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NCT Number: NCT07443254

Prospective IR-led Sedation Feasibility

This study wants to see if some interventional radiology (IR) procedures can be done without using general anesthesia. General anesthesia needs a lot of staff and equipment. It can also cause side effects. There are not enough anesthesia providers, which makes it harder to use for every procedure.

The researchers will test deep sedation with ketamine instead. They will start with 20 patients. If it works well and is safe, they may include up to 40 patients.

Patients will be asked to join the study before their procedure. The anesthesia team will be told ahead of time and will be ready to help if needed. The IR team will give the deep sedation and follow all safety rules.

The main goal is to finish the procedure without stopping early or switching to general anesthesia. The study will call this successful if fewer than 10% of cases fail. The researchers will also look at patient pain, patient satisfaction, any side effects, and how long recovery takes.

Recruiting

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Key information

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 1 / Phase 2

Primary location

CAMC Memorial

Charleston, West Virginia, 25304, United States

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Adam M Belcher, Ph.D.

SUB_INVESTIGATOR

Amy R Deipolyi, M.D., Ph.D.

CONTACT

[email protected]

304-388-8199

Amy R Deipolyi, M.D., Ph.D.

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Michael V Korona, M.D.

SUB_INVESTIGATOR

Steven M Cooper, M.D.

SUB_INVESTIGATOR

About this study

The long-term goal of this study is to improve patient care and healthcare system efficiency by reducing reliance on general anesthesia (GA) for interventional radiology (IR) procedures that have traditionally required anesthesiology support. GA is resource-intensive, associated with airway instrumentation and postoperative side effects, and increasingly constrained by national anesthesiology workforce shortages. This prospective, single-center, single-arm feasibility pilot will evaluate IR-led ketamine-based deep sedation in an initial cohort of 20 patients undergoing IR procedures that would ordinarily be performed under GA, with prespecified expansion to up to 40 participants if early feasibility and safety criteria are met. Eligible patients will be approached prior to their procedure, and the anesthesiology service will be formally consulted in advance and available for immediate escalation if needed. Deep sedation will be administered by the IR sedation team under institutional deep sedation privileges and monitoring standards. The primary outcome is feasibility: successful completion of the planned procedure without failure, where failure is defined as procedure abortion due to inadequate sedation or intolerance, or escalation to anesthesiology takeover and/or conversion to GA. A prespecified feasibility threshold of ≤10% failure will be used. Secondary outcomes include patient-reported pain and satisfaction, peri-procedural adverse events, and recovery duration.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 18 and older
  • Planned to undergo an image-guided IR procedure for which general anesthesia would ordinarily be requested, as determined by the performing IR physician
  • Determined by the performing IR physician to be an appropriate candidate for attempted IR-led ketamine- based deep sedation, with anesthesiology available for escalation if needed
  • Ability to provide written informed consent for participation in a study involving deep sedation

Exclusion criteria

  • Ingestion of solid food within 6-8 hours prior to the procedure, per institutional deep sedation guidelines
  • Known allergy or hypersensitivity to ketamine, fentanyl or midazolam
  • Inability to provide informed consent or lack of decision-making capacity
  • Prisoner status
  • Uncontrolled hypertension or other condition in which ketamine-associated sympathetic stimulation would pose unacceptable risk (e.g., aortic dissection, acute myocardial infarction)
  • Pregnancy or lactation, due to contraindication to ketamine/midazolam
  • History of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders for which ketamine is contraindicated
  • Medical conditions that, in the judgment of the performing IR physician in consultation with anesthesiology, preclude safe administration of ketamine-based deep sedation

Treatment and study plan

ketamine

Drug

Ketamine will be administered as follows: initial intravenous bolus of 30-50 mg intravenous ketamine, with additional 10-30 mg ketamine boluses administered every 10-15 minutes as needed, not to exceed a maximum dose of 2 mg/kg.

Fentanyl (IV)

Drug

25-50 mcg of intravenous fentanyl will be administered every 10-15 minutes as needed during the procedure.

midazolam

Drug

Midazolam will be administered as follows: an initial intravenous bolus of 1-2 mg midazolam followed by maintenance boluses of 0.5-1 mg intravenous midazolam as needed to achieve deep sedation.

Primary outcomes

  1. Aim 1 - Feasibility

    Time frame: From enrollment in the study immediately before the procedure to the completion of the patient satisfaction survey given after surgical recovery, within 2-hours post-op. Enrollment, procedure, and survey are completed in the same day.

    For Aim 1, feasibility will be assessed by calculating the proportion of procedures completed without failure, where failure is defined as procedure abortion due to inadequate sedation or patient intolerance, or escalation to anesthesiology takeover and/or conversion to general anesthesia. The observed failure proportion will be reported with exact (Clopper-Pearson) 95% confidence intervals. Feasibility will be interpreted relative to the prespecified threshold of ≤10% failure.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient-Reported Pain

    Time frame: Pre-procedure (baseline; immediately before procedure) and post-procedure (immediately after recovery period; within 2 hours post-op).

    Pain will be assessed using the validated 10-point Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), where 0 represents no pain and 10 represents worst imaginable pain. The study coordinator will document pre-procedure pain and post-procedure pain in the immediate recovery period. If a participant reports no recall of the procedure, this will be recorded as "no recall of pain/procedure" rather than imputing a numeric score. All pain scale measurements occur the same day as the procedure, and there are no other longitudinal measurements.

  2. Patient Satisfaction

    Time frame: Questionnaire given after recovery from procedure (within 2 hours post-op).

    Patient satisfaction will be assessed using a modified Heidelberg peri-anesthetic questionnaire (18 questions) administered in the recovery area prior to discharge or return to the inpatient unit. Questions 1-16 are rated on a scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 4 (Strongly Agree). Question 17 asks if the patient would, in the future, have "more sedation," "same sedation," or "less sedation." Question 18 asks the patient to rate their level of pain on a scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst possible pain).

  3. Recovery Duration

    Time frame: Immediately post-procedure to discharge from recovery area (within 2 hours post-op).

    Recovery duration will be defined as the time from procedure completion to discharge from the procedural recovery area or return to the inpatient unit, reflecting clinically meaningful recovery rather than anesthetic emergence alone.

  4. Sedation-Related Adverse Events

    Time frame: The procedure begins and finishes in one day. Adverse events that occur during the procedure, immediately after, and after recovery (within 2-hours post-procedure) will be recorded.

    Sedation-related adverse events will be prospectively documented and will include:

    • Hypotension or hypertension requiring intervention
    • Oxygen desaturation <90%
    • Need for airway intervention
    • Escalation to anesthesiology takeover and/or conversion to general anesthesia
    • Administration of reversal agents
    • Post-procedural nausea, vomiting, or hallucinations not responsive to medications

    Procedure-related adverse events will include bleeding, pneumothorax, infection, and other complications classified according to Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) Standards of Practice. Vital signs, including lowest oxygen saturation and lowest and highest blood pressure during the procedure, will be recorded. This outcome is for the single day in which the procedure occurs. No pre-procedural or longitudinal data is applicable.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Adam M Belcher, Ph.D.

CONTACT

[email protected]

304-388-9920

Amy R Deipolyi, M.D., Ph.D.

CONTACT

[email protected]

304-388-8199

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

CAMC Health System

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Prospective Single-Arm Feasibility Study of IR-led Deep Sedation for Interventional Radiology Procedures Traditionally Performed With Anesthesiology Support

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Mar 2, 2026
Registry last updated
Mar 9, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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