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Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

NCT number NCT02573571
Other study ID # CL01
Secondary ID
Status Completed
Phase N/A
First received October 8, 2015
Last updated October 3, 2017
Start date October 2015
Est. completion date October 2017

Study information

Verified date October 2017
Source University of Athens
Contact n/a
Is FDA regulated No
Health authority
Study type Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

To develop a score that can predict early from diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) the risk for relapse and of unfavorable outcome. This score can be used in the future to identify patients will benefit from fidaxomicin treatment.


Description:

Medical world is nowadays witnessing a sudden increase of the incidence of infections by Clostridium difficile (DCI). This is due in part to the prolongation of survival of patients with major comorbidities like solid tumor malignancies and lymphomas but also to the widespread intake of proton pump inhibitors and of wide-spectrum antimicrobials. It is highly probable that isolates of C.define causing this pandemic are genetically different than isolates of the same species predominating 20 years ago. This hypothesis is developed based on data of the epidemiology of CDI: in old times administration of clindamycin and ampicillin were the main drivers of CDI; recent studies report fluoroquinolones, 2nd and 3rd generation cephalosporins and even vancomycin (i.e. a drug of choice for CDI) to be linked with the development of CDI.

One major hurdle in management of CDI is relapse; the risk of relapse is reported as 15-20% after the first episode; however it is geometrically increased to even 60-80% after the second episode. As a consequence, management of CDI becomes a major health problem.

Fidaxomicin is a novel compound active against species of C.dificille. Results of two recent double-blind, randomized, large scale clinical studies have shown that oral treatment for 10 days with fidaxomicin 200mg bid was non-inferior to oral treatment with vancomycin 125mg q6h. However, the risk of relapse after treatment with vancomycin was close to 25% and with fidaxomicin close to 15%. This difference was statistically significant in both trials outscoring the superiority of fidaxomicin over vancomycin for the management of CDI. Moreover, meta-analysis has shown a significant reduction in mortality by fidaxomicin.

Despite proven superiority, prescription of fidaxomicin is limited to few cases mostly due to high cost. In many countries prescription is restricted to cases of relapsing CDI. Clinical feeling coming both from post-marketing experience as well as from published evidence supports the use of fidaxomicin for cases with risk of death and overt risk of relapse. However, molecular analysis of the C.difficile pathogen cannot be used as a tool for the prediction of relapse since in relapse cases pathogens carry less than 2 single nucleotide variants of the initial isolate. SPECIFY is aiming to develop a score using both clinical and genetic and biomarker data that can efficiently discriminate patients at risk of severe CDI and at risk of relapse of CDI. This score can become in future a tool to discriminate patients at need for treatment with fidaxomicin instead of traditional treatment with metronidazole/vancomycin.


Recruitment information / eligibility

Status Completed
Enrollment 150
Est. completion date October 2017
Est. primary completion date December 2016
Accepts healthy volunteers No
Gender All
Age group 18 Years and older
Eligibility Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age equal to or more than 18 years

2. Both genders

3. Diarrhea defined as at least 3 episodes of unformed stools in the last 24 hours according to the Bristol stool chart

4. Presence of C.difficile in stool. This is defined as any stool sample positive for the presence of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and for the presence of toxin A and/or B.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. No exclusion criteria exist

Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


Intervention

Other:
Development of biomarkers
Blood sampling

Locations

Country Name City State
Greece 1st Department of Internal Medicine, "G.Gennimatas" General hospital Athens
Greece 1st Department of Internal Medicine, Laikon General Hospital Athens
Greece 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Sismanogleion General Hospital Athens
Greece 3rd Department of Internal Medicine, Sotiria General Hospital Athens
Greece 4th Department of Internal Medicine, ATTIKON University Hospital Athens
Greece 5th Department of Internal Medicine, Evangelismos Athens General Hospital Athens
Greece 1st Department of Internal Medicine, Thriassio General Hospital Magoula
Greece 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Thriasio General Hospital Magoula
Greece 2nd Department of Oncology, Mitera Hospital Maroúsi
Greece Department of Internal Medicine, Patras University Hospital Pátra
Greece Infections Unit Tzaneion General Hospital Piraeus
Greece 1st Department of Internal Medicine, AHEPA University Hospital Thessaloniki

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor Collaborator
University of Athens Hellenic Sepsis Study Group

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Greece, 

References & Publications (1)

Rao K, Erb-Downward JR, Walk ST, Micic D, Falkowski N, Santhosh K, Mogle JA, Ring C, Young VB, Huffnagle GB, Aronoff DM. The systemic inflammatory response to Clostridium difficile infection. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 18;9(3):e92578. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092578. eCollection 2014. — View Citation

Outcome

Type Measure Description Time frame Safety issue
Primary Definition of prognostic biomarker Patients with positive score and unfavorable outcome. Unfavorable outcome is defined as at least one of the following: a) number of patients with severe infection at disease onset; b) number of patients who progress into severe infection; c) number of patients with disease recurrence; and d) number of patients who die 12 months