Could a blood pressure drug clear ICU brain fog?
NCT ID NCT04742673
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tested whether giving intravenous guanfacine to critically ill patients with delirium in the ICU could improve their brain function. 46 adults on breathing machines or for shock were randomly assigned to receive guanfacine or a placebo. Researchers measured days without delirium or coma, time off the ventilator, and cognitive test scores.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Guanfacine (intravenous)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could point toward a treatment to reduce delirium and improve thinking in critically ill patients.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-phase proof-of-concept study with only 46 participants. Results may not apply to all ICU patients, and the drug may cause side effects like low blood pressure.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
-
46 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
-
May 2021
- Finished
-
Nov 2025
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 years and older
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. adult patients (≥ 18 years old) 2. requiring admission to an ICU 3. for treatment of respiratory failure (e.g., mechanical ventilation, non-invasive positive pressure ventilation \[NIPPV\], Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation \[ECMO\], optiflow) and/or for treatment of shock (e.g., vasopressors, ECMO, intra-aortic balloon pump \[IABP\]). Exclusion Criteria: 1. allergic to guanfacine, clonidine, or dexmedetomidine 2. on home antipsychotics who, therefore, require continuing antipsychotic administration in the hospital 3. present history of 2nd or 3rd degree heart block, or persistent bradycardia \< 50 beats/minute that requires intervention (e.g., atropine, glycopyrrolate). If patient has a pacemaker for bradyarrythmias, then patient does not meet this exclusion criterion and may be enrolled. 4. co-enrolled in another interventional trial examining similar outcomes or in a study that does not allow co-enrollment 5. expected death within 24 hours of enrollment or lack of commitment to aggressive treatment by family or the medical team (e.g., likely withdrawal of life support measures within 24 hours of screening) 6. acute or subacute neurologic deficit that is expected to make the patient incapable of living independently after hospital discharge due to cognitive deficits (e.g., stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, cranial trauma, intracranial malignancy, anoxic brain injury, cerebral edema). 7. dementia or other chronic neurologic disease or disorder that makes the patient incapable of living independently at baseline 8. active substance abuse, psychotic disorder, or homelessness without a secondary contact person (which would make long-term follow-up difficult) 9. blindness or deafness (which would prevent assessment of the study's outcomes) 10. pregnancy or breastfeeding 11. prisoner 12. inability to start informed consent process within 72 hours from the time that all inclusion criteria were met 13. Cardiac surgery within the current hospitalization.
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Cognitive impairment are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, Tennessee, 37212, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can virtual reality make memory therapy more powerful?
- Why do some ICU patients bleed in the gut? researchers map the risk
- Hidden pressure: how continuous kidney dialysis may affect the abdomen in ICU patients
- Do antibiotics reach the battlefield? muscle probe tests drug delivery in sick kids
- Do ICU family meetings for the very old vary across europe?
- COVID-19's hidden toll: muscle wasting in the ICU