Recruitment commenced in September 2018 and is now complete with 530 patients recruited.
The primary outcome for the study is the incidence of rescue oxygenation attempts for hypoxaemic events during tubeless airway surgery comparing high flow nasal oxygen to low flow oxygen.
$A583,000 from Society for Paediatric Anaesthesia in New Zealand and Australia, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Thrasher Research Foundation.
The high-flow oxygen for children’s airway surgery trial (HAMSTER) results has been published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
The trial compared traditional oxygen delivery with a new method using heated and humidified oxygen through small nasal prongs at a higher rate. It involved 530 children aged 0-16 years at five Australian hospitals: Queensland Children’s Hospital, Perth Children’s Hospital, Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide.
Chief Investigator Associate Professor Susan Humphreys from Queensland Children’s Hospital explained, “This is the largest airway trial in children focusing on the safety of oxygen delivery methods. The new high-flow technique is as safe as the standard method and provides an additional option for anaesthetists.”
Full media release
Humphreys S, von Ungern-Sternberg BS, Taverner F, Davidson A, Skowno J, Hallett B, Sommerfield D, Hauser N, Williams T, Spall S, Pham T, Atkins T, Jones M, King E, Burgoyne L, Stephens P, Vijayasekaran S, Slee N, Burns H, Franklin D, Hough J, Schibler A. High-flow nasal oxygen for children's airway surgery to reduce hypoxaemic events: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2024 Jul;12(7):535-543. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(24)00115-2. Epub 2024 May 21. PMID: 38788748.
Humphreys S, von Ungern-Sternberg BS, Skowno J, Williams T, Taylor J, Taverner F, Gibbons K, Burgoyne L, Sommerfield D, Stephens P, Hallett B, Vijayasekaran S, Slee N, Burns H, Sowa M, Davidson A, Schibler A. High-flow oxygen for children's airway surgery: randomised controlled trial protocol (HAMSTER). BMJ Open. 2019 Oct 14;9(10):e031873. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031873. PMID: 31615801; PMCID: PMC6797255.
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry registration number: ACTRN12618000949280
For further information about this study, please contact the HAMSTER principal investigator, A/Prof Susan Humphreys by email.