Emory University Department of Emergency Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital will take part in a U.S. Department of Defense-funded clinical trial to compare different ways to help people with traumatic injuries breathe.

The Prehospital Airway Control Trial (PACT) is a 4-year, $8.8 million study to test different interventions on how to secure a person’s airway at the scene of a trauma to assess effectiveness at improving survival rates.

Currently, prehospital providers typically use one of two methods to help people breathe: one is with a tube in the windpipe, called an endotracheal (ET) tube, and the other is with a device that sits over the windpipe, called a supraglottic airway (SGA).

Although both methods are currently used, we don’t know which is better. To test this, we will ask some prehospital providers to use whatever method they would normally use and other providers to try using the SGA first. We will then compare the two groups.

Patients brought to Grady Memorial Hospital by ambulance will be a part of the trial. Patients who are too injured to consent will be automatically enrolled and the traditional informed consent process will take place following management of the trauma.

Patients must be in a coma or unable to oxygenate or ventilate adequately will be enrolled in the clinical trial.

If you would like to talk to someone more about the study or if you have any questions, please complete the form or email at: PACTStudy@edc.pitt.edu

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