Trial to test drugs to reduce post-surgical complications

A Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH)-led trial is set to explore whether a newer muscle relaxant reversal drug can help reduce the number of post-surgical lung complications.

To be known as the SNaPP Study (Sugammadex, Neostigmine and Postoperative Pulmonary complications), the project has received $2.9 million in funding from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), said the RMH in a statement.

The 3500-patient randomised controlled trial will be run over four years by researchers from the RMH and the University of Melbourne, as well as the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) Clinical Trials Network (CTN).

The study’s Principal Investigator, the RMH anaesthetist Professor Kate Leslie AO, said the goal of the study is to reduce the burden of these complications.

“These complications lead to prolonged illness and decreased quality of life for patients and increased costs for the healthcare system,” she said.

“Our team has a long history of successfully completing large perioperative trials and with the SNaPP Study we will once again join forces with investigators and trial coordinators in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong to answer one of the most hotly debated questions in our specialty.”

The SNaPP Study will recruit adult patients presenting for abdominal or thoracic surgery. They will receive a general anaesthetic for their surgery that includes muscle relaxant drugs.

At the end of their surgery, they will receive either neostigmine (the traditional drug) or sugammadex (a new drug which is more reliable but also more expensive) to reverse the muscle relaxant. The patients will be followed up for lung complications (eg, pneumonia) and quality of life, the RMH said.

This information, along with health expenditure data, will be used to determine if sugammadex is cost-effective. The results of this study will have immediate benefits for patients and the healthcare system.

Image caption: RMH anaethetist Professor Kate Leslie AO. Image credit: RMH