Emory, Grady to study airway management

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Emory University Department of Emergency Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital have joined to take part in a U.S. Department of Defense-funded clinical trial to compare different ways to help people with traumatic injuries breathe. The Emory/Grady site is one of nine academic medical centers taking part in the nationwide study, according to a press release.

The Prehospital Airway Control Trial (PACT) is a four-year, $8.8 million study to test different interventions for securing a person’s airway at the scene of a trauma to assess effectiveness at improving survival rates. Prehospital or emergency medical services providers typically use one of two methods to help people breathe – an endotracheal tube, which is placed in a person’s windpipe, or a supraglottic airway device, which is placed over a person’s windpipe. Both tubes are inserted through the mouth and into the airway, then are connected to a ventilation device — either a machine or a bag that can be pumped with the hand — to deliver oxygen to the lungs.

Patients who are brought to Grady Memorial Hospital by ambulance will have the opportunity to be a part of the trial. Given it requires performing a potentially life-saving procedure in people who are too injured to consent, patients who meet the criteria will be automatically enrolled and the traditional informed consent process will take place following management of the trauma.

To be enrolled in the clinical trial, patients must be in a coma and have an inability to oxygenate or ventilate adequately.

The study will enroll more than 2,000 participants ages 15 and older who are taken to one of the nine adult trauma center study sites for care. Enrollment for the Emory/Grady site: www.litesnetwork.org/pact-efic