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Pilot Study on Gastro-intestinal (GI) Enteral Nutrition (EN) Tolerance in Intensive Care Unit Patients

A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effect of a Specific Enteral Formulation Designed to Improve Gastrointestinal Tolerance in the Critically Ill Patient

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01581957
Acronym
SPIRIT
Enrollment
90
Registered
2012-04-20
Start date
2012-12-31
Completion date
2014-04-30
Last updated
2014-06-27

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

Conditions

Critically Ill

Keywords

Enteral nutrition, critically ill patients

Brief summary

Specifically designed enteral formulations may improve the gastrointestinal tolerance during early enteral nutrition in the critically ill patient. This pilot trial will permit testing the design of the full-scale study providing valuable data on the expected effect of the formulation, the variability, thus helping to better estimate the required sample size.

Interventions

OTHERSpecific Enteral Nutrition

Patients will receive a Specific EN. The caloric target is 25 Kcal/kg/day to be reached on the third day post-initiation of EN (early enteral nutrition).

Patients will receive an equivalent volume and caloric intake of standard formulation. The caloric target is 25 Kcal/kg/day to be reached on the third day post-initiation of EN (early enteral nutrition).

Sponsors

Société des Produits Nestlé (SPN)
Lead SponsorINDUSTRY

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Male or female older than 18 years of age * All ICU patients * Expected ICU stay superior or equal to 5 days * Anticipated to receive tube feeding for at least 3 days * Informed consent obtained from patient or close relative

Exclusion criteria

* Contraindication to enteral nutrition or to the placement of an enteral feeding tube * On enteral nutrition with superior or equal to 75% of caloric goal administered * Restriction in full intestinal support including protein administration * Parenteral nutrition of any kind unless due to enteral nutrition intolerance * History of allergy or intolerance to the study product components (test or control product) * Currently under therapeutic limitations. Non functional GI tract * Unwilling or unable to comply with study treatments * Currently participating or having participated in another clinical, interventional trial during the last month

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Diarrhea-free days during Enteral Nutrition (EN) administration to the patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)from EN start until end of treatment or ICU discharge (whatever comes first)Patients will receive treatment for 10 days maximum
Number of diarrhea events per day during EN administration to the patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)from EN start until end of treatment or ICU discharge (whatever comes firts)Patients will receive treatment for 10 days maximum

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Incidence and severity of diarrheaup to 10 days* Number of patients that experienced diarrhea during ICU stay * Interruption of EN due to diarrhea * Presence/absence of electrolyte and acid-base disturbances secondary to diarrhea
Presence/absence of other abdominal symptomsup to 10 daysIf present: description of abdominal distension, pain, absence of bowel sounds
Changes in intra-abdominal pressureup to 10 days
Incidence of nausea, vomiting and regurgitationup to 10 days
Gastric residual volumes (>500 ml)up to 10 days
Health Economic burden of Diarrhea during EN administration at ICUup to 10 days* Nurse workload for the management of patients with diarrhea during the EN feeding period in ICU * Total cost of diarrhea evaluated for each patient who experienced diarrhea (medications, cleaning material, blankets, etc.)
For blood glucose controlup to 10 days* Number of events outside the 4.5 to 10 mmol/l glycaemic range * Need for insulin unit administration during exclusive enteral nutrition * Need for glucose administration during exclusive enteral nutrition
Time to reach the full caloric goalup to 10 days25 Kcal/kg/day or as determined for each patient with indirect calorimetry
Need to use any drug interfering with the passage of nutritionup to 10 days
Need for parenteral nutrition supplementation during ICU stayup to 10 daysyes/no, economic impact
Nutritional assessmentup to 10 daysserum albumin at baseline, 3 days after EN start and at treatment end or at ICU discharge (whatever comes first)
Incidence of secondary infectionsup to 10 days
ICU Length of Stay, days on mechanical ventilation during ICU stay (mech. ventilation-free days), hospital LOS (length of stay)up to 28 days
Microbiota profilingup to 10 daysComprehensive intestinal microbiota profiling by sequencing-based approaches in stool samples collected right before initiation of EN, 3 days after EN start, at treatment end or at ICU discharge (whatever comes first), and at diarrhea episodes
Determination of diarrhea pathogenicityup to 10 daysInfections, fecal cultures for pathogens assessed at diarrhea episodes
Safety evaluation (blood sampling)up to 10 daysEnd-point of safety evaluation at baseline, 3 days after EN start and at treatment end or at ICU discharge (whatever comes first), will include: blood cell analysis, hemoglobin, hepatic enzymes and creatinine
AEs (adverse events) / SAEs (serious adverse events)up to 28 daysAE and SAE reporting from study start until 28 days after randomization
Accumulated daily caloric deficit during 72 hs after start of the studyup to 10 daysPercentage of cumulative calories delivered vs. prescribed during hospitalization in ICU and accumulated deficit during ICU stay/day (it should be the same)
Visual analogue scale for abdominal discomfortup to 10 daysAssessed in non-comatose patients

Countries

Switzerland

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 9, 2026