This randomized, controlled, open-label clinical trial will be conducted at approximately 5 surgical and pediatric intensive care units in the US, over a period of 19 months, with 3 months for trial set-up, 12 months of simultaneous subject enrollment and 30 days of treatment/follow-up period, and 3 months for study close-out.
The study population will consist of at least 60 male and female pediatric subjects between 0 days and 12 years of age, undergoing cardiac, abdominal, orthopedic or transplant surgery with an approximately equal number of subjects (n=10 to 25) in three of the four age groups: (29 days to 23 months), (2 to 5 years 11 months) and (6 years to 12 years) cohorts. Regarding the youngest age group of 0 to 28 days, the minimum number of patients to be enrolled in the study will not be predefined as very a small number of elective surgical procedures is expected in this population.
Safety concerns and eventual safety signals, as well as recruitment rate, will be monitored annually (starting from the enrollment of the 60th subject) by an independent Safety Monitoring Board (SMB), which will be appointed prior to study initiation and submitted to the FDA. The responsibilities of the SMB will be defined in ad hoc document, in which the threshold for acceptable safety will also be set. During the conduct of the study on the first 60 patients, if there is any safety signal linked to the primary safety endpoint (i.e. pulmonary fluid overload) or imbalance in the incidence of AEs between the treatment and control groups or based on relevant literature, as judged by the SMB, the enrolment will be increased to 100 patients using the same age stratification approach defined above (n=20 to 30 in each age group).
Potential subjects will be pre-screened and informed consent/assent will be obtained from the subject and/or subject's parents or guardians prior to surgery. Post-surgery, the subject will be admitted to the Surgical, Neonatal, or Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (SICU/NICU/PICU) for post-operative recovery and care management. Subjects who show signs of hypovolemia as judged by the Principal Investigator (PI) will be screened to determine their eligibility to participate in this trial. Subjects will then be randomized to receive treatment with Kedbumin 25% or the comparator, normal saline (sodium chloride 0.9%).
There is no specific post-treatment regimen for this protocol, as all subjects will receive the standard post-operative care based on their clinical status and response to treatment at the discretion of the Investigator.
Vital signs and fluid management/replacement therapy recorded in the medical chart and results of standard complete blood count (CBC), biochemistry, and hematology and coagulation lab panels will be reviewed and recorded by research staff at specified time points, according to the hospital standard of care. Additionally, research staff will review and record daily lactate, urine albumin, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, and non-invasive measurements at the following time points: Baseline, 6hr, 12hr, 24hr, 36hr, 48hr, and 72hr post-onset of hypovolemia), until hemodynamic stability is achieved. Hemodynamic stability will be evaluated based on site-specific age-defined reference ranges for heart rate, blood pressure, urine output, and cardiac index in children.
The volume, rate and frequency of the Investigational Medicinal Product (IMP, either Kedbumin 25% or normal saline) administered will be recorded in addition to the type, timing, and amount of all other fluids administered. The time to hemodynamic stability, duration of stability once attained, and any relapse requiring additional treatment or use of secondary resuscitation strategies will be recorded.
Subjects who demonstrate hemodynamic stability within 3 days after treatment initiation and then relapse into hemodynamic instability as a result of surgical complications or infection will exit from the study, but the data be considered for the safety analysis. These subjects should continue treatment according the clinical practice standard since the study is not intended to evaluate the efficacy of Kedbumin 25%.
