NCT03591952 (GRAVITAS) is a NA clinical trial of Suction-Driven Thoracentesis in Pleural Effusion, sponsored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Who is sponsoring NCT03591952?

NCT03591952 is sponsored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

What drugs are being tested in NCT03591952?

Interventions in NCT03591952: Suction-Driven Thoracentesis, Gravity-Driven Thoracentesis.

What condition does NCT03591952 study?

NCT03591952 studies Pleural Effusion.

Is NCT03591952 still recruiting?

NCT03591952 is currently completed. Last updated 14 March 2022.

Last reviewed 2022-03-14 · How we verify

NCT03591952: GRAVITAS

Name: Drug Landscape Pharmaceutical Database
Creator: Drug Landscape
Published: 2026-01-01
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Gravity- Versus Suction-driven Large Volume Thoracentesis

Completed NA Last updated 14 March 2022

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Suction-Driven Thoracentesis in Pleural Effusion in 138 participants. Completed in 12 September 2019.

Timeline

1 August 2018

Primary endpoint
5 April 2019

12 September 2019

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	138
Start date	1 August 2018
Primary completion	5 April 2019
Estimated completion	12 September 2019
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

Suction-Driven Thoracentesis
Gravity-Driven Thoracentesis

Conditions studied

Pleural Effusion — all drugs for Pleural Effusion →

Sponsor

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Pleural Effusion. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Thoracentesis is a very common procedure, rarely associated with severe complications. One relatively common complication is chest discomfort, which is most of the time felt to be secondary to negative pleural pressures generated during the procedure. While most proceduralists use suction to drain the pleural fluid, some drain effusions by gravity only. The investigators propose to evaluate whether gravity-driven thoracentesis results in less discomfort for patients than suction-drive thoracentesis.

Publications & conference data

2 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

The Impact of Gravity vs Suction-driven Therapeutic Thoracentesis on Pressure-related Complications: The GRAVITAS Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.
Lentz RJ, Shojaee S, Grosu HB, Rickman OB, et al · · 2020 · cited 16× · PMID 31711990 · DOI 10.1016/j.chest.2019.10.025
Pragmatic Studies in Interventional Pulmonology: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back, but an Imminent Leap Forward. Introducing IPOG, the Interventional Pulmonary Outcome Group.
Maldonado F, Yarmus L. · · 2019 · cited 5× · PMID 31233469 · DOI 10.1097/lbr.0000000000000575

Verify or expand the search:

Other recruiting trials for Pleural Effusion

Currently open trials in the same condition.

NCT07248774 — Effect of Bubble Positive Expiratory Pressure and Segmental Breathing Versus Incentive Spirometry in Pleural Effusion · NA · recruiting
NCT07012759 — Pleural Effusion Biomarkers in Lung Adenocarcinoma Patients · recruiting
NCT06958848 — 16F vs 24F Chest Drain After Minimally Invasive Lobectomy and/or Segmentectomy · NA · recruiting
NCT06892691 — Pleuroscopy First Versus Thoracentesis First in Patients With Suspected Malignant Pleural Effusions · NA · recruiting
NCT06314620 — Normal Saline Flushing With And Without Heparin Lock In Maintaining Small Bore Intercostal Chest Catheter (ICC) Patency · NA · recruiting

Other Vanderbilt University Medical Center trials

Trials by the same sponsor.

NCT07005037 — Swallowing Impairments in ICU Survivors and Community-Dwelling Adults · not yet recruiting
NCT07527273 — Cognitive Enhancement in Recurrent Depression (The COG-D-R Study) · NA · not yet recruiting
NCT07295288 — Botox Injections in Non-Cranial Nerve VII Innervated Muscles for Facial Synkinesis · Phase 4 · not yet recruiting
NCT07431541 — Topical Carboxytherapy Paste Following Microneedling · Phase 1, PHASE2 · not yet recruiting
NCT07224711 — The Impact of Perioperative Lidocaine Infusions on Enhanced Recovery After Non-Cardiac Surgery · Phase 4 · not yet recruiting

Verify against primary sources

ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
WHO ICTRP — international registry index
EU Clinical Trials Register
Sponsor press releases (Google)

Data sources for this page

Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03591952 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 9 June 2026
Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Last refreshed: 14 March 2022

Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT03591952.

Primary sources · FDA · ClinicalTrials.gov · EMA · SEC EDGAR · ChEMBL · Wikidata · full sourcing