Clinical Research Directory

The Ventilation During In-hospital Cardiac Arrest Study

The goal of this prospective observational study is to learn how ventilation quality parameters during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are associated with short-term survival following in-hospital cardiac arrest of adult patients. The main questions it aims to answer are: What ventilation volume during CPR is associated with the highest chance of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC)? What ventilation rate during CPR is associated with the highest chance of ROSC? Researchers will compare different levels of ventilation rates and volumes that are blindly measured during CPR to see how the observed rates and volumes are associated with survival outcomes and complications.

The Effect of SPecialty cAre on Recovery From Cardiac Arrest Trial (the SPARC Trial)

This randomized clinical trial will determine if adult participants who are in the emergency department after being resuscitated from a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital benefit from care delivered at specialized centers. The main question that it will answer is whether transferring participants to a hospital with a specialized cardiac arrest service improves recovery of function after 90 days. Participants will receive all usual medical care, but some participants will be offered transfer to a regional cardiac arrest center and others will be offered care at the closest appropriate hospital. Investigators will interview participants after 90 days to assess their recovery.

Predictive Outcome in Comatose Patients

Evaluating the prognosis of comatose patients after cardiac arrest (CA) in the intensive care unit (ICU) remains challenging. It requires a multimodal approach combining standardized clinical examination, serum biomarkers, imaging and classically electrophysiological examinations, (among them auditive evoked potentials or AEP) but none has a sufficient sensitivity/specificity. In a preliminary study, the investigators developed an algorithm from the signal collected with AEP, and generated a probability map to visually classify the participants after the algorithm processing. Participants could be classified either with a good neurological prognosis or with bad neurological prognosis or death. The investigators hypothesize that the "PRECOM" tool, applied blindly to a large prospective multicenter cohort of patients admitted to intensive care for coma in the aftermath of CA will predict neurological prognosis at 3 months with high sensitivity and specificity.

Rehabilitation for Survivors of Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest

This study is a parallel group multicentre investigator-initiated clinical randomised controlled superiority trial that will include a total of 214 survivors of OHCA. Participants will to be randomized with a 1:1 allocation ratio to either a intervention consisting of a comprehensive initiated tailored rehabilitation intervention focusing on supporting RTW plus usual care compared to usual care alone.

The PulsePoint Study

This randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether use of the PulsePoint system increases bystander CPR or defibrillator use compared to standard dispatch procedures in patients who suffer non-traumatic, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a public location. Half of all suspected cardiac arrest 9-1-1 calls in a public location will receive PulsePoint alerts (treatment arm). The other half of this eligible patient cohort will receive standard dispatch procedures (control arm).

Effectiveness of Exercise After an ICD

This study will test an exercise intervention (E-ICD) following an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.

PeRampanel fOr Status ePilEpticus pRophylaxis Post-cardiac Arrest

Brain injury is the main cause of death and disability for patients surviving cardiac arrest resuscitation and seizures are diagnosed in up to a third of these patients. The investigators are proposing a pilot randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and feasibility of perampanel use for post-cardiac arrest status epilepticus (PCARSE) prevention after cardiac arrest.

National Registry of Cardioneuroablation in Recurrent Reflex Syncope

This registry aims to collect patient data on cardioneuroablation for vasovagal syncope from multiple centers in France. The aim is to evaluate success rates, compare techniques and help institutions set up their own cardioneuroablation program

buRst-supprESsion TO Stop Refractory Status Epilepticus Post-cardiac Arrest

RESTORE is a randomized clinical trial investigating the safety and feasibility of using EEG treatment targets (burst suppression vs. seizure suppression) for post-cardiac arrest refractory status epilepticus treatment.

Evaluation of Clinical Impact of the Type of Cardioplegia Used in the Patient Undergoing Major Cardiac Surgery.

Phase IV clinical trial of a single-blind, prospective and longitudinal randomized intervention comparing patients undergoing major cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation who are administered Custodiol crystalloid cardioplegia versus Buckberg blood cardioplegia.

An Educational Program to Improve Cardiac Arrest Diagnostic Accuracy of Ambulance Telecommunicators

Cardiac arrest is the number one cause of death in Canada. It is often the first symptom of cardiac disease for the victims. Eighty-five percent of victims collapse in their own home. Fifty percent collapse in the presence of a family member. Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can improve the chance to survive a cardiac arrest by three to four times, but needs to be started quickly. In most communities, less than 30% of victims receive CPR before the ambulance arrives. Currently, only 8% of cardiac arrest victims can leave the hospital alive. Many things have been tried to improve the number of times people do CPR. So far, the only thing that really increased the number of times that someone did CPR is when 9-1-1 attendants started to give CPR instructions to callers over the phone. The only problem is that about 25% of cardiac arrest victims gasp for air in the first few minutes. This can fool the 9-1-1 callers and attendants into thinking that the victim is still alive. The investigators have looked at all the studies on how to help 9-1-1 attendants to recognize abnormal breathing over the phone. The investigators have also learned what should be taught after finishing a large survey with 9-1-1 attendants from across Canada. This survey was done with the help of psychologists and other education experts. It measured the impact of attitudes, social pressures, and 9-1-1 attendants' perceived control over their ability to recognize abnormal breathing and cardiac arrest. Then the investigators developed a teaching tool which helped Ottawa 9-1-1 attendants recognize abnormal breathing. When they could do that, they could also recognize more cardiac arrest. The main goal of this project is to use the tool developed in Ottawa in more centres to help 9-1-1 attendants save the lives of even more cardiac arrest victims across Canada.

Synergy of Elevation of the Head and Thorax and REBOA During Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Long-term neurological outcome after successful resuscitation of cardiac arrest remains poor, mainly due to cerebral hypoperfusion and severe hypoxic-ischemic brain injuries. Automated head and chest elevation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (AHUP-CPR) improves cerebral perfusion by decreasing the intracranial pressure and increasing cerebral perfusion in experimental pig studies. The addition of an impedance threshold device (ITD) and active chest compression-decompression device (ACD) improved hemodynamics and cerebral perfusion. In addition, early implementation of AHUP-CPR in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) was associated with improved survival to hospital discharge, in a multicenter observational study. A 2-year prospective clinical trial in Grenoble evaluating this combination was just completed. This study showed for the first time that the value of end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2), a surrogate for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quality and cardiac output, measured with this combination therapy, was significantly higher than with standard CPR. Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) has recently been proposed during CPR. This technique temporarily diverts blood flow to the coronary and cerebral circulation. Its beneficial effect on hemodynamics, cerebral blood flow and survival has been experimentally validated. In several feasibility studies, encouraging results were observed by slightly optimizing cerebral perfusion and coronary pressure when REBOA was used in combination with standard CPR. In a porcine model of cardiac arrest, the addition of REBOA to AHUP CPR was associated with a marked improvement in coronary perfusion pressure and near-normalization of cerebral perfusion pressure. These two interventions act synergistically. REBOA directs flow and pressure to the heart and brain, while AHUP CPR improves preload on the right side of the heart and reduces intracranial pressure. The aims of this clinical investigation are to assess the feasibility of placing a REBOA catheter combined with automated CPR with head and chest elevation, and to quantify the associated changes in clinical parameters for OHCA.

Early Cessation of Sedation and TTM in Patients With a Favourable EEG After Cardiac Arrest

The objective of this study is to estimate the feasibility and safety of early weaning from ICU treatment in patients after cardiac arrest and an early (\< 12 h) favourable EEG pattern (indicating no or mild postanoxic encephalopathy).