Early Post-Traumatic Seizures Prevention Trial (E-PTS Trial)

Official title

Assessing Phenytoin and Levetiracetam Efficacy, Cost-Effectiveness, and CYP2C9/SV2A Polymorphism in Early Post-Traumatic Seizures: A Multicentric Prospective Randomized Trial

Overview

Rationale/gaps in existing knowledge: The prophylaxis for post-traumatic seizures (PTS) remains controversial due to a lack of class I evidence. Investigators plan to conduct a high-quality, prospective, multicentric, randomized study regarding seizure prophylaxis in traumatic brain injury (TBI) with phenytoin, levetiracetam, and the placebo in three respective treatment groups, along with the effect of drug polymorphism on seizure occurrence. Novelty: Literature is scarce regarding the ideal management of early PTS in traumatic brain injury (TBI), a major public health problem. Further, no study has evaluated the effect of genetic polymorphism on seizure occurrence in traumatic brain injury. This Multicentric study will be the first of its kind, not only in India but also globally. Objectives: To evaluate the seizure incidence \& efficacy of the respective anti-epileptic drug in each treatment arm. Assessment of clinical \& functional outcomes, safety profile, and cost-effectiveness in each group. Effect of genetic polymorphisms on seizure incidence among study participants Methods: A Multicentric prospective randomized placebo-controlled double-blinded clinical trial is planned. After satisfying eligibility criteria and informed consent, TBI patients will be randomly allocated into three arms 'phenytoin arm', 'levetiracetam arm', and 'placebo'. Drug polymorphism will be analyzed in all the patients using quantitative real-time PCR. Expected outcome: This study will provide high-quality evidence in PTS management and will establish the role of prophylactic anti-epileptics in PTS. This study also opens the plethora of undesignated roles of genetic polymorphism in the efficacy and safety of levetiracetam and phenytoin in traumatic brain injury patients.

Interventions

• Drug Phenytoin
  The Phenytoin group will be given a loading dose of phenytoin 20 mg/kg intravenously (maximum, 2 gm) at 50 mg per minute and then started on a maintenance dose (5-6 mg/kg/d, rounded to the nearest 100 mg, intravenously administered every 8 hours). The intravenous will be switched to oral once the patient is fit to take it orally or via Ryles tube. The oral dose would be a single 300 mg ER (extended-release) tablet per day. Both IV and/or oral doses of phenytoin will be given only for 1 week afte
• Drug Levetiracetam
  The Levetiracetam group will receive 25-30 mg/kg/d in two divided doses (rounded to 750 mg, administered intravenously every 12 hourly). The intravenous dose will be switched to oral form once the patient is fit to take it orally or via Ryles tube. The oral dose would be two tablets of 750 mg ER (extended-release) levetiracetam daily. Both IV and/or oral doses of levetiracetam will be given only for 1 week after head trauma. Patient= Patients with Traumatic brain injury as per eligibility criter
• Drug Placebo
  The Placebo group will be administered normal saline intravenously of similar amount that of intervention group and matching placebo tablets orally (double dummy) once the patient is fit to take orally. Similar to the intervention group, both IV and oral placebo will be given till 1 week after traumatic brain injury.

Primary outcome measures

• Number of Participants With Clinical Seizure Within 7 Days Post-Traumatic Brain Injury in each of the three treatment groups. [Time frame: 7 Days]

Secondary outcome measures (4)

• Change in Glasgow Coma Scale scores from baseline at 7 days post-trauma, at 6 months, and 1 year in each treatment group. [Time frame: 7 Days , 6 Months & 1 year]
• Glasgow Outcome Scale scores at hospital discharge, 6-month, and 1-year follow-up in each treatment group. [Time frame: At discharge, 6 months and 1 year]
• Incidence of early clinical seizures in participants, assessed in association with CYP2C9 and SV2A gene polymorphisms, using TaqMan allelic discrimination assay with quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). [Time frame: 7 days]
• Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) of Levetiracetam vs Phenytoin in Preventing Early Post-Traumatic Seizures using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. [Time frame: 1 year]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Patients of severe blunt TBI with GCS score less than 10.
• Patients with GCS of more than 10 in the presence of computed tomographic imaging findings consistent with brain injury: subarachnoid hemorrhage \[SAH\], subdural hematoma \[SDH\], epidural hematoma \[EDH\], intracerebral hemorrhage \[ICH\], or diffuse axonal injury \[DAI\], depressed skull fracture.
• Patients with penetrating injury.

Exclusion criteria

• Females of childbearing age with urine pregnancy test positive.
• Devastating brain injury with expected or confirmed brain death within 48 hours of hospital admission,
• Prehospital use of anticonvulsants
• Development of seizures before enrolment.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Double blind

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

India · 3 centers

• Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research — Chandigarh
• AIIMS Jodhpur — Jodhpur
• Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences — Lucknow

Publications

• Gupta V, Gupta K, Singh G, Kaushal S. An Analytical Study to Correlate Serum Levels of Levetiracetam with Clinical Course in Patients with Epilepsy. J Neurosci Rural Pract. 2016 Dec;7(Suppl 1):S31-S36. doi: 10.4103/0976-3147.196445. PMID 28163500
• Kousar S, Wafai ZA, Wani MA, Jan TR, Andrabi KI. Clinical relevance of genetic polymorphism in CYP2C9 gene to pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of phenytoin in epileptic patients: validatory pharmacogenomic approach to pharmacovigilance. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2015 Jul;53(7):504-16. doi: 10.5414/CP202112. PMID 25943175
• Chang WC, Hung SI, Carleton BC, Chung WH. An update on CYP2C9 polymorphisms and phenytoin metabolism: implications for adverse effects. Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol. 2020 Aug;16(8):723-734. doi: 10.1080/17425255.2020.1780209. Epub 2020 Jul 16. PMID 32510242
• Dibbens LM, Hodgson BL, Helbig KL, Oliver KL, Mulley JC, Berkovic SF, Scheffer IE. Rare protein sequence variation in SV2A gene does not affect response to levetiracetam. Epilepsy Res. 2012 Sep;101(3):277-9. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2012.04.007. Epub 2012 Apr 30. PMID 22551666
• Schivell AE, Mochida S, Kensel-Hammes P, Custer KL, Bajjalieh SM. SV2A and SV2C contain a unique synaptotagmin-binding site. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2005 May;29(1):56-64. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2004.12.011. PMID 15866046
• Jones KE, Puccio AM, Harshman KJ, Falcione B, Benedict N, Jankowitz BT, Stippler M, Fischer M, Sauber-Schatz EK, Fabio A, Darby JM, Okonkwo DO. Levetiracetam versus phenytoin for seizure prophylaxis in severe traumatic brain injury. Neurosurg Focus. 2008 Oct;25(4):E3. doi: 10.3171/FOC.2008.25.10.E3. PMID 18828701
• Szaflarski JP, Sangha KS, Lindsell CJ, Shutter LA. Prospective, randomized, single-blinded comparative trial of intravenous levetiracetam versus phenytoin for seizure prophylaxis. Neurocrit Care. 2010 Apr;12(2):165-72. doi: 10.1007/s12028-009-9304-y. PMID 19898966
• Jarvie D, Mahmoud SH. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Levetiracetam in Select Populations. J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2018;21(1s):149s-176s. doi: 10.18433/jpps30081. PMID 30096051

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07072624 · AIIMS/IEC/2024/4889 · IIRPIG-2023-0001210

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗