Completed

BOUGIEBougie or Stylet In Patients Undergoing Intubation Emergently (BOUGIE): a Randomized, Multi-center Trial

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What is being tested

Bougie

+ Endotracheal Tube with Stylet

Other
Who is being recruted

Over 18 Years
+10 Eligibility Criteria
See all eligibility criteria
How is the trial designed

Treatment Study

Interventional
Study Start: April 2019
See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorVanderbilt University Medical Center
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Study start date: April 29, 2019

Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

The BOUGIE trial is a prospective, parallel group, pragmatic, randomized trial comparing the effect of bougie use versus endotracheal tube with stylet use on the incidence of successful intubation on the first attempt among adults undergoing urgent or emergent tracheal intubation. Patients admitted to the study units who are deemed by their clinical team to require intubation and fulfill inclusion criteria without meeting exclusion criteria will be randomized 1:1 to use of a bougie or use of an endotracheal tube and stylet on the first attempt at intubation. All other decisions regarding airway management, including the choice to use a bougie or endotracheal tube and stylet on subsequent attempts, will remain at the discretion of the treating provider. The trial will enroll 1,106 patients. Conduct of the trial will be overseen by a Data Safety Monitoring Board. An interim analysis will be performed after the enrollment of 553 patients. The analysis of the trial will be conducted in accordance with a pre-specified statistical analysis plan, which will be submitted for publication or made publicly available prior to the conclusion of enrollment. The primary outcome is successful intubation on the first attempt The secondary outcome is severe hypoxemia (lowest arterial oxygen saturation between induction and two minutes following intubation of less than 80%)

Official TitleBougie or Stylet In Patients Undergoing Intubation Emergently (BOUGIE): a Randomized, Multi-center Trial
Principal SponsorVanderbilt University Medical Center
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details

1106 patients to be enrolled

Total number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.

Treatment Study

These studies test new ways to treat a disease, condition, or health issue. The goal is to see if a new drug, therapy, or approach works better or has fewer side effects than existing options.


Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Criteria

Any sex

Biological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.

Over 18 Years

Range of ages for which participants are eligible to join.

Healthy volunteers not allowed

If individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.

Criteria

4 inclusion criteria required to participate
Patient is located in a participating unit of an adult hospital

Planned procedure is tracheal intubation with sedative administration (or tracheal intubation without sedative administration during cardiac arrest)

Planned operator is a clinician expected to routinely perform tracheal intubation in the participating unit

Planned laryngoscopy device is a non-hyperangulated laryngoscope blade

6 exclusion criteria prevent from participating
Patient is pregnant

Patient is a prisoner

Urgency of intubation precludes safe performance of study procedures

Operator feels an approach to intubation other than use of a bougie or use of an endotracheal tube with stylet would be best for the care of the patient

Show More Criteria

Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives

2 intervention groups are designated in this study

This study does not include a placebo group 

Treatment Groups

Group I

Active Comparator
For patients randomized to use of a bougie, the operator will use a bougie on the first attempt at intubation. If successful, an assistant will load an endotracheal tube over the bougie, and the operator (without removing the laryngoscope from the mouth) will guide the tube through the vocal cords to the desired depth in the trachea. If the bougie is not successfully placed in the trachea or the endotracheal tube cannot be successfully advanced over the bougie on the first attempt at intubation, the operator may use any approach during subsequent attempts at tracheal intubation.

Group II

Active Comparator
For patients randomized to use of an endotracheal tube with stylet, the operator will use an endotracheal tube containing a removeable, malleable stylet, on the first attempt at intubation. Manipulation of the shape/curve of the endotracheal tube with stylet is at the discretion of the operator, however a "straight-to-cuff" shape and a bend angle of 25° to 35° is encouraged. The stylet will be left in place until the tube is advanced to the trachea. If the endotracheal tube with stylet is not successfully placed in the trachea on the first attempt at intubation, the operator may use any approach during subsequent attempts at tracheal intubation.

Study Objectives

Primary Objectives

Secondary Objectives

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.

This study has 11 locations

Suspended

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Birmingham, United StatesOpen University of Alabama at Birmingham in Google Maps
Suspended

University of Colorado

Denver, United States
Suspended

Denver Health and Hospital Authority

Denver, United States
Suspended

University of Iowa Hospital

Iowa City, United States
Completed11 Study Centers