Fentanyl Versus Hydromorphone in Patients on Mechanical Ventilation
Completed · Phase 2
Conditions studied: Mechanical Ventilation, Sedation and Analgesia, Critical Care, Intensive Care
In brief
Patients with respiratory failure who require mechanical ventilation are not only at risk of death, but also of complications of prolonged ICU stay. Patients may have significant functional decline, impact in quality of life, develop psychiatric disorders and at long-term can lead to significant cost to society. Although sedation and analgesia are considered only supportive therapy, several studies have shown that in patients on mechanical ventilation, different approaches can have significant impact on patient centered outcomes. However, to date, randomized clinical trials on critically ill patients have mostly evaluated the sedative agent but not the analgesic agent. Although morphine and its derivates are the most common used opioid analgesic agents in the critical care setting, only some retrospective studies and some prospective studies compared them head-to-head (ramifentanyl versus morphine and fentanyl versus morphine). Current guidelines recommend choosing the analgesic agent based on pharmacokinectics, physician experience and side-effects profile. To evaluate the differences of two standard-of-care analgosedation agents, the FenHydro trial will be a cluster randomized, pragmatic, pilot and feasibility superiority clinical trial in mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU. The main question the study hopes to answer is whether there is any difference in morphine milligram equivalents administered during mechanical ventilation.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT07224620
- Run by
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- People needed
- 319
- Starts
- 2025-11-03
- Expected to finish
- 2026-06-30
- Last updated by the study team
- 2026-07-14
Who can join
Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Admitted to either MICU A, B, C or FICU at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- Requiring mechanical ventilation
- Felt by primary team to require opioid infusion for analgosedation
You may not qualify if…
- Age < 18 years old
- Do not intubate orders prior to enrollment
- Comfort measures only
- Contraindication to fentanyl or hydromorphone
Where it is running
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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