Randomized Controlled Trial Between Laparoscopic and Open Surgery in Transverse and Descending Colon Cancer Patients

Sponsor

Shoichi Fujii, MD, PhD (Other)

Overall Status

Unknown status

CT.gov ID

NCT01861691

Collaborator

(none)

Enrollment

Location

Arms

110

Duration (Months)

0.6

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

The long-term results of several large-scale prospective randomized trials that compared laparoscopic-assisted and open colectomy for colon cancer were published in the past decade. The oncologic outcomes were nearly similar in patients who underwent laparoscopic or open surgery. In Japan, the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) conducted a randomized trial to compare oncological outcomes between patients who underwent laparoscopic or open surgery for advanced colon cancer and recto-sigmoid cancer. However, the exclusion criterion were concerning tumor site in transverse and descending colon. The reason of exclusion was that laparoscopic procedure was difficult in transverse and descending colon cancers. However, laparoscopic surgery for transverse and descending colon cancer was performed clinically. We conducted a randomized trial that compared laparoscopic surgery and conventional open surgery in in transverse and descending colon cancer. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic surgery on in transverse and descending colon cancer patients.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Malignant Neoplasm of Transverse Colon Malignant Neoplasm of Descending Colon	Procedure: Open surgery Procedure: Laparoscopic surgery	Phase 2

Detailed Description

Patients

This was a randomized controlled trial conducted at a single institute, which was Yokohama City University Medical Center (Japan).
80 patients who had transverse colon or descending colon cancer were randomly allocated to receive laparoscopic surgery or conventional open surgery.

Surgical procedures

All surgical procedures were performed by one specialized colorectal treatment team. The laparoscopic surgeries were performed by a surgeon who passed the skill accreditation system for laparoscopic gastroenterological surgery was established by the Japanese Society for Endoscopic Surgery (JSES), and all open surgeries were performed under the supervision of these skillful surgeons.
All operations were performed according to the standard radical cure procedure described in the seventh edition of the Japanese General Rules for Clinical and Pathological Studies on Cancer of the Colon, Rectum and Anus. That is, intestinal excision with lymph node dissection that separated the feeding blood vessel at its origin was performed in all surgical procedures. Patients who underwent palliative partial excision were not included.
In the laparoscopic surgery, a medial-to-lateral approach was performed in all patients.
In the conventional open surgery, the first procedure was done in lateral approach. The reconstruction techniques were the same as those used in laparoscopic surgery.

Randomization - To balance the operative backgrounds between the laparoscopic and the conventional open surgery groups, the patients were stratified by the tumor location (transverse colon, descending colon).

Adjuvant therapy

When the pathological stage was diagnosed as stage 3 by histological examination of the resected specimen, adjuvant chemotherapy was done with oral fluoropyrimidine anti-cancer drug.
Neither radiation therapy nor preoperative chemotherapy was given to any patient. Preoperative chemo-radiotherapy even for rectal cancer is not yet standard treatment in Japan.

Assessment parameters

The preoperative parameters
Operative assessment parameters
Postoperative assessment parameters An early postoperative complication was defined as a complication that occurred between the finish of the operation and postoperative day 30. A late postoperative complication was defined as a complication that occurred after postoperative day 30. The terminologies of complications were classified according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.0, and grading was done by Classification of Surgical Complication.
The pathological results were recorded according to the 7th edition of the Japanese General Rules for Clinical and Pathological Studies on Cancer of the Colon, Rectum and Anus and 7th edition of primary tumor, regional nodes, metastasis (TNM) classification. Circumferential margin involvement was defined as exposure of a cancer cell at the vertical dissection surface on histological examination.
Quality of life (QOL) scores. The QOL score was measured using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) version 2.0. It is a tool that measures health-related QOL (HRQOL) according to an inclusive standard and not a disease-specific standard. The SF-36 is composed of 36 questions. The score is expressed numerically by the provided scoring algorithm. SF-36 questionnaires were sent to the patients at one month, 6 months and one year after the surgery by postal mail. A return envelope was enclosed with the SF-36 questionnaire, and the patient sent it back to the research secretariat by postal mail. A questionnaire on the defecation situation and wound pain besides the SF-36 was added all three times. The question of when complete rehabilitation occurred was added in the questionnaire at one year.

Follow-up schedule

The follow-up schedule was as follows according to stage. Patients with stages 0 and I were followed up with outpatient examinations including tumor marker measurements, and chest, abdominal and pelvic computed tomography (CT) once a year for five years. Patients with stage 2 and 3a were examined by CT and tumor marker measurements every six months for the first two years. These examinations were done once a year from the third year to the fifth year. Patients with stage 3b and 3c were examined by CT and tumor marker measurements every four months for the first two years, and every six months from the third year to the fifth year.

Statistical analysis

The primary endpoint was early complication rate.
The secondary endpoints were 5-recurrence-free survival, 5-year overall survival, length of postoperative hospital stay, and HRQOL score. To evaluate whether a difference in the operative procedure influences survival including death due to another disease, a comparison of overall survival has meaning. Early complication rate, length of postoperative hospital stay and HRQOL score were added to the secondary endpoints because these parameters had a possibility of becoming grounds of selection of the operation method if there were no differences in overall survival and recurrence-free survival.
A sample size of 74 patients was assured to achieve a power of more than 70% to detect a difference between the groups using a two-sided Chi-squared test with type I error rate equal to 0.2, when the true complication rates were 20% and 40% for the laparoscopic and open surgeries, respectively. The dropouts were considered and the number of accumulation targets was assumed to be 80 patients.
For continuous variables, data are presented as means ± standard deviation (SD). For categorical variables, data are presented as frequencies and percentages (%). Comparison of the endpoints was based on intention-to-treat principle, that is, the patients who switched to another group during surgery were treated as members of the allocated group. The Chi-squared test was applied to evaluate the significance of differences in proportions, and t-test was used to evaluate the significance of differences in continuous variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Actual Enrollment :

66 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Treatment

Official Title:

Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate Laparoscopic Versus Open Surgery in Transverse and Descending Colon Cancer Patients

Study Start Date :

Aug 1, 2008

Actual Primary Completion Date :

Oct 1, 2012

Anticipated Study Completion Date :

Oct 1, 2017

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Active Comparator: Open surgery Open colectomy	Procedure: Open surgery Conventional technique Other Names: Open colectomy
Experimental: Laparoscopic surgery Laparoscopic colectomy	Procedure: Laparoscopic surgery New minimum invasive technique Other Names: Laparoscopic colectomy

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Active Comparator: Open surgery

Open colectomy

Procedure: Open surgery

Conventional technique

Other Names:

Open colectomy

Experimental: Laparoscopic surgery

Laparoscopic colectomy

Procedure: Laparoscopic surgery

New minimum invasive technique

Other Names:

Laparoscopic colectomy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Early complication rate [within the first 30 days after surgery]
Early complication is defined as a complication that occured between the finish of the surgery and postoperative day 30.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Recurrence-free survival [5 years]
All death and recurrence of colon cancer is defined as an event of recurrence-free survival.
Overall survival [5 years]
All death is defined as an event of overall survival.
Length of postoperative hospital stay [10 days]
Length of postoperative hospital stay is defined as a duration between surgery and first discharge. An expected average is 10 days.
Health-related QOL score [1 year after surgery]
The QOL score was measured using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) version 2.0. It is a tool that measures health-related QOL (HRQOL) according to an inclusive standard and not a disease-specific standard. The SF-36 is composed of 36 questions. The score is expressed numerically by the provided scoring algorithm. SF-36 questionnaires were sent to the patients at one month, 6 months and one year after the surgery by postal mail. A return envelope was enclosed with the SF-36 questionnaire, and the patient sent it back to the research secretariat by postal mail. A questionnaire on the defecation situation and wound pain besides the SF-36 was added all three times. The question of when complete rehabilitation occurred was added in the questionnaire at one year.

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

20 Years and Older

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Inclusion Criteria:

Age of 20 years old or over
Histologically proven adenocarcinoma
Clinical tumor penetrates visceral peritoneum (T4a), no metastasis (M0) or lower T factor
Elective operation
Tolerable surgery under general anesthesia
No bulky tumor larger than 8cm in diameter
No history of laparotomy for colorectal resection except appendectomy
Provided written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

Synchronous or metachronous (within 5 years) malignancy in another organ except carcinoma in situ
Multiple colorectal cancer that needs reconstruction two or more times
Acute intestinal obstruction or perforation due to colorectal cancer
Lower rectal cancer that required pelvic side wall lymphadenectomy
Pregnant or lactating women