Impact of Early Parenteral Nutrition Completing Enteral Nutrition in Adult Critically Ill Patients

Critical Illness Clinical Trial

— EPaNIC  

Official title:

Impact of Early Parenteral Nutrition Completing Enteral Nutrition in Adult Critically Ill Patients

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00512122
• Other study ID #: EPaNIC 2007 1-2-2
• Secondary ID: ISRCTN 76223876E
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: Phase 4
• Start date: August 2007
• Est. completion date: December 2026

Study information

• Verified date: February 2024
• Source: KU Leuven
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

In critically ill patients, a strategy aimed at an early delivery of full caloric support, with a combination of Enteral Nutrition (EN) and Parenteral Nutrition (PN) (in conditions preventing hyperglycemia and overfeeding), results in shorter ICU and hospital stay and less morbidity as compared to a strategy using only EN.

Description:

Written informed consent will be obtained from the patient or the closest family member or legal guardian. The family member or the patient can withdraw from the trial, at any time, without impact on his treatment or penalty. The investigators confirm that this study concerns a condition that directly threatens patient health and that the adult patient not able to give consent suffers from the condition. The experiment is essential to confirm the results from earlier research in patients who could consent or from other research methods.

On admission patients will be randomly assigned to receive EN combined with early PN or only EN. At ICU admission, consecutive patients will be randomly assigned to one of these two treatment groups using blinded envelopes, stratified according to primary diagnostic category on admission. Upon addition of the new study site, the numbered en sealed envelopes for randomization stratified according to primary diagnostic category on admission were replaced by an identical digital system allowing central randomization.

As initial nutritional support, patients randomised to the 'EN combined with early PN' group will receive glucose 20% at 40 ml/hr. EN will be initiated in the evening of the second ICU hospitalisation day, PN will be started the morning of the third ICU hospitalisation day. The amount of PN to be given on any particular day will be the difference between calculated caloric needs and the calories delivered by EN the previous 24 hours. When EN covers 80% of calculated caloric needs PN will be stopped. When the patient is able to eat, the parenteral regimen will be reduced and eventually stopped. Whenever oral (+ enteral) intake is below 50% of calculated caloric needs, the PN will be (re)-started.

As initial nutritional support, patients randomised to the 'EN only' group will receive glucose 5% at 40 ml/hr. EN will be initiated on the evening of the second ICU day. From the morning of the third ICU hospitalisation day on, the amount of glucose 5% to be given will be the same as the volume of PN the patient theoretically would require to receive 100% of presumed caloric needs based on the amount of EN delivered the previous 24 hours. When the patient is able to eat, the parenteral regimen (glucose 5%) will be reduced to 50% and eventually stopped. Whenever oral (+ enteral) intake is below 50% of calculated caloric needs, the PN (glucose 5%) will be (re)-started. If these patients would need to stay for more than seven days on the ICU and enteral feeding of at least 80% of the calculated calories is not possible, they will be switched to EN and PN on day eight.

Common strategy for attempting early enteral nutrition in both study arms:

EN will be initiated on the evening of the second ICU day, unless patients are able to eat. The increase of enteral feeding volume and the adaptation of the regimen to pathological conditions will be according to protocol. Trace elements, minerals and vitamins will be administered daily intravenously (IV) to all patients from the day of admission onwards. IV substitution will be stopped in patients receiving at least 1500 ml of EN. All patients will be treated following the intensive insulin therapy schedule - targeting a blood glucose level of 80 - 110 mg/dl - from admission until discharge or oral feeding.

Patients will be weaned from the ventilator according to a standard protocol. End-of-care decisions in patients for whom further intensive care is considered to be futile will be taken in consensus by a group of two senior ICU physicians and the referring specialist, all blinded to study treatment allocation.

In a subgroup of patients, pathways of inflammation and metabolism and the endocrinological impact of the intervention will be studied in blood samples and in snap-frozen in vivo biopsies of muscle and adipose tissue. Blood and tissue samples from healthy volunteers will serve as references for these exploratory studies. In some patients, radiological evolution of regional muscle and adipose tissue volumes will be evaluated.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 4640
• Est. completion date: December 2026
• Est. primary completion date: February 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 99 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients admitted to any of the five intensive care units

2. Older than 18 years

3. Nutritional risk screening score (NRS) higher or equal to three upon ICU admission

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with a do not resuscitate (DNR) code or moribund at the time of ICU admission

2. Patients already enrolled in another trial

3. Patients transferred from another intensive care unit with an established nutritional therapy

4. Patients suffering from ketoacidotic or hyperosmolar coma on admission

5. Patients with a body mass index (BMI) below 17 kg/m^2

6. Short bowel syndrome

7. Patients known to be pregnant or nursing

8. Patients on mechanical ventilation at home

9. NRS score lower than three

10. Patient readmitted to ICU after randomization to the EPaNIC trial.

11. Patient not critically ill on admission. (No clinical indication for central intravenous catheter or patient ready for oral nutrition on admission.)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Critical Illness
• Starvation

Intervention

Other:
• Withholding PN during the first week of ICU stay
Patients in this arm will receive exclusively enteral nutrition. If enteral nutrition is insufficient after the seventh day of ICU stay, parenteral nutrition will be started.

Drug:
• Oliclinomel N71000 OR N71000E // Clinimix N17G35 OR N17G35E
PN will be started the morning of the third ICU hospitalisation day. The amount of PN to be given will be calculated to cover the caloric needs of the patient, based on the enteral energy intake the previous 24 hours.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Belgium	Surgical Intensive Care Unit Regional Hospital Jessa	Hasselt
Belgium	Medical Intensive Care Unit	Leuven
Belgium	Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Catholic University Leuven University Hospitals	Leuven

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
KU Leuven	Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders, Belgium

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Belgium, 

References & Publications (1)

van den Berghe G, Wouters P, Weekers F, Verwaest C, Bruyninckx F, Schetz M, Vlasselaers D, Ferdinande P, Lauwers P, Bouillon R. Intensive insulin therapy in critically ill patients. N Engl J Med. 2001 Nov 8;345(19):1359-67. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa011300. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Length of stay in ICU and length of stay in the hospital.		2 years
Secondary	Death (hospital and ICU mortality and 90 days mortality)		10 years
Secondary	Days to weaning from mechanical ventilation		2 years
Secondary	The need for renal replacement therapies		2 years
Secondary	The presence or absence of new kidney injury during intensive care		2 years
Secondary	Days of vasopressor or inotropic support		2 years
Secondary	The presence or absence of signs of ICU liver disease: hyperbilirubinemia (defined as bilirubin level > 3 mg/dl), presence of liversteatosis, sludge…		2 years
Secondary	The need for tracheotomy		2 years
Secondary	The presence or absence of hyper-inflammation within five days after ICU admission		2 years
Secondary	Blood lipid profiles and albumin on days one, five, ten, and fifteen after admission		2 years
Secondary	The presence or absence of bacteraemia, ventilator-associated pneumonia and of wound infections		2 years
Secondary	Episodes of hypoglycaemic events (defined as glycemia less than 40 mg/dl)		2 years
Secondary	Amount and type of calories delivered		2 years
Secondary	Muscle strength: among others: MRCss, Maximum Inspiratory Pressure in patients staying more than 7 days in ICU and a subset staying < 7 days, as well as in individuals who have never stayed in ICU. Presence of electrophysiological signs of CIP/CIM.		10 years
Secondary	Rehabilitation/functionality: among others: six minute walking distance and activities of daily life at hospital discharge and at follow-up moments. SF 36 questionnaire at several follow-up moments and in individuals who have never stayed in ICU.		10 years

External Links

•   Casaer et al.: Impact of early parenteral nutrition completing enteral nutrition in adult critically ill patients (EPaNIC trial): a study protocol and statistical analysis plan for a randomized controlled trial. Trials 2011 12:21.
•   Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Homepage