NCT00657228

Intravenous Heparin as an Adjunct for the Treatment of Anaphylactic Reactions in an Emergency Department

Intravenous Heparin as an Adjunct for the Treatment of Anaphylactic/Anaphylactoid Reactions in the Emergency Department

• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 0 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Missouri, Kansas City · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

To determine if intravenous unfractionated heparin (with standard therapy) for treatment of anaphylaxis results in faster time to recovery.

Detailed description

Anaphylaxis is a potentially life-threatening entity that requires both immediate recognition and aggressive treatment. Although anaphylaxis is infrequent, comprising only 1% of approximately 1.03 million visits to the ED each year that are related to allergic reactions, it is none the less a generally under-recognized and under-treated disease, that is worthy of study due to the potential for a fatal outcome. Recently, there has been renewed interest in a commonly used and inexpensive drug (heparin) as a novel component of therapy for anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions. Heflin eft al. induced anaphylactoid reactions in pigs and compared intravenous unfractionated heparin in one treatment arm to standard therapy (intravenous epinephrine and diphenhydramine) versus placebo. The study revealed that heparin rapidly reversed the shock similar to that of standard emergency treatment. Of course this single study done in pigs will not change practice, but it does warrant further investigation into the role that heparin plays in anaphylaxis in humans.

Conditions

• Anaphylaxis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Intravenous heparin	Intravenous heparin as an adjunct for the treatment of anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions in the Emergency Department. To determine if a single bolus of intravenous unfractionated heparin (in conjunction with standard therapy) given to patients with anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions results in a faster time to recovery when compared to standard therapy alone.
DRUG	Saline	Standard treatment (epinephrine, corticosteroids, diphenhydramine, and H2 blockers) and saline.

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-12-01
• Primary completion: 2010-12-01
• Completion: 2010-12-01
• First posted: 2008-04-14
• Last updated: 2017-01-09

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States