Cardiac Arrest clinical trials at UCSF

RESTORE is a randomized clinical trial investigating the safety and feasibility of using EEG treatment targets (burst suppression vs. seizure suppression) for post-cardiac arrest refractory status epilepticus treatment.

Advanced heart failure, affecting 7 million Americans, has multiple causes and results in greatly increased risk of disability and death. A major problem is sudden cardiac death, when the damaged heart develops an abnormal pattern of electrical conduction that can result in cessation of heart activity. While placement of an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) in a patient's chest can help prevent sudden cardiac death, these devices have several important downsides. This protocol focuses on development of a digital decision aid that helps heart failure patients make informed decisions that balance the benefits and downsides of ICD placement. This protocol covers the use of participant surveys, focus groups, and interviews to obtain the needed background information to guide the development of this digital tool, which will be subsequently tested against usual care in a randomized clinical trial. The study design is best described as a mixed methods evaluation and refinement of a digital app to improve ICD decision-making. In the future, the present protocol will be modified to create a new protocol that covers the needed human subjects requirements for performance of this clinical trial.

Brain injury is the main cause of death and disability for patients surviving cardiac arrest resuscitation and seizures are diagnosed in up to a third of these patients. The investigators are proposing a pilot randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and feasibility of perampanel use for post-cardiac arrest status epilepticus (PCARSE) prevention after cardiac arrest.