Head Injury Retrieval Trial

Randomised, Controlled Trial of Physician Prehospital Management of Severe Blunt Head Injury

Status

Terminated

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT00112398

Enrollment

338

Registered

2005-06-03

Start date

2005-05-31

Completion date

2011-09-30

Last updated

2013-03-12

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Head Injuries, Closed

Keywords

Head injuries, Prehospital, Advanced Interventions

Brief summary

The study hypothesis is that advanced interventions as provided by a physician at an accident scene will decrease the death rate and the rate of severe disability in survivors of severe head injury. Extended interventions by advanced level prehospital providers may include rapid sequence intubation (RSI) airway management, blood transfusions, surgical procedures, etc.

Detailed description

A randomised, controlled trial examining prehospital management of persons with severe blunt head injury, in the Sydney region. Treatments examined will be the current system consisting principally of paramedic management (standard care) compared with management by a retrieval team lead by a consultant anaesthetist, emergency physician or intensive care specialist. Patients for inclusion in the study will be identified by a paramedic screening all 000 calls to the ambulance service and identifying persons likely to have severe head injury. The principal outcome measure will be their degree of disability measured at 6 months post injury.

Interventions

PROCEDUREExtended interventions by advanced level prehospital providers

may include rapid sequence intubation (RSI) airway management, blood transfusions, surgical procedures, etc.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

16 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Glasgow Coma Scale score of 3 to 8 due to blunt trauma as measured at the accident scene by the first prehospital team to arrive at the site.

Exclusion criteria

* Penetrating trauma * Age less than 16 years * No more than 5 casualties at the scene

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Glasgow Outcome Scale Score	Six months post injury

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Length of hospital and intensive care unit stays	At hospital discharge
30 day survival and survival to discharge from the acute care hospital	At hospital discharge and 30 days
Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale Score	Six months post injury
Disability Rating scale	Six months post injury

Countries

Australia

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 22, 2026