CAVA: Electrode Pad Appraisal Trial

Dizziness is a common condition that is responsible for a significant degree of material morbidity and burden on our health service. There are multiple causes of dizziness, and these originate from pathologies affecting a large variety of different organ systems. Dizziness is usually episodic and short-lived, so when a patient presents to their health care provider, examination is often normal. As such, diagnosis is challenging and patients often experience significant delay in receiving a diagnosis. We have developed a device for monitoring dizziness and in 2018 we evaluated the device by undertaking a clinical trial involving healthy volunteers. Following the promising results from the first trial, we will conduct a second trial in 2019 on patients suffering from dizziness. During the healthy volunteer trial, a minor issue was encountered relating to long-term daily wear of the device's electrode pads. Specifically, nine participants reported varying degrees of skin redness and inflammation beneath their electrode pads, mostly occurring after around two weeks of wear. The issue was self-limiting and resolved after a few days of non-wear. The team worked closely with a consultant dermatologist in order to monitor and manage this adverse event. Since the issue was identified, the team has consulted with a number of people with relevant expertise in order to determine the causes of the issue and to find the most viable solution. Based on these discussions, we propose that the causes of this issue were due to a combination of wear duration, and/or repeated removal, and/or the specific type of electrode pad used. To confidently identify the cause of this issue and to evaluate a number of possible solutions, we intend to undertake a trial to evaluate the tolerability of alternative electrode pads and different patterns of wear.