Background By end December of 2021, COVID-19 has infected around 276 million individuals and caused over 5 million deaths worldwide. Infection results in dysregulated systemic inflammation, multi-organ dysfunction, and critical illness. Cells of the central nervous system are also affected, triggering an uncontrolled neuroinflammatory response. Low doses of glucocorticoids, administered orally or intravenously, reduce mortality among moderate and severe COVID-19 patients. However, low doses administered by these routes do not reach therapeutic levels in the CNS. In contrast, intranasally administered dexamethasone can result in therapeutic doses in the CNS even at low doses. Methods This is an approved open-label, multicenter, randomized controlled trial to compare the effectiveness of intranasal versus intravenous dexamethasone administered in low doses to moderate and severe COVID-19 adult patients. The protocol is conducted in five health institutions in Mexico City. A total of 120 patients will be randomized into two groups (intravenous vs. intranasal) at a 1:1 ratio. Both groups will be treated with the corresponding dexamethasone scheme for 10 days. The primary outcome of the study will be clinical improvement, defined as a statistically significant reduction in the NEWS-2 score of patients with intranasal versus intravenous dexamethasone administration. The secondary outcome will be the reduction in mortality during hospitalization. Conclusions This protocol is currently in progress to improve the efficacy of the standard therapeutic dexamethasone regimen for moderate and severe COVID-19 patients. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04513184 . Registered November 12, 2020. Approved by La Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (COFEPRIS) with identification number DI/20/407/04/36. People are currently being recruited. Graphical abstract Highlights REVIVAL is a multicenter, open-label, randomized, controlled study to compare the standard low doses of intravenous dexamethasone with weight-adjusted low doses of intranasal dexamethasone. Intranasal dexamethasone can reach the respiratory tract more effectively than intravenous administration. Intranasal dexamethasone can reach the central nervous system in therapeutic concentrations, even at low doses. REVIVAL aims to reduce central failures and sequelae by controlling not only systemic inflammation but also neuroinflammation.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Dexamethasone, Inflammation, intranasal administration, Neuroinflammation, 【초록키워드】 Randomized controlled trial, Glucocorticoids, Efficacy, protocol, Open-label, severe COVID-19, Hospitalization, multi-organ dysfunction, Randomized, low dose, therapeutic, Patient, Effectiveness, death, Clinical improvement, Central nervous system, systemic inflammation, respiratory tract, multicenter, group, CNS, Critical, moderate, patients, intranasal, administration, dose, intravenous, regimen, therapeutic dose, Mexico City, Abstract, Primary outcome, individual, severe COVID-19 patients, secondary outcome, doses, intravenously, reduction in mortality, triggering, Administered, FIVE, concentrations, statistically significant reduction, reduce mortality, health institution, IMPROVE, defined, affected, caused, recruited, intranasally, approved, conducted, treated, reduce, two group, dysregulated, 1:1, 【제목키워드】 clinical trial, COVID-19 patient,