Skip to content

HNFO With or Without Helmet NIV for Oxygenation Support in Acute Respiratory Failure Pilot RCT

High-flow Nasal Oxygen With or Without Helmet Non-invasive Ventilation for Oxygenation Support in Acute Respiratory Failure (the HONOUR Pilot Trial)

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05078034
Acronym
HONOUR
Enrollment
200
Registered
2021-10-14
Start date
2022-03-17
Completion date
2026-08-01
Last updated
2026-03-16

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

Conditions

Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

Keywords

High Flow Nasal Oxygen, Helmet Non Invasive Ventilation

Brief summary

This Randomized Control Trial will directly compare helmet non-invasive ventilation (NIV) combined with high flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) versus HFNO alone in patients with Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure (AHRF).

Detailed description

This is a pilot multicentre, concealed, stratified, permuted block randomized controlled trial enrolling patients with AHRF who are admitted to the intensive care unit. Patients with imminent need for intubation, or a contraindication to study interventions will be excluded. Patients will be randomized to receive either (1) sessions of at least 12 hours per day of helmet NIV oxygen interspersed with HFNO or (2) HFNO alone over at least 2 calendar days. Participants will be followed to hospital discharge or 60 days, with an additional quality of life assessment via telephone interview 6 months after enrolment.

Interventions

DEVICEHelmet Non-Invasive Ventilation (HNIV)

HNIV will be connected to a ventilator by a conventional closed respiratory circuit. Sessions of HNIV will be delivered with PEEP targeting a minimum 12 hours/day. PEEP will be titrated according to patient comfort, work of breathing, and O2 saturation. Pressure support will be titrated to lowest level tolerated. Between HNIV sessions, patients will be supported with HFNO at the same required FiO2. Starting on study day 3, patients will be screened for discontinuation of HNIV. Once HNIV is stopped, patients will be transitioned to HFNO and then weaned from HFNO as tolerated.

HFNO will be provided. FiO2 will be titrated to achieve a target O2 saturation of 92-97%, and flows will be initiated at 50 litres/minute and titrated as per usual practice for comfort and oxygenation. Once the target O2 saturation is achieved, the FiO2 will be titrated to the minimal value to maintain this target saturation. HFNO will be provided continuously over a minimum of 2 calendar days. Starting on study day 3, patients will be weaned from HFNO as tolerated.

Sponsors

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

1:1 randomized control trial

Eligibility

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

Inclusion criteria

1. Intensive care unit admission (orders written) 2. Age ≥18 years 3. Hypoxemic acute respiratory failure for at least 1 hour and still present at time of screening for eligibility (symptom onset during last 14 days) with the following: 1. Respiratory rate \>21bpm or clinical evidence of increased work of breathing and 2. Documented Hypoxemia defined as any one of: i. PaO2:FiO2 \< 300 ii. If no arterial blood gas available, then SpO2:FiO2 \< 315 iii. Oxygen saturation \<98% on FiO2 \>= 0.4 or higher by Venturi mask, TAVISH mask 10 Litres / minute, or any non-invasive oxygenation strategy 4. Not already intubated or with tracheostomy

Exclusion criteria

1. Already on HFNO or other non-invasive ventilation strategy at FiO2\>=0.4 for the last 24 hours in the ICU. 2. Immediate need for intubation (e.g., inadequate airway protection or refractory hypoxemia or cardiopulmonary arrest, massive hemoptysis, etc) 3. Extubated in the ICU within past 72 hours 4. Clinician deems that face mask NIV is indicated to treat a primary diagnosis of hypercapnic respiratory failure or acute congestive heart failure 5. Known neuromuscular disease 6. Patients being transitioned to Palliative care or unlikely to survive more than 24 hours 7. ICU discharge is planned or anticipated on the day of screening 8. Previously enrolled in this trial 9. Trauma patients who remain in a cervical spine collar at the time of recruitment or who have upper limb/torso fractures that would preclude them from safe application of the helmet 10. Clinician decision that positive pressure to face and/or nasal pharynx is a contraindication (eg. Transphenoidal surgery, basal skull fracture etc.)

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Recruitment Rates2 yearsRecruitment rate at different study sites
Non-randomized Eligible Patients2 yearsProportion of Eligible patients who are not randomized and reasons for this
Adherence/Compliance to Oxygenation Strategy2 yearsRate of adherence to the assigned oxygenation strategy (and crossover rates)
Among patients requiring intubation in each group, the number who were intubated according to the pre-specified criteria2 yearsAdherence to pre-specified criteria for intubation in each group
Time from ICU admission to randomization and initiation of treatment2 yearsMedian time from ICU admission to randomization and initiation of the allocated treatment

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Number of participants in each group who need endotracheal intubation28 and 60 daysNeed for endotracheal intubation after randomization
Duration of invasive mechanical ventilation after randomization up to 28 and 60 days28 and 60 daysDuration of invasive mechanical ventilation after randomization up to 28 and 60 days
Duration of non-invasive respiratory support after randomization up to 28 and 60 days60 daysDuration of non-invasive mechanical ventilation after randomization up to 60 days
ICU length of stay28 daysdays of ICU up to 28 days after randomization
All cause mortality60 daysAll cause mortality to 60 days
COVID-19 infection after hospitalization28 daysdiagnosis of COVID-19
Health related quality of life180 daysHealth related quality of life as measured by telephone using the European Quality of Life Five Dimension (EQ-5D) tool, where a score of 1 means the patient has no problems, and a score of 5 mean the patient has extreme problems in the 5 dimensions.
Mortality at 180 days180 daysMortality to 180 days
Activities of Daily Living180 daysKatz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) where a high of 6 means the patient can perform the activities fully independently, and a low of 0 means the patient is fully dependent and unable to perform activities without assistance.
Ventilator-Free Days to day 28, analyzed as an ordinal variable, with death = 0 days28 daysVentilator-Free Days to day 28, analyzed as an ordinal variable, with death = 0 days

Countries

Canada

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORDamon Scales, MD PhD FRCPC

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORNiall Fergusson, MD FRCPC

University Health Network, Toronto

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 17, 2026