TRansfusion strategies in Acute brain INjured patients (TRAIN): a prospective multicenter randomized interventional trial protocol

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  • Fabio Silvio Taccone
  • Rafael Badenes
  • Carla Bittencourt Rynkowski
  • Pierre Bouzat
  • Anselmo Caricato
  • Pedro Kurtz
  • Møller, Kirsten
  • Manuel Quintana Diaz
  • Mathieu Van Der Jagt
  • Walter Videtta
  • Jean Louis Vincent

Background: Although blood transfusions can be lifesaving in severe hemorrhage, they can also have potential complications. As anemia has also been associated with poor outcomes in critically ill patients, determining an optimal transfusion trigger is a real challenge for clinicians. This is even more important in patients with acute brain injury who were not specifically evaluated in previous large randomized clinical trials. Neurological patients may be particularly sensitive to anemic brain hypoxia because of the exhausted cerebrovascular reserve, which adjusts cerebral blood flow to tissue oxygen demand. Methods: We described herein the methodology of a prospective, multicenter, randomized, pragmatic trial comparing two different strategies for red blood cell transfusion in patients with acute brain injury: a “liberal” strategy in which the aim is to maintain hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations greater than 9 g/dL and a “restrictive” approach in which the aim is to maintain Hb concentrations greater than 7 g/dL. The target population is patients suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI), subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), or intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The primary outcome is the unfavorable neurological outcome, evaluated using the extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (eGOS) of 1–5 at 180 days after the initial injury. Secondary outcomes include, among others, 28-day survival, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital lengths of stay, the occurrence of extra-cerebral organ dysfunction/failure, and the development of any infection or thromboembolic events. The estimated sample size is 794 patients to demonstrate a reduction in the primary outcome from 50 to 39% between groups (397 patients in each arm). The study was initiated in 2016 in several ICUs and will be completed in December 2022. Discussion: This trial will assess the impact of a liberal versus conservative strategy of blood transfusion in a large cohort of critically ill patients with a primary acute brain injury. The results of this trial will help to improve blood product and transfusion use in this specific patient population and will provide additional data in some subgroups of patients at high risk of brain ischemia, such as those with intracranial hypertension or cerebral vasospasm. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02968654.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer20
TidsskriftTrials
Vol/bind24
Udgave nummer1
ISSN1745-6215
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
FS Taccone received the NeXT Grant from the European Society of Intensive Care (ESICM) in 2014 (50,000 euros). P Bouzat received two grants from La Fondation des Geules Cassées (120,000 euros). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and management, data analysis, interpretation of the future results, and writing of the report. ESICM has provided financial support for an independent electronic case report file (eCRF).

Funding Information:
We thank all patients and their families as well as ICU teams and dedicated colleagues for making this study happen.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

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