Use of Sildenafil Citrate in Management of Mild Pre-eclampsia

Pre-Eclampsia; Mild Clinical Trial

Official title:

Use of Sildenafil Citrate in Management of Mild Pre-eclampsia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03262961
• Other study ID #: assiutu252
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: Phase 2/Phase 3
• First received: August 19, 2017
• Last updated: August 24, 2017
• Start date: September 15, 2016
• Est. completion date: January 15, 2018

Study information

• Verified date: August 2017
• Source: Assiut University
• Contact: Fady Abdallah
• Phone: 00201002837042
• Email: fady.nasif[@]yahoo.com
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

• Mild pre-eclampsia represents 75% of cases with pre-eclampsia, possible progression to severe pre-eclampsia makes mild pre-eclampsia a serious problem that requires attention.

• Previous studies have shown that expectant and conservative management of pre-eclampsia in the context of extreme prematurity may improve perinatal outcomes. Indeed, it has been estimated that for each additional day of pregnancy prolongation between 24 and 32 weeks of gestation, there is a nonlinear corresponding gain of 1% in fetal survival.

• Sildenafil citrate has been used for increasing utero-placental perfusion in cases with intrauterine growth restriction, which makes it a promising drug in management of mild pre-eclampsia.

Description:

• Pre-eclampsia affects approximately 2-8% of all pregnancies worldwide. In Egypt, the prevalence of pre-eclampsia is 10.7% in a community based study. While, in hospital based studies it ranged from 9.1% to 12.5% of all deliveries. The incidence of pre-eclampsia has risen in the developing countries and even in the developed countries as the USA since the 1990s. Among the hypertensive disorders that complicate pregnancy, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia stand as major causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Nearly one tenth of all maternal deaths in Africa and Asia and one quarter in Latin America are associated with hypertensive diseases in pregnancy, a category that includes pre-eclampsia and the complications that are related to it.

However, the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia is only partially understood and it is related to disturbances in placentation at the beginning of pregnancy, followed by generalized inflammation and progressive endothelial damage. There are other uncertainties too: the diagnosis, screening and management of pre-eclampsia remain controversial, as does the classification and the degree of its severity.

However, it is generally accepted as published in the different journals and in the WHO recommendations that the onset of a new episode of hypertension during pregnancy (with persistent systolic blood pressure 140 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg or more) with the occurrence of substantial proteinuria (>0.3 g/24 h or confirmation of proteinuria by semiquantitative urine dipstick analysis with a result of at least 1+) can be used as criteria for identifying pre-eclampsia.

Although pathophysiological changes (e.g. inadequate placentation) exist from very early stages of the pregnancy, hypertension and proteinuria usually become apparent in the second half of pregnancy.

Complications of pre-eclampsia can affect both the mother and the fetus. Acutely, pre-eclampsia can be complicated by eclampsia , the development of HELLP Syndrome , hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke, liver damage and dysfunction, acute kidney injury and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

So early detection of pre-eclampsia and prevention of the occurrence of any of its complications would save the lives of many women and prevent the possible devastating maternal and neonatal outcome of pre-eclampsia, That's why we are concerned in our study with pre-eclampsia, covering the gestational age from 28 - 36 weeks.

Mild pre-eclampsia represents 75% of cases with pre-eclampsia, possible progression to severe pre-eclampsia makes mild pre-eclampsia a serious problem that requires attention.

Previous studies have shown that expectant and conservative management of pre-eclampsia in the context of extreme prematurity may improve perinatal outcomes. Indeed, it has been estimated that for each additional day of pregnancy prolongation between 24 and 32 weeks of gestation, there is a nonlinear corresponding gain of 1% in fetal survival.

Sildenafil citrate has been used for increasing utero-placental perfusion in cases with intrauterine growth restriction, which makes it a promising drug in management of mild pre-eclampsia.

Its action is similar to the action of nitric oxide, which is a potent vasodilator, especially for the venules, besides being an inhibitor of platelet aggregation. During pregnancy, nitric oxide is synthesized in in utero-placental tissues and endothelial cells, helping to maintain low vascular resistance in the utero- and fetoplacental circulations. Phosphodiesterase metabolizes cyclic guanosine monophosphate; therefore, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibition leads to cyclic guanosine monophosphate increase with associated vasodilation, independently of nitric oxide. Therefore, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors have the potential to achieve similar therapeutic goals when compared with nitric oxide.

A potential advantage of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors is that they may overcome the main limitation to nitric oxide use in pregnancy, which is tolerance and headaches. The most studied phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor is sildenafil citrate, which has previously shown promising outcomes both in vitro and in animal studies.

That is why we decided to study the role of Sildenafil Citrate in expectant and conservative management of mild pre-eclampsia, as it has shown its ability to be beneficial to both the mother and the fetus through increasing the maternofetal circulation perfusion and achieving a maternal hemodynamic stability and compare it to the current NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines that are currently used, that recommends conservative management of mild pre-eclampsia through control of maternal blood pressure and frequent screening of maternal laboratory investigations' abnormalities to detect possible progression to severe pre-eclamptic toxemia.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 80
• Est. completion date: January 15, 2018
• Est. primary completion date: December 15, 2017
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Female
• Age group: 18 Years to 35 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Uncomplicated mild pre-eclampsia; No clinical or investigatory findings suggestive severe pre-eclamptic toxemia.

2. Gestational age of 28 - 36 weeks by good dates according to ACOG's - committee on obstetric practice - Method for Estimating Due Date (2014) who will receive the study's drug for at least one week before termination.

3. Singleton viable pregnancy.

4. Age: 18-35 years.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Severe pre-eclamptic toxemia (according to the NICE guidelines (2010): Hypertension in pregnancy: diagnosis and management)

2. Intrauterine growth retardation.

3. Use of medication that could interact with sildenafil citrate such as nitrates erythromycin, ketoconazole, itraconazole, antiretroviral agents and others.

4. Presence of maternal co-morbidity disease as: DM, chronic hypertension, congestive heart failure, chronic kidney disease and SLE.

5. Placenta previa.

6. The patient is using aspirin.

7. The presence of a contraindication to the use of sildenafil citrate:

• Hypersensitivity to sildenafil citrate or any of the tablet ingredients.

• Patients with severe cardiovascular disease such as established cardiac failure and unstable angina pectoris.

• Previous episode of non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy.

• Severe hepatic impairment.

• Hypotension (blood pressure <90/50 mmHg).

• Hypertension (blood pressure >170/110 mmHg).

• Recent history of stroke or myocardial infarction.

• Known hereditary degenerative retinal disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Eclampsia
• Pre-Eclampsia
• Pre-Eclampsia; Mild

Intervention

Drug:
• Sildenafil 20 MG

• Placebo Oral Tablet

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Egypt	Assiut Univeristy Hospitals	Assiut

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Assiut University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Egypt, 

References & Publications (29)

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ACOG Practice bulletin no. 134: fetal growth restriction. Obstet Gynecol. 2013 May;121(5):1122-33. doi: 10.1097/01.AOG.0000429658.85846.f9. — View Citation

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy. Hypertension in pregnancy. Report of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Nov;122(5):1122-31. doi: 10.1097/01.AOG.0000437382.03963.88. — View Citation

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Cauli O, Herraiz S, Pellicer B, Pellicer A, Felipo V. Treatment with sildenafil prevents impairment of learning in rats born to pre-eclamptic mothers. Neuroscience. 2010 Dec 1;171(2):506-12. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.08.065. Epub 2010 Sep 9. — View Citation

Coppage KH, Sun X, Baker RS, Clark KE. Expression of phosphodiesterase 5 in maternal and fetal sheep. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005 Sep;193(3 Pt 2):1005-10. — View Citation

Dastjerdi MV, Hosseini S, Bayani L. Sildenafil citrate and uteroplacental perfusion in fetal growth restriction. J Res Med Sci. 2012 Jul;17(7):632-6. — View Citation

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Haddad B, Deis S, Goffinet F, Paniel BJ, Cabrol D, Siba BM. Maternal and perinatal outcomes during expectant management of 239 severe preeclamptic women between 24 and 33 weeks' gestation. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Jun;190(6):1590-5; discussion 1595-7. — View Citation

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McKeeman GC, Ardill JE, Caldwell CM, Hunter AJ, McClure N. Soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (sFlt-1) is increased throughout gestation in patients who have preeclampsia develop. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Oct;191(4):1240-6. — View Citation

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Roberts JM, Cooper DW. Pathogenesis and genetics of pre-eclampsia. Lancet. 2001 Jan 6;357(9249):53-6. Review. — View Citation

Samangaya RA, Mires G, Shennan A, Skillern L, Howe D, McLeod A, Baker PN. A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of the phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor sildenafil for the treatment of preeclampsia. Hypertens Pregnancy. 2009 Aug;28(4):369-82. doi: 10.3109/10641950802601278. — View Citation

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Trapani A Jr, Gonçalves LF, Pires MM. Transdermal nitroglycerin in patients with severe pre-eclampsia with placental insufficiency: effect on uterine, umbilical and fetal middle cerebral artery resistance indices. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Oct;38(4) — View Citation

Trapani A Jr, Gonçalves LF, Trapani TF, Franco MJ, Galluzzo RN, Pires MM. Comparison between transdermal nitroglycerin and sildenafil citrate in intrauterine growth restriction: effects on uterine, umbilical and fetal middle cerebral artery pulsatility indices. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2016 Jul;48(1):61-5. doi: 10.1002/uog.15673. — View Citation

Trapani A Jr, Gonçalves LF, Trapani TF, Vieira S, Pires M, Pires MM. Perinatal and Hemodynamic Evaluation of Sildenafil Citrate for Preeclampsia Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Obstet Gynecol. 2016 Aug;128(2):253-9. doi: 10.1097/AOG.000000000000 — View Citation

Wareing M, Myers JE, O'Hara M, Baker PN. Sildenafil citrate (Viagra) enhances vasodilatation in fetal growth restriction. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 May;90(5):2550-5. Epub 2005 Feb 15. — View Citation

* Note: There are 29 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Gestational age at time of termination and maternal outcome.	Gestational age at time of termination and maternal outcome in terms of whether the disease would progress to severe pre-eclampsia or not.	up to 37 weeks of gestation
Secondary	Neonatal outcome.	Neonatal outcome in terms of survival and neonatal well-being ( by obtaining the birth weight and the apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes and direct postnatal need to NICU).	up to 37 weeks of gestation
Secondary	Control of maternal blood pressure.	Control of maternal blood pressure.	up to 37 weeks of gestation
Secondary	Method of termination of pregnancy.	Method of termination of pregnancy.	up to 37 weeks of gestation
Secondary	Identification of the side effects from the use of sildenafil citrate.	Identification of possible maternal side effects from the use of sildenafil citrate i.e.; headache, flushing and dyspepsia.	up to 37 weeks of gestation
Secondary	Evaluation of the effect of sildenafil citrate on the feto-maternal circulation through the Doppler ultrasound.	Evaluation of the effect of sildenafil citrate on the feto-maternal circulation through the Doppler ultrasound.	up to 37 weeks of gestation