eStimCycle: Early Rehabilitation in Critical Care

Associate Professor Sue Berney PhD, BPT

Status: Completed

Conditions: Intensive Care Unit Acquired Weakness (ICUAW)

Treatments: Other: Standard Care; Device: FES-Cycling

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02214823

ACTRN12612000528853

Details and patient eligibility

About

Project Summary: Patients who have a length of stay four or more days in ICU and requiring mechanical ventilation assistance to breathe for more than 48 hours will be invited to participate. Participants will be randomised to either receive Functional Electrical Stimulation (eStimCycle) assisted cycling or standard care. As cycling in bed has previously been shown to improve physical function, patients who receive cycling as a treatment will have one leg that cycles and the other leg that cycles with assistance of electrical stimulation as we want to establish the effectiveness of the addition of electrical stimulation of muscle. Muscle bulk, strength and physical function outcome measures will be measured at baseline, weekly in ICU, ICU discharge and hospital discharge. Cognitive function will also be measured at hospital discharge, 6- and 12-month follow-up. A small group of patients in this study will be invited to provide samples of blood, urine and muscle at ICU admission and discharge to try and determine what happens to muscle in patients who are critically ill.

Significance of the Project: This is an important study because the development of ICU-acquired weakness (ICU-AW) can result in long term limitations in physical function. Early treatment to maintain strong muscles during an intensive care stay may help speed up recovery and enhance participation in other rehabilitation treatments and improve functional activities and cognition. These are important objectives for both patients and their families. In addition understanding why the muscles become so weak so quickly in patients in ICU will help to develop treatments that may help to maintain muscle strength.

Study Hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: eStimCycle versus usual care rehabilitation will improve muscle strength at hospital discharge.

Hypothesis 2: eStimCycle versus usual care rehabilitation will improve cognitive function at 6 month follow up.

Hypothesis 3: Patients receiving eStimCycle will have improved activity of anabolic signalling pathways and less atrophy of skeletal muscle fibre size compared with usual care rehabilitation.

Enrollment: 162 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. ≥18 years,
2. expected mechanical ventilation or ECMO >48 h with evidence of systemic inflammation as defined by American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Consensus Conference Criteria and
3. predicted ICU length of stay ≥4 days.

Exclusion criteria

1. Known primary systemic neuromuscular disease or intracranial process on ICU admission
2. Lower limb amputation/s
3. Unable to perform study physical outcome measures pre morbidly due to condition impairing mobility
4. Assessed by medical staff as not-expected to survive ICU
5. Pregnancy
6. BMI > 40
7. Presence of external fixator or superficial metal in lower limb
8. Open wounds or skin abrasions at electrode application points
9. Presence of cardiac or diaphragmatic pacemaker or implanted defibrillator with no underlying rhythm, as confirmed by the treating physician
10. Transferred from another ICU after > 2 days of mechanical ventilation
11. Platelets < 40 000 and INR > 1.6 (for muscle biopsy)
12. Lower limb malignancy
13. Pre-existing intellectual disability or cognitive impairment limiting the ability to accurately follow instructions.
14. Non-English speaking background restricting the individuals ability to accurately and consistently follow instructions.

Exclusion criteria for the 6 and 12 month cognitive testing follow-up portion of the study:

1. Cognitive impairment (IQCODE >3.3) done by proxy after informed consent obtained
2. No fixed home address
3. Score >= 10 on Alcohol use disorders and identification test (AUDIT)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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162 participants in 2 patient groups

FES-Cycling

Experimental group

Description:

Timeframe: Within 72 hours of ICU admission. Program: Standard care physiotherapy AND up to one hour of supine cycling daily using a cycle ergometer (RT300 supine model Restorative Therapies, Ltd or Letto 300.) attached to a six channel stimulator (SAGE) and 2 additional RT50 wireless stimulator channels. One leg will undergo cycling alone without the electrodes turned on (sham) and the other leg will undergo cycling and muscle stimulation. Electrodes will be placed on all major lower limb muscles. Intervention will be provided individually and supervised by a physiotherapist in ICU only. Duration /Intensity: Up to 1 hour at least 5 times a week for 28 days or ICU discharge, if 20 sessions have not occurred at this time, intervention will continue until this is achieved. Intensity of muscle stimulation will be delivered at a level able to cause visible muscle contractions, confirmed by palpation. A subgroup of 10 individuals will be involved in biomarker analyses.

Treatment:

Device: FES-Cycling

Other: Standard Care

Standard Care

Active Comparator group

Description:

Both groups will receive usual medical and nursing care in the ICU and ward. Both groups (control and intervention) will receive standard care physiotherapy including respiratory and rehabilitation with mobilisation activities such as sitting out of bed, marching on the spot, and mobility training. A subgroup of 10 individuals will be involved in biomarker analyses. This will involve collection of muscle biopsy, blood and urine analyses at baseline and ICU discharge.

Treatment:

Other: Standard Care