Respiratory Strength Training in Persons With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

NCT ID: NCT02710110

Last Updated: 2020-01-27

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

EARLY_PHASE1

Total Enrollment

50 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2016-04-30

Study Completion Date

2019-02-07

Brief Summary

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

Dysphagia (swallow impairment), dystussia (cough impairment) and respiratory impairment are hallmark features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). These symptoms are the cause of fatal aspiration, malnutrition and respiratory insufficiency that together account for 91.4% of ALS mortality. Unfortunately, treatments to prolong and maintain these vital functions are currently lacking. Although the use of exercise in ALS is controversial, recent evidence suggests that mild to moderate intensity exercise applied early in the disease slows disease progression, improves motor function, preserves motor neuron number, reduces muscle hypoplasia, atrophy astrogliosis, and prolongs survival in animal models of ALS and human clinical trials.

This research study is designed to determine the impact of respiratory strength training on breathing, airway protection and swallowing in persons with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Detailed Description

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

This research study will measure the maximum inspiratory and expiratory pressure with secondary measures of respiration, swallow, cough, quality of life and global disease progression following twelve-weeks of treatment compared to the sham group.

As a participant two evaluations at the University of Florida Swallowing Systems Core laboratory located at Shands Hospital, Gainesville will take place. Each will take approximately two-hours and these will be spaced exactly three-months apart. During each evaluation tests will be performed to look at breathing, swallowing, and ability to cough doing standard clinical exams. In addition, some surveys about eating, speaking and quality of life will be taken.

Breathing Exercises: a home research therapist will train the participants how to use the hand-held respiratory trainer. Training for both treatment groups will be very similar, except the PowerLung trainer device will have an additional spring load valve inside it that will place a force on the respiratory muscles during training. The other breathing trainer will not have this spring so that no resistance will be placed on the respiratory muscles during training and this will represent an aerobic respiratory treatment. The breathing exercises will be completed five days a week for a total of three months (a total of 60 therapy sessions). During each session, a total of three sets of ten repetitions of breathing exercises will be performed. Once a week the home research therapist will visit and guide participants through the breathing exercise.

Conditions

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

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Study Design

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

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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

Active Respiratory Trainer

Participants enrolled in this arm will be given the PowerLung trainer. The adjustable spring allows for discrete and calibrated changes to the valve, which in turn blocks air until sufficient inspiratory or expiratory pressure is applied by an individual. In addition, the Micro Mouth Pressure Meter, Pulmonary Function testing, videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL), Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument (IOPI), and capsaicin for use in the reflexive cough test.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

PowerLung trainer

Intervention Type DEVICE

PowerLung trainer will be utilized which has both an inspiratory and expiratory loading capacity for training. A single daily training session will consist of three sets of 10 repetitions for a total of 30 inspiratory repetitions and 30 expiratory repetitions (i.e. 60 repetitions) for 5 days a week, for 3 months.

Micro Mouth Pressure Meter

Intervention Type DEVICE

The participant will be seated with the nose occluded using a nose clip. After inhaling to total lung capacity, the participant will place his or her lips around the mouthpiece and blow out as forcefully as possible. A flange rubber mouthpiece will be used to overcome the inability of some individuals to create tight lip seal due to facial muscle weakness. Three trials will be performed and the patients highest Maximum Inspiratory Pressures (MIP) and Maximal Expiratory Pressure (MEP) used.

Pulmonary Function Testing

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Pulmonary Function testing will be performed using conventional methods and will include the following outcomes: forced vital capacity (FVC), sniff nasal inspiratory pressure (SNIP), peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume (FEV1) expressed as a percentage of predicted values.

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study will be performed to measure the oropharyngeal swallowing.

Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire

Intervention Type OTHER

Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL) will be used for participant reporting of swallow-related quality of life.

Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument

Intervention Type DEVICE

The IOPI is a device that measures the peak pressure performance of lingual strength and endurance via the action of a bulb placed on the hard palate.

Capsaicin

Intervention Type DRUG

A capsaicin challenge with three randomized blocks of 0, 50, 100, 200, and 500 μM capsaicin. The capsaicin will be dissolved in a vehicle solution consisting of 80% physiological saline, and 20% ethanol. Participants will be given the instruction "cough if you need to" prior to capsaicin delivery.The solution will be administered automatically upon detection of an inspired breath and there will be a minimum of one minute between each trial. This is to test the reflexive cough testing for upper airway sensitivity and motor thresholds.

Sham Trainer

Participants enrolled in this arm will be given the PowerLung trainer; however, the adjustable spring allows for discrete and calibrated changes to the valve and these will not have any resistance. In addition, the Micro Mouth Pressure Meter, Pulmonary Function testing, videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL), Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument (IOPI), and capsaicin for use in the reflexive cough test.

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

PowerLung trainer

Intervention Type DEVICE

PowerLung trainer will be utilized which has both an inspiratory and expiratory loading capacity for training. A single daily training session will consist of three sets of 10 repetitions for a total of 30 inspiratory repetitions and 30 expiratory repetitions (i.e. 60 repetitions) for 5 days a week, for 3 months.

Micro Mouth Pressure Meter

Intervention Type DEVICE

The participant will be seated with the nose occluded using a nose clip. After inhaling to total lung capacity, the participant will place his or her lips around the mouthpiece and blow out as forcefully as possible. A flange rubber mouthpiece will be used to overcome the inability of some individuals to create tight lip seal due to facial muscle weakness. Three trials will be performed and the patients highest Maximum Inspiratory Pressures (MIP) and Maximal Expiratory Pressure (MEP) used.

Pulmonary Function Testing

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Pulmonary Function testing will be performed using conventional methods and will include the following outcomes: forced vital capacity (FVC), sniff nasal inspiratory pressure (SNIP), peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume (FEV1) expressed as a percentage of predicted values.

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study will be performed to measure the oropharyngeal swallowing.

Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire

Intervention Type OTHER

Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL) will be used for participant reporting of swallow-related quality of life.

Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument

Intervention Type DEVICE

The IOPI is a device that measures the peak pressure performance of lingual strength and endurance via the action of a bulb placed on the hard palate.

Capsaicin

Intervention Type DRUG

A capsaicin challenge with three randomized blocks of 0, 50, 100, 200, and 500 μM capsaicin. The capsaicin will be dissolved in a vehicle solution consisting of 80% physiological saline, and 20% ethanol. Participants will be given the instruction "cough if you need to" prior to capsaicin delivery.The solution will be administered automatically upon detection of an inspired breath and there will be a minimum of one minute between each trial. This is to test the reflexive cough testing for upper airway sensitivity and motor thresholds.

Interventions

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

PowerLung trainer

PowerLung trainer will be utilized which has both an inspiratory and expiratory loading capacity for training. A single daily training session will consist of three sets of 10 repetitions for a total of 30 inspiratory repetitions and 30 expiratory repetitions (i.e. 60 repetitions) for 5 days a week, for 3 months.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Micro Mouth Pressure Meter

The participant will be seated with the nose occluded using a nose clip. After inhaling to total lung capacity, the participant will place his or her lips around the mouthpiece and blow out as forcefully as possible. A flange rubber mouthpiece will be used to overcome the inability of some individuals to create tight lip seal due to facial muscle weakness. Three trials will be performed and the patients highest Maximum Inspiratory Pressures (MIP) and Maximal Expiratory Pressure (MEP) used.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Pulmonary Function Testing

Pulmonary Function testing will be performed using conventional methods and will include the following outcomes: forced vital capacity (FVC), sniff nasal inspiratory pressure (SNIP), peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume (FEV1) expressed as a percentage of predicted values.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study will be performed to measure the oropharyngeal swallowing.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire

Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL) will be used for participant reporting of swallow-related quality of life.

Intervention Type OTHER

Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument

The IOPI is a device that measures the peak pressure performance of lingual strength and endurance via the action of a bulb placed on the hard palate.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Capsaicin

A capsaicin challenge with three randomized blocks of 0, 50, 100, 200, and 500 μM capsaicin. The capsaicin will be dissolved in a vehicle solution consisting of 80% physiological saline, and 20% ethanol. Participants will be given the instruction "cough if you need to" prior to capsaicin delivery.The solution will be administered automatically upon detection of an inspired breath and there will be a minimum of one minute between each trial. This is to test the reflexive cough testing for upper airway sensitivity and motor thresholds.

Intervention Type DRUG

Other Intervention Names

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

digital manometer Micro Medical device VFSS X-ray of swallowing SWAL-QOL IOPI Hot pepper

Eligibility Criteria

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

Inclusion Criteria

* diagnosis of probable or definite Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),
* Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Rating Scale Revised score greater than 34,
* forced vital capacity greater than 70%,
* cognition within normal limits as determined by Montreal assessment of cognition score \>25

Exclusion Criteria

* allergies to barium,
* tracheotomy or mechanical ventilation,
* diaphragmatic pacer,
* concurrent respiratory disease (e.g. COPD),
* pregnant at the time of the study due to radiation exposure
Minimum Eligible Age

21 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

85 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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

ALS Association

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Florida

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.

Emily K Plowman, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Florida

Locations

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

UF Health Shands

Gainesville, Florida, United States

Site Status

Countries

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

United States

Other Identifiers

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

IRB201501172

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

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