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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT05111613

The PEERLESS Study

A prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled trial of the FlowTriever System compared to Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis (CDT) for use in the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism. The trial includes a non-randomized cohort of subjects with an absolute contraindication to thrombolysis.

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Key information

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Universtitaetsklinikum Dusseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

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Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

Subjects must meet each of the following criteria to be included in the study:

  • Age ≥ 18 years
  • Echo, computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA), or pulmonary angiographic evidence of any proximal filling defect in at least one main or lobar pulmonary artery
  • Including ALL of the following: Clinical signs and symptoms consistent with acute PE, or PESI class III-V, or sPESI ≥1; AND Hemodynamically stable AND; RV dysfunction on echocardiography or CT; AND Any one or more of the following present at the time of diagnosis: Elevated cardiac troponin levels; History of heart failure; History of chronic lung disease; Heart rate ≥110 beats per minute; SBP <100mmHg; Respiratory rate ≥30 breaths per minute; O2 saturation <90%; Syncope related to PE; Elevated Lactate
  • Intervention planned to begin within 72 hours of the later of either: confirmed PE diagnosis; OR if transferring from another hospital, arrival at the treating hospital
  • Symptom onset within 14 days of confirmed PE diagnosis

Exclusion criteria

Subjects will be excluded from the study for any of the following criteria:

  • Unable to anticoagulate with heparin, enoxaparin or other parenteral antithrombin
  • Index presentation with hemodynamic instability that are part of the high-risk PE definition in the ESC Guidelines 2019, including ANY of the following: cardiac arrest; OR systolic BP < 90 mmHg or vasopressors required to achieve a BP ≥90 mmHg despite adequate filling status, AND end-organ hypoperfusion; OR systolic BP < 90 mmHg or systolic BP drop ≥40 mmHg, lasting longer than 15 min and not caused by new-onset arrhythmia, hypovolemia, or sepsis
  • Known sensitivity to radiographic contrast agents that, in the Investigator's opinion, cannot be adequately pre-treated
  • Imaging evidence or other evidence that suggests, in the opinion of the Investigator, the patient is not appropriate for catheter-based intervention (e.g. inability to navigate to target location, clot limited to segmental/subsegmental distribution, predominately chronic clot)
  • Patient has right heart clot in transit identified at baseline screening
  • Life expectancy < 30 days (e.g. stage 4 cancer or severe COVID-19 infection), as determined by the Investigator
  • Current participation in another drug or device study that, in the Investigator's opinion, would interfere with participation in this study
  • Current or history of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) or chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED) diagnosis, per ESC 2019 guidelines
  • Invasive systolic PA pressure ≥70 mmHg prior to study device entering the body
  • Administration of bolus or drip/infusion thrombolytic therapy or mechanical thrombectomy for the index PE event within 48 hours prior to enrollment
  • Ventricular arrhythmias refractory to treatment at the time of enrollment
  • Known to have heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT)
  • Subject has any condition for which, in the opinion of the Investigator, participation would not be in the best interest of the subject (e.g., compromise the well-being or that could prevent, limit, or confound the protocol-specified assessments). This includes a contraindication to use of FlowTriever or CDT System (for example, EKOS System) per local approved labeling
  • Subject has previously completed or withdrawn from this study
  • Patient unwilling or unable to conduct the follow up visits per protocol.

Treatment and study plan

Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis

Device

Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis for pulmonary embolism (any commercially available CDT system)

FlowTriever System

Device

Mechanical thrombectomy for pulmonary embolism

Primary outcomes

  1. Primary Endpoint: Composite Clinical Endpoint Constructed as a 5-Component Win Ratio

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

    The primary endpoint is a composite constructed as a hierarchical win ratio of the following 5 components:

    • All-cause mortality, or
    • Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), or
    • Major bleeding per ISTH definition, or
    • Clinical deterioration defined by hemodynamic or respiratory worsening, and/or escalation to a bailout therapy, or
    • ICU admission and ICU length-of-stay during the index hospitalization and following the index procedure.

    A win ratio larger than 1 indicates that patients who receive treatment with FlowTriever are more likely to have better outcomes as compared to subjects treated with CDT.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Composite Clinical Endpoint Constructed as a 4-Component Win Ratio

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

    This secondary endpoint is a composite constructed as a hierarchical win ratio of the following 4 components:

    • All-cause mortality, or
    • Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), or
    • Major bleeding per ISTH definition, or
    • Clinical deterioration defined by hemodynamic or respiratory worsening, and/or escalation to a bailout therapy

    A win ratio larger than 1 indicates that patients who receive treatment with FlowTriever are more likely to have better outcomes as compared to subjects treated with CDT.

  2. All-cause Mortality

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

  3. Intracranial Hemorrhage (ICH)

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

  4. Major Bleeding Per ISTH Definition

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

  5. Clinical Deterioration Defined by Hemodynamic or Respiratory Worsening, and/or Escalation to a Bailout Therapy

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

    Clinical deterioration is defined as documented objective hemodynamic or respiratory worsening that is new (i.e. not present at the time of enrollment).

    Bailout therapy is an unplanned escalation of therapeutic measures, taken when the patient's condition has not improved or is not improving according to expectations.

  6. ICU Admission During the Index Hospitalization and Following the Index Procedure

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

  7. ICU Length of Stay During the Index Hospitalization and Following the Index Procedure Among Subjects With ICU Admission.

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

  8. All Cause Mortality

    Time frame: 30 days from index procedure

  9. All-cause and PE-related Readmissions

    Time frame: 30 days from index procedure

  10. Device-related Serious Adverse Events

    Time frame: Through the 30 day visit

    Device-related SAEs included those adjudicated by the CEC to be related to the interventional device.

  11. Drug-related Serious Adverse Events

    Time frame: Through the 30 day visit

    Drug-related SAEs included those adjudicated by the CEC to be related to anticoagulation and/or thrombolytics medication.

  12. Clinically Relevant Non-Major (CRNM) and Minor Bleeding Events

    Time frame: Hospital discharge or at 7 days after the index procedure, whichever is sooner

  13. Change in Right-ventricular/Left-ventricular (RV/LV) Ratio, as Measured by Echocardiography or CT

    Time frame: Baseline to 24 hour visit

    Assessments of change were made using the same imaging modality at baseline and at the 24-hour visit.

  14. Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnea Score at 24 Hour Visit

    Time frame: At 24 hour visit

    The mMRC score is reported on a 0-4 scale with lower scores representing less dyspnea.

  15. Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnea Score at 30 Day Visit

    Time frame: At 30 day visit

    The mMRC score is reported on a 0-4 scale with lower scores representing less dyspnea.

  16. Length of Total Hospital Stay

    Time frame: Through 30 days post-procedure

  17. Length of Post-index-procedure Hospital Stay

    Time frame: Through 30 days post-procedure

  18. Pulmonary Embolism Quality of Life (PEmb-QOL) Score at 30 Day Visit

    Time frame: At 30 day visit

    The Pulmonary Embolism Quality of Life (PEmb-QOL) questionnaire is used to assess the quality of life in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE). It is a disease-specific tool designed to evaluate the impact of PE on various aspects of a patient's life, including daily activities, work, social life, and emotional well-being, and is reported on a 0-100 scale with lower scores representing better quality of life.

  19. EQ-5D-5L Quality of Life Score at 30 Day Visit

    Time frame: At 30 day visit

    Each of the five dimensions comprising the EQ-5D-5L descriptive system (mobility, self-care, usual activates, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression) are graded from 1 (no problems) to 5 (extreme problems). A descriptive health state is defined by combining each level for 5 dimensions into a 5-digit code (e.g., 12345) which is then mapped to the health state index score based on a country-specific value set. Health state index scores range from less than 0 (where 0 is the value of a health state equivalent to dead; negative values representing values as worse than dead) to 1 (the value of full health).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Inari Medical

Industry

Registry information

Acronym: PEERLESS

Important dates

Study start
2022
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Nov 8, 2021
Registry last updated
Nov 13, 2025

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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