NCT04210570

Decreasing Environmental Impact and Costs of Using Inhalational Anesthetic With a Carbon Dioxide Membrane Filter System

Status unknown NA Last updated 3 March 2021

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Memsorb in Anesthesia in 510 participants. Status unknown.

Timeline

1 March 2021

Primary endpoint
1 July 2023

31 December 2023

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Western University, Canada
Phase	NA
Status	Status unknown
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	double
Primary purpose	health services research
Enrollment	510
Start date	1 March 2021
Primary completion	1 July 2023
Estimated completion	31 December 2023
Sites	1 location across Canada

Drugs / interventions tested

• Memsorb
• Chemical granulate absorber — full drug profile →

Conditions studied

• Anesthesia — all drugs for Anesthesia →
• Inhalation; Vapor — all drugs for Inhalation; Vapor →

Sponsor

Western University, Canada

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Anesthesia or Inhalation; Vapor. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Efficient inhalational anesthetic delivery requires the use of low-flow air and oxygen to reduce drug waste and minimize workspace contamination and environmental pollution. Currently, excess anesthetic gas is scavenged and removed from the operating room via the hospital ventilation system, where it is released into the atmosphere. CO2 is removed from the anesthesia circuit by the use of CO2 removal systems to prevent re-breathing and potential hypercarbia.

Carbon dioxide is currently removed using chemical granulate absorbers (CGAs), which trap CO2 in the granules that are later disposed of when absorption capacity is reached. They require replacement approximately every other day when used in moderate to high volume surgical centres, placing a costly burden on the healthcare system and environment (landfill).

One of the more concerning downfalls of using CGAs is the potential for the inhalational anesthetics to react with the granules and potentially produce toxic byproducts known as compounds A-E that are nephrotoxic and neurotoxic and require excess amounts of anesthetic gas to dilute.

This excess use of anesthetics gases places a financial burden on the healthcare system and has a detrimental impact on the environment. The vast majority of the gases used are eventually released into the environment with little to no degradation where they accumulate in the troposphere and act as greenhouse gases.

DMF Medical has created Memsorb, a new CO2 filtration membrane. Memsorb can remove CO2 from the anesthesia circuit without the use of CGAs, thereby eliminating the potential for toxic byproducts and allowing for significantly lower air and oxygen flow to be used, resulting in less use of inhalational anesthetics. Memsorb uses a polymeric membrane (similar to the ones used in oxygenators for cardiac surgery) that selectively allows CO2 to leave the rebreathing system, while maintaining the inhalational anesthetic in the circuit.

The lifespan of Memsorb is at least 12 months, resulting in less particulate waste and a decreased cost to the healthcare system.

We wish to evaluate the ability and efficacy of Memsorb in removing CO2 from the anesthesia circuit while maintaining physiologic minute volume ventilation, as compared to the traditional CGAs in a variety of surgical procedures, patient populations, and anesthesia gas flows.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.