area and, following calibration to determine the relative contribution of each signal, and volume calibration using spirometry, their weighted sum will reflect VTi. The RIP companion software will be used to derive RR, Ttot, Ti and Ti/Ttot on a breath by breath basis.

Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system

Intervention Type OTHER

The oxygenation, the level of carbon dioxide, and the heart rate will be recorded using the Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system: a probe will be placed at the earlobe or on the forehead, and it will measure in a noninvasive way these parameters.

High-flow humidified nasal oxygen delivery system

Intervention Type DEVICE

CPAP (Positive Control)

We want to describe the breathing responses to varying setting of CPAP in the subject population. We plan to use the CPAP response as a "positive control", to determine if our population responds as described by CPAP studies in the literature. This will be measured using, esophageal and gastric balloons, respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) system, and Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Esophageal and gastric balloons

Intervention Type OTHER

Esophageal and gastric pressures will be measured with an esophageal ballon positioned at the lower third of the esophagus, filled with 0.5 mL of air and a gastric balloon filled with 1 mL of air. The proper position of balloons will be verified using the occlusion test as previously described. Transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) is calculated as the difference between gastric (Pga) and esophageal (Pes) pressure. The pressure time integrals of the diaphragm and the other inspiratory muscles are calculated per breath (PTPdi/b and PTPes/b, respectively) and per minute (PTPdi/min and PTPes/min). Measurements will be collected at baseline, at each randomized HFNC and CPAP settings during the last 4 minutes of each 10 minutes session.

Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography (RIP) system

Intervention Type OTHER

Inspiratory tidal volume (VTi), respiratory rate (RR), breath duration (Ttot), inspiratory time (Ti) and fractional inspiratory time (Ti/Ttot) will be determined using a Respiratory Inductive Plethysmography (RIP) system. This will measure the thoracic and abdominal excursion of the subjects via two inductive wires which are sewn into the elastic bands that encircle the thorax and abdomen. The acquired signals represent changes in cross-sectional area and, following calibration to determine the relative contribution of each signal, and volume calibration using spirometry, their weighted sum will reflect VTi. The RIP companion software will be used to derive RR, Ttot, Ti and Ti/Ttot on a breath by breath basis.

Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system

Intervention Type OTHER

The oxygenation, the level of carbon dioxide, and the heart rate will be recorded using the Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system: a probe will be placed at the earlobe or on the forehead, and it will measure in a noninvasive way these parameters.

CPAP (Positive Control)

Intervention Type DEVICE

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Esophageal and gastric balloons

Esophageal and gastric pressures will be measured with an esophageal ballon positioned at the lower third of the esophagus, filled with 0.5 mL of air and a gastric balloon filled with 1 mL of air. The proper position of balloons will be verified using the occlusion test as previously described. Transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) is calculated as the difference between gastric (Pga) and esophageal (Pes) pressure. The pressure time integrals of the diaphragm and the other inspiratory muscles are calculated per breath (PTPdi/b and PTPes/b, respectively) and per minute (PTPdi/min and PTPes/min). Measurements will be collected at baseline, at each randomized HFNC and CPAP settings during the last 4 minutes of each 10 minutes session.

Intervention Type OTHER

Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography (RIP) system

Inspiratory tidal volume (VTi), respiratory rate (RR), breath duration (Ttot), inspiratory time (Ti) and fractional inspiratory time (Ti/Ttot) will be determined using a Respiratory Inductive Plethysmography (RIP) system. This will measure the thoracic and abdominal excursion of the subjects via two inductive wires which are sewn into the elastic bands that encircle the thorax and abdomen. The acquired signals represent changes in cross-sectional area and, following calibration to determine the relative contribution of each signal, and volume calibration using spirometry, their weighted sum will reflect VTi. The RIP companion software will be used to derive RR, Ttot, Ti and Ti/Ttot on a breath by breath basis.

Intervention Type OTHER

Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system

The oxygenation, the level of carbon dioxide, and the heart rate will be recorded using the Sentec transcutaneous monitoring system: a probe will be placed at the earlobe or on the forehead, and it will measure in a noninvasive way these parameters.

Intervention Type OTHER

High-flow humidified nasal oxygen delivery system

Intervention Type DEVICE

CPAP (Positive Control)

Intervention Type DEVICE

Other Intervention Names

Discover alternative or legacy names that may be used to describe the listed interventions across different sources.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Subjects are 18 or more years of age
* Chronic respiratory failure, defined as indication for long-term oxygen therapy
* Underlying diagnosis of severe COPD (GOLD stage III or IV)

Exclusion Criteria

* Recent (\<1 month) exacerbation Acute exacerbation is defined as a sudden worsening of COPD symptoms (shortness of breath, quantity and color of phlegm) requiring a change in the baseline therapy.
* Respiratory rate at rest \>28/min
* Subject requires \> 6 L/min nasal O2 to maintain SpO2 \>88% at rest
* Subject has severe dyspnea at rest
* Subject has swallowing disorder or chronic aspiration
* Prior esophageal surgery, known esophageal stricture or any other condition that would place the subject at risk during balloon placement
* Recent (\< 1 month) abdominal and thoracic surgery
* Severe coagulopathy (defined as platelet count \<5000/μL or international normalised ratio \>4)
* Subject is too cognitively impaired to give subjective ratings for visual analogue scale.The PI and the Co-Investigators will assess the patient cognition using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)
* Allergy or sensitivity to lidocaine
* Inability to obtain informed consent
* Pregnancy and breastfeeding
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role collaborator

Tufts Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Nicholas S Hill, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Tufts Medical Center

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Tufts Medical Center

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Dysart K, Miller TL, Wolfson MR, Shaffer TH. Research in high flow therapy: mechanisms of action. Respir Med. 2009 Oct;103(10):1400-5. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2009.04.007. Epub 2009 May 21.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19467849 (View on PubMed)

Parke R, McGuinness S, Eccleston M. Nasal high-flow therapy delivers low level positive airway pressure. Br J Anaesth. 2009 Dec;103(6):886-90. doi: 10.1093/bja/aep280. Epub 2009 Oct 20.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19846404 (View on PubMed)

Corley A, Caruana LR, Barnett AG, Tronstad O, Fraser JF. Oxygen delivery through high-flow nasal cannulae increase end-expiratory lung volume and reduce respiratory rate in post-cardiac surgical patients. Br J Anaesth. 2011 Dec;107(6):998-1004. doi: 10.1093/bja/aer265. Epub 2011 Sep 9.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 21908497 (View on PubMed)

El-Khatib MF. High-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy during hypoxemic respiratory failure. Respir Care. 2012 Oct;57(10):1696-8. doi: 10.4187/respcare.02072. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23013907 (View on PubMed)

Sztrymf B, Messika J, Bertrand F, Hurel D, Leon R, Dreyfuss D, Ricard JD. Beneficial effects of humidified high flow nasal oxygen in critical care patients: a prospective pilot study. Intensive Care Med. 2011 Nov;37(11):1780-6. doi: 10.1007/s00134-011-2354-6. Epub 2011 Sep 27.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 21946925 (View on PubMed)

Roca O, Riera J, Torres F, Masclans JR. High-flow oxygen therapy in acute respiratory failure. Respir Care. 2010 Apr;55(4):408-13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20406507 (View on PubMed)

Mundel T, Feng S, Tatkov S, Schneider H. Mechanisms of nasal high flow on ventilation during wakefulness and sleep. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2013 Apr;114(8):1058-65. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01308.2012. Epub 2013 Feb 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23412897 (View on PubMed)

Braunlich J, Beyer D, Mai D, Hammerschmidt S, Seyfarth HJ, Wirtz H. Effects of nasal high flow on ventilation in volunteers, COPD and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients. Respiration. 2013;85(4):319-25. doi: 10.1159/000342027. Epub 2012 Nov 1.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23128844 (View on PubMed)

Prinianakis G, Delmastro M, Carlucci A, Ceriana P, Nava S. Effect of varying the pressurisation rate during noninvasive pressure support ventilation. Eur Respir J. 2004 Feb;23(2):314-20. doi: 10.1183/09031936.03.00010203.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 14979510 (View on PubMed)

Vitacca M, Ambrosino N, Clini E, Porta R, Rampulla C, Lanini B, Nava S. Physiological response to pressure support ventilation delivered before and after extubation in patients not capable of totally spontaneous autonomous breathing. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001 Aug 15;164(4):638-41. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.164.4.2010046.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 11520729 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

IRB-11570

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.