NCT05627167: DC-SCENIC

Daytime Cyclic Enteral Nutrition Versus Standard Continuous Enteral Nutrition in the Intensive Care Unit: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Completed NA Last updated 24 March 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing day time cyclic nutrition in Enteral Nutrition in 318 participants. Completed in 17 February 2025.

Timeline

1 June 2023

Primary endpoint
17 February 2025

17 February 2025

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Centre Hospitalier le Mans
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	none
Primary purpose	other
Enrollment	318
Start date	1 June 2023
Primary completion	17 February 2025
Estimated completion	17 February 2025
Sites	3 locations across France

Drugs / interventions tested

• day time cyclic nutrition
• continuous nutrition

Conditions studied

• Enteral Nutrition — all drugs for Enteral Nutrition →

Sponsor

Centre Hospitalier le Mans

Who can join

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

Sponsor's own description

Critical care patients experience systemic aggression, which may be the result of trauma, infection or other systemic inflammatory mechanisms. The initial phase of their illness is characterized by metabolic instability and increased catabolism. Nutrition goals in these patients are therefore, on the one hand, to provide sufficient caloric intake to cover energy expenditure while limiting the risks of inappropriate under-feeding, overfeeding- or re-feeding syndrome, and on the other hand, to meet the protein requirements linked to hypercatabolism. In the absence of contraindication, current recommandations state that an intensive care patient who cannot be fed orally, shoul receive continuous enteral nutrition over 24 hours by gastric tube within 48 hours of admission.

However, this 24-hour continuous nutrition method does not correspond to the physiological habit of the human species which includes a physiological nighttime fasting period.This fasting period induces a metabolic switch that regulates several pathways, including glycemic control, oxidative stressresistance and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair. Furthermore, it takes part un the synchronization of cellular circadian rhythms.

Investigator hypothetises that diurnal cyclic enteral nutrition may improve the prognosis of severe intensive care patients compared to continuous enteral nutrition.

Publications & conference data

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

1. Feeding critically ill patients at the right time of day.
   Dashti HS, Wang YM, Knauert MP. · · 2024 · cited 4× · PMID 38915028 · DOI 10.1186/s13054-024-04994-0
2. Impact of daily cyclic enteral nutrition versus standard continuous enteral nutrition in critically ill patients: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial in three intensive care units in France (DC-SCENIC).
   Callahan JC, Parot-Schinkel E, Asfar P, Ehrmann S, et al · · 2024 · cited 2× · PMID 38286683 · DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-080003