Early Sleep Apnea Treatment in Stroke

Summary

Investigating the interrelation of stroke and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is of major importance. First because of the high occurrence rate of stroke and the fact that it is a frequent cause of long-term disability in adulthood. Second because SDB (obstructive, central and mixed forms) affects more than 50% of stroke survivors and has a detrimental effect on clinical stroke outcome. Third, spontaneous and learning-dependent sleep-associated neuroplasticity may be affected by SDB following stroke worsening stroke rehabilitation. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate whether early treatment of SDB with Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV), the treatment device of choice to treat obstructive, central and mixed forms of SDB, has a beneficial effect on the evolution of the lesion volume and on clinical stroke outcome.

To this end, the investigators recruit and prospectively follow 3 groups of patients with ischemic stroke over 1 year. During the first night after hospital admission due to acute stroke, nocturnal breathing is assessed by means of a respiratory polygraphy. Patients with significant sleep disordered breathing, defined as an Apnea-Hypopnea-Index (AHI) \> 20/h, are randomized to ASV treatment or no treatment (sSDB ASV+ or sSDB ASV-). ASV treatment starts the second night following hospital admission and ends 90 days later. Stroke patients without SDB (AHI \< 5 / h) serve as a control group (no SDB) to observe the evolution of the lesion volume and stroke outcome without the additional burden of SDB.

Lesion volume one day after hospital admission due to acute stroke (after potential lysis therapy) measured by Diffusion Weighted Imaging will be subtracted from lesion volume measured by T2-weighted volumetry assessed 90(+/-7) days following stroke and compared between patients with and without ASV treatment (sSDB ASV+ and sSDB ASV-) as well as patients without SDB (no SDB). Short- and long-term clinical stroke outcomes are assessed by clinical scales and questionnaires 4 to 7 days, 3 months and 1 year following stroke. Cognitive outcome is assessed during hospitalization (within the first week following stroke) and after the treatment period of 90 days by neuropsychological tests assessing attention and memory. In addition, baseline assessment of physiological parameters such as blood pressure and endothelial function/arterial stiffness are assessed during the first weeks following stroke and at the end of the treatment period, i.e. approximately 90 days following stroke.

Conditions

• Sleep Apnea, Obstructive
• Sleep Apnea, Central
• Stroke

Interventions

DEVICE

AirCurveTM10 CS PACEWAVE Adaptive-Servo-Ventilator (ResMed Ldt., Australia)

Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV) is a ventilator mode used to treat central and obstructive forms of sleep disordered breathing. It is authorized in Switzerland, bears a conformity marking (CE 0123) and it is used according to the approved indications. Stroke patients with an AHI \> 20/h assessed within the first night following stroke that are randomized to ASV treatment, starting in the second night after stroke, are part of this group. The other half of patients are randomized to no treatment and patients without sleep disordered breathing (AHI \< 5) following stroke serve as a control group

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Swiss National Science Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• TROPOS Stiftung für Humane Verhaltensforschung

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Claudio L Bassetti · Department of Neurology, Bern University Hospital, 3010 Bern, Switzerland

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

85 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-08-13

Primary Completion

2022-03-05

Completion

2022-11-30

Countries

• France
• Germany
• Russia
• Switzerland

Study Locations