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ThrombosisPhase 2NCT00039767

Heparin Versus Lepirudin Flushes in Preventing Blockage of Venous Access Devices

A Phase 2 study testing Lepirudin in people with Thrombosis, run by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

This study will compare the effectiveness of two blood thinners, heparin and lepirudin, in preventing withdrawal occlusion (blockage) in a venous access device (VAD). A VAD is a catheter (plastic tube) placed in a vein beneath the collarbone to deliver medication and withdraw blood samples during treatment. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Any age
Conditions the study is for
Thrombosis
What is being tested?
Lepirudin
How many people
340 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
May 2002to Apr 2006
Phase
Phase 2
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages Any age
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • All patients must:
  • Be greater than or equal to 18 years old.
  • Be enrolled in protocols at the Clinical Center.
  • Require tunneled, open-ended VADs for their primary care.
  • Have their VADs inserted at the Clinical Center in Interventional Radiology.
  • Intend to receive the majority of their primary medical care at the Clinical Center during the first 4 months after their VAD is inserted.
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  • Have serum creatinine less than or equal to 2.5 mg/dL or a glomerular filtration rate greater than or equal to 50 mL/minute.
  • Expect to have a platelet count of 70,000/microliter or more without transfusion support for the first 4 weeks of the study anytime that they are not hospitalized.
  • Have normal blood coagulation. This is defined by either a prothrombin time and aPTT within the laboratory's normal range (11.8-14.7 sec and 23.4-34.5 sec respectively), or by hemostatic coagulation factor levels in patients with prolonged prothrombin times and/or aPTTs that are explained by mild factor VII deficiencies (30-40 %) or by lupus anticoagulants. If a patient has a prolonged aPTT due to a lupus anticoagulant, he/she must have a normal thrombin time in order to be included in the study.

Who cannot join

  • A preference by the primary investigator to use saline flushes for the patient's VAD.
  • A history of hypersensitivity to heparin, including heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.
  • (Note that a patient is not excluded simply because he/she has participated in this protocol with a previous VAD or because he/she still has a previously inserted VAD that has been left in place.)

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

    Bethesda, Maryland, 20892

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Heparin vs. Lepirudin Flushes in Preventing Withdrawal Occlusion of Tunneled, Open-Ended Venous Access Devices: A Blinded, Randomized, Clinical Trial

This study will compare the effectiveness of two blood thinners, heparin and lepirudin, in preventing withdrawal occlusion (blockage) in a venous access device (VAD). A VAD is a catheter (plastic tube) placed in a vein beneath the collarbone to deliver medication and withdraw blood samples during treatment. The device may become clogged, possibly by formation of a clot around the tip, blocking its opening and making it difficult or impossible to use. The clot can be dissolved by a medication called tPA. The blood thinner heparin has been used for many years to try to prevent the blockage from occurring, but it is still a problem in as many as 25 percent of VADs. This study will test whether a new blood thinner called lepirudin is more effective than heparin in preventing withdrawal occlusion caused by a small clot.

Patients 21 years of age and older who are enrolled in NIH protocols at the Clinical Center and who require tunneled, open-ended VADs for their medical care may be eligible for this study. Candidates must expect to receive all of their primary medical care at the Clinical Center during the first 4 weeks after their VAD is inserted and most of their care at the Clinical Center for the next 3 months.

Read more

Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either heparin or lepirudin flushes for the first 3 or 4 weeks after placement of their VAD-the period during which withdrawal occlusion is most likely to occur. After this period, all patients will use routine heparin flushes until the VAD is removed.

The patient's VAD will be closely monitored for withdrawal occlusion during the 3- to 4-week test period and will continue to be observed for up to 3 months to check for lasting effects of the blood thinner.

Read the detailed description

This protocol tests whether a new anticoagulant, lepirudin, will be superior to heparin in preventing withdrawal occlusion of tunneled, open-ended venous access devices (VADs). At the Clinical Center approximately 25% of such VADs develop withdrawal occlusion requiring treatment with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA). Because withdrawal occlusion is frequently caused by the accumulation of clot at the catheter tip, open-ended VADs are routinely flushed with heparinized saline. In theory lepirudin should be more effective in preventing accumulation of fibrin at the catheter tip because it can counteract the potent clotting enzyme thrombin that is bound in the fibrin, whereas heparin is less able to do this. In this protocol the assignment of the flush solutions is randomized. Because most withdrawal occlusion presents within a few weeks of catheter insertion, blinded flushes of heparin or lepirudin are given at least daily for the first 3 - 4 weeks of catheterization. Then all VADs begin unblinded routine flushes with heparin. The primary study endpoint is the number of patients in each group requiring rtPA because of withdrawal occlusion during the first 4 months after a VAD is inserted. To detect a 50% reduction in rtPA usage with a one-sided significance criterion of 0.05 and a power of 0.80, 147 patients will be required in each treatment arm, although the accrual goal is 170 patients per arm to allow for a small number of unevaluable subjects. Since most tunneled, open-ended VADs at the Clinical Center are used by patients on bone marrow transplant protocols of the NCI and NHLBI, these populations will be the primary sources of participants.

Conditions
Thrombosis
Being tested
Lepirudin
Keywords
Fibrin Sleeves, Anticoagulants, Catheters, Thrombosis, Hirudin, Lepirudin
Medical subject headings
Thrombosis

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • LepirudinDrug

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted10 Jun 2002 (estimated)
  2. Study startMay 2002
  3. Study completionApr 2006

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Enrolment
340 participants
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00039767
Sponsor's protocol ID
020203
Other IDs
02-CC-0203
Status last verified
Apr 2006
First submitted
7 Jun 2002
Last updated
4 Mar 2008
Results posted
No

Publications

  • Raad II, Luna M, Khalil SA, Costerton JW, Lam C, Bodey GP. The relationship between the thrombotic and infectious complications of central venous catheters. JAMA. 1994 Apr 6;271(13):1014-6.

    PubMed 8139059
  • Xiang DZ, Verbeken EK, Van Lommel AT, Stas M, De Wever I. Composition and formation of the sleeve enveloping a central venous catheter. J Vasc Surg. 1998 Aug;28(2):260-71. doi: 10.1016/s0741-5214(98)70162-4.

    PubMed 9719321
  • Holcombe BJ, Forloines-Lynn S, Garmhausen LW. Restoring patency of long-term central venous access devices. J Intraven Nurs. 1992 Jan-Feb;15(1):36-41.

    PubMed 1564598

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 2 study testing Lepirudin in people with Thrombosis, run by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 9 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 4 Mar 2008. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 2 studies give the treatment to a larger group to see whether it has the intended effect and to keep checking safety.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00039767, which also lists 3 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 4 Mar 2008.

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