NCT00391612

EASE Trial: Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema

A Randomized, Double-blind Study to Evaluate the Safety and Effectiveness of the Exhale® Drug-Eluting Stent in Homogeneous Emphysema Subjects With Severe Hyperinflation

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: Phase 3
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 450 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Broncus Technologies · Industry
• Sex: All
• Age: 35 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This is an international clinical research study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a new procedure called airway bypass. The goal of this research is to see if airway bypass can relieve hyperinflation (overfilling) of the lungs, thereby improving lung function and reducing shortness of breath in patients with severe homogeneous (diffuse) emphysema. "EASE" stands for Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema.

Detailed description

Over 3 million people in the United States and tens of millions more throughout the world live with emphysema, a chronic, progressive, irreversible disease of the lungs. The hallmark of emphysema is hyperinflation of the lungs -- air is trapped in the lungs and cannot escape, causing the lungs to become larger and larger. This makes it difficult to breathe and dyspnea (shortness of breath) is the result. The airway bypass procedure is performed using a bronchoscope with the patient under anesthesia. Very small passageways are created between the damaged lung tissue and the larger breathing passages (airways). Small stents are inserted to keep the new pathways from closing. These pathways could potentially provide a way for the trapped air to escape when the patient exhales. If the amount of air trapped in the lungs is reduced then it should be easier for the person to breathe. The EASE study will compare the effects of Exhale Drug-Eluting Stents in patients to a sham-control group of patients who do not receive the stents. Two out of three (2/3) of the participants in the trial will be in the airway bypass group, or "treatment" group. Participants in the treatment group will undergo the airway bypass procedure with up to six drug-eluting stents implanted in their lungs, creating the passageways for the trapped air to escape. A smaller group - one out of three (1/3) participants - will be the "control" group. The control group will have bronchoscopy, but passages will not be made and stents will not be implanted. Participants will need to return to the study center four times during the year for follow-up visits and tests. All participants will be told which group they were in when they come back for a follow-up visit one year after the procedure. Participants in the control group will be finished with the trial after one year. Participants in the treatment group will have a follow-up visit once a year for the next four years to monitor the longer term effects of the airway bypass procedure. This is why the end date of the trial is listed as 2012.

Conditions

• Emphysema

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Exhale® Drug-Eluting Stent	Bronchoscopic procedure in which up to six Exhale Drug-Eluting Stents are placed in the lungs; total procedure time is 1 to 2 hours
DEVICE	Sham control	5-10 minute bronchoscopic procedure in which the lungs are examined and a bronchial lavage is performed; the bronchoscope is then retracted to a point above the carina and below the vocal folds for the remained of the time; total procedure time is about 1-2 hours

Timeline

• Start date: 2006-05-01
• Primary completion: 2009-10-01
• Completion: 2013-12-01
• First posted: 2006-10-24
• Last updated: 2011-01-12

Locations

37 sites across 10 countries: United States, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom