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Remote Home Assessment of Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (RHAALS)

The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Know the risks and potential benefits of clinical studies and talk to your health care provider before participating. Read our disclaimer for details.
 
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06046599
Recruitment Status : Recruiting
First Posted : September 21, 2023
Last Update Posted : September 21, 2023
Sponsor:
Collaborators:
Imperial College London
King's College Hospital NHS Trust
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
King's College London

Brief Summary:

The goal of this observational study is the develop new ways of remotely monitoring the health and symptoms of people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis from within their homes. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Can we integrate a new muscle monitoring device into Imperial College London's home monitoring platform?
  • Can we investigate and understand the relationship between muscle activity and measure of patient behaviour (e.g., patient movement), physiology (e.g., pulse/blood pressure variation) and sleep quality from the home?
  • Can we establish a home-based multimodal biomarker that tracks the neurodegenerative process in ALS? Participants will have passive internet-of-things sensors and internet-enabled medical devices installed in their homes for one year. Some sensors will record automatically without any interaction from the participants, but some will require participants to engage with daily (e.g., blood pressure monitor) on their own or with the help of a study partner.

Where possible, researchers will compare the collected data to other neurodegenerative diseases and healthy controls to understand differences over time.


Condition or disease
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Detailed Description:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells causing loss of muscle control. Patients with ALS often die within three years of diagnosis. There is only one available drug for ALS, which offers only a small increase to survival by two to three months. The discovery of new drugs for ALS is difficult due to a lack of objective measures that can be used to track disease progression. Consequently, there is a huge need to discover measures that can reliably track ALS over time, which can then be included in clinical trials to speed up drug discovery.

Muscle twitches are a distinctive characteristic present in all patients with ALS. These muscle twitches can be seen at the surface of the skin and can be detected accurately with electromyography (EMGs). We predict that these muscle twitches will provide a sensitive measure of disease progression.

Due to large dropout rates caused by travelling to and from the hospital, we have built and validated a compact high-density EMG device that sits on the surface of the skin to facilitate repeated assessments from patients' homes. This small device is a tenth of the cost of current devices and has been demonstrated to safely and effectively record muscle twitches. The EMG will be integrated into a digital remote home monitoring platform called Minder. Minder is an established platform for recording internet-enabled medical devices and sensors from within a patient's home.

This study aims to establish a home-based digital measure that can track disease progression in patients with ALS. We will recruit 20 patients with ALS from King's Motor Nerve Clinic. Patients will participate in the study for 12-months and will undergo continuous monitoring through the digital monitoring platform alongside regular EMG recordings.

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Study Type : Observational
Estimated Enrollment : 20 participants
Observational Model: Case-Only
Time Perspective: Prospective
Official Title: Remote Home Assessment of Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Actual Study Start Date : October 24, 2022
Estimated Primary Completion Date : February 1, 2024
Estimated Study Completion Date : February 1, 2024


Group/Cohort
Patients living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Individuals with a known diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis will be recruited from King's College Hospital's Motor Nerve Clinic. The cohort will contain 20 individuals and their study partners and will be part of the study for one year.



Primary Outcome Measures :
  1. EMG activity [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Number of fasciculations from electromyography


Secondary Outcome Measures :
  1. Nocturnal Respiration [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Respiratory rate recorded from an under mattress sensor

  2. Nocturnal heart rate [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Heart rate recorded from an under mattress sensor

  3. Household movement [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Movement within the home collected from passive infrared sensors

  4. Sleep stage ratios [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Awake periods, light sleep, deep sleep and rapid eye movement sleep recorded from an under mattress sensor.

  5. Blood pressure [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Blood pressure recorded from a wireless internet enabled blood pressure monitor

  6. Blood oxygen saturation [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Blood oxygen saturation recorded from a smart watch

  7. Heart beat irregularity [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    R wave cycle count from electrocardiogram within smart watch

  8. Temperature [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Recorded from an internet enabled thermometer

  9. Weight [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Recorded from smart scales

  10. Step count [ Time Frame: 1 year ]
    Step count recorded from a smart watch



Information from the National Library of Medicine

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.


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Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older   (Adult, Older Adult)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No
Sampling Method:   Non-Probability Sample
Study Population
Patients with a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis recruited through King's College Hospital's Motor Nerve Clinic
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 18 years of age or above at the time of signing the informed consent.
  • Diagnosed with ALS by a neurologist with expertise in ALS (Brooks et al., 2000). For subjects with bulbar onset there must be objective limb involvement of at least one limb.
  • Diagnosed with ALS within 36 months of symptom onset.
  • Subjects must be ambulatory (i.e., must not be confined to a wheelchair).
  • Capable of giving signed informed consent.
  • Capable and willing to comply with the requirements of the protocol (either by themselves or with assistance).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • The study will recruit individuals with a recent diagnosis of ALS.

Inclusion criteria:

  • Aged 18 years of age or above at the time of signing the informed consent.
  • Diagnosed with ALS by a neurologist with expertise in ALS (Brooks et al., 2000). For subjects with bulbar onset there must be objective limb involvement of at least one limb.
  • Diagnosed with ALS within 36 months of symptom onset.
  • Subjects must be ambulatory (i.e., must not be confined to a wheelchair).
  • Capable of giving signed informed consent.
  • Capable and willing to comply with the requirements of the protocol (either by themselves or with assistance).

Exclusion criteria:

  • Neurological (other than the subject's ALS) or non-neurological co-morbidities (e.g., joint disease, respiratory disease) which limit mobility.
  • Clinically significant cognitive impairment in the opinion of the investigator or lacking capacity in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act (2005).
  • Regionally restricted forms of ALS, or other atypical variants:
  • Isolated corticobulbar pattern of ALS with normal ambulation
  • Primary lateral sclerosis
  • Signs of chronic partial denervation restricted to a single limb
  • ALS or parkinsonism dementia complex
  • Subjects requiring mechanical ventilation (non-invasive ventilation for sleep apnoea is allowed).
  • Historical or current evidence of clinically significant uncontrolled disease which, in the opinion of the chief investigator, would put the safety of the subject at risk through participation or impact the study assessments or endpoints.
  • Presence of an active implantable cardiac medical device (e.g., pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) or at a high risk for needing external defibrillation.
  • History of skin hypersensitivity to adhesives.
  • Current participation in a clinical trial which in the opinion of the chief investigator might impact the objectives of this study.
  • Does not have Wifi/stable internet in the home.

Information from the National Library of Medicine

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT06046599


Contacts
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Contact: Mark A Crook-Rumsey, PhD +44(0) 7850255865 ext +44 markcrook-rumsey@hotmail.co.uk
Contact: James Bashford, MD 07876406551 ext +44 james.bashford@kcl.ac.uk

Locations
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United Kingdom
King's College Hospital Recruiting
London, United Kingdom, SE5 9RS
Contact: Chris Shaw, Professor    +44(0) 20 7836 5454 ext 85180    chris.shaw@kcl.ac.uk   
Sponsors and Collaborators
King's College London
Imperial College London
King's College Hospital NHS Trust
Additional Information:
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Responsible Party: King's College London
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06046599    
Other Study ID Numbers: 296187
First Posted: September 21, 2023    Key Record Dates
Last Update Posted: September 21, 2023
Last Verified: August 2023
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
Plan to Share IPD: Undecided

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Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: No
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
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Motor Neuron Disease
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Sclerosis
Pathologic Processes
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Nervous System Diseases
Neuromuscular Diseases
Spinal Cord Diseases
Central Nervous System Diseases
TDP-43 Proteinopathies
Proteostasis Deficiencies
Metabolic Diseases