Could a gentler breathing machine protect young hearts and brains after surgery?
NCT ID NCT04581668
First seen Sep 21, 2026 · Last updated Sep 21, 2026
Summary
Children with congenital heart disease often need a breathing machine after surgery, and the pressure it creates can affect blood flow to the brain. This study compares conventional ventilation with NAVA, a mode that works with the child's own breathing signals, in 30 children recovering from heart surgery. Researchers measure brain blood flow, brain oxygenation, and heart function during each breathing mode to see whether NAVA makes a difference.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Neurally Adjusted Ventilatory Assist (NAVA) ventilation, a breathing support mode that follows the patient's own diaphragm signals
- What this could lead to
- If NAVA improves brain blood flow and oxygenation, it could become a preferred ventilation approach for children recovering from congenital heart surgery.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small physiological study of 30 children at one hospital, so any differences may be short-lived or not apply to other patients. NAVA requires a special feeding tube and is not suitable for children with certain brain injuries or diaphragm paralysis.
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
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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30 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Oct 2020
- Finished
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Feb 2026
- Lead sponsor
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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
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1 day to 18 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. admission to the pediatric intensive care unit: * after Glenn, Fontan, Fallot Tetralogy surgery * or after other types of surgery with risk of post-operative occurence of right ventricular failure or low lung output 2. invasive ventilation scheduled for at least 2 hours after admission Exclusion Criteria: * Contraindication to placement of a nasogastric NAVA tube * History of significant focal brain injury (infarction or hemorrhage) * Bilateral phrenic paralysis * Extubation in operating room or planned to be within the hour, * Patient with open chest, uncontrolled shock, need for neuromuscular blockade. Note that for these criteria, the patient may become eligible when these criteria are resolved. * Patients for whom an acute care limitation order is in place.
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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
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St. Justine's Hospital
Montreal, Quebec, H3T 1C5, Canada
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Heart tests after childhood heart surgery could reveal hidden risks
- New MRI technique could sharpen heart monitoring for common birth defect
- Heart mapping study aims to understand electrical vs. mechanical timing in fallot patients
- New lifestyle program aims to get heart defect patients moving
- Heart drug study halted early: what we know