Calcium and Vasopressin following Injury Early Resuscitation (CAVALIER) Trial

Trauma is the leading cause of death in those under the age of 45 and the most common cause of preventable death after injury is bleeding. The CAlcium and VAsopressin following Injury Early Resuscitation trial (CAVALIER), is a study that will look at whether giving calcium, vasopressin or both earlier will increase survival for someone who is injured and bleeding badly.

Why Calcium? Patients who lose a lot of blood and receive blood products often have low levels of calcium to help their blood to clot.

Why Vasopressin? When patients lose a lot of blood their blood pressure drops. Drugs like vasopressin are given to patients with low blood pressure to “squeeze” their veins to increase blood pressure to a healthy level.

Both calcium and vasopressin are widely used across the country, but usually later in a patient’s care. Researchers think that giving these products earlier could save lives (closer to the time of severe injuries with a lot of blood loss).

Research is normally only conducted with the express permission of the patient. However, it is often not possible to obtain patients’ consent to study treatments that are administered in life-threatening emergencies. The CAVALIER trial will therefore be conducted under federal regulations that allow for an exception from informed consent (EFIC) (see study links for more information on this).

The CAVALIER trial will be conducted in 13 leading trauma centers in the US and will include 1,050 patients.