RAFTER: RAman For Thyroid cancER

Sponsor
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Other)
Overall Status
Not yet recruiting
CT.gov ID
NCT04040673
Collaborator
(none)
40
1
30
40.6

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Ex vivo vibrational spectroscopy (VS), including Raman spectroscopy (RS) of thyroid tissue samples, collected from patients undergoing routine diagnostic thyroid biopsies for diagnosis of potential thyroid cancer. Raman spectra are to be correlated with consensus histopathology and clinical outcomes. Multivariate analysis to be used to evaluate the classification accuracy of VS ex vivo.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Procedure: thyroid lobectomy
  • Device: Raman spectroscopy probe measurement

Detailed Description

The Investigators (The Biophotonics Research Unit, University of Exeter and University of Bristol) have developed these "smart needle" probes, consisting of fibre-optics within a fine needle for investigating cancer below the skin's surface. It is difficult to create a sensitive probe to fit inside a needle; however, The Investigators have demonstrated this approach in lymph node tissue samples from 68 patients in the laboratory, where The Investigators showed that our probe could detect cancer with a high level of accuracy.

Following on from our success with lymph nodes The Investigators wish to trial our smart needle on excised thyroid to demonstrate the device in another ENT cancer. Earlier studies have shown that thyroid cancer can be diagnosed using RS under a microscope with an accuracy greater than 78%.9 By eliminating the need for unnecessary surgery by diagnosis with our device, The Investigators will minimise the risk to patients, eliminate delays in obtaining results and reduce the cost of surgery and overnight stay in the hospital. The Investigators wish to advance this device closer to the clinic for a new cancer to improve the patient care pathway and remove the need for unnecessary surgery, by facilitating the work of the one-stop ENT diagnostic outpatient clinics.

The study consists of measuring spectra of new tissue taken during routine diagnostic surgical thyroid lobectomy.

New tissue for this project will be collected during routine biopsy will be rapidly analysed by a spectrometer before proceeding with conventional histopathological analysis. The new tissue will consist of thyroid and adjacent tissue biopsies. No additional tissue will be taken for this research, The Investigators only plan to measure samples taken during routine diagnosis in under 5 minutes, before passing the sections back to the surgical team for routine histopathological analysis.

Anonymous background information relevant to known risk factors, family history and details of any treatment, menopausal status, details relevant medical procedures, and any treatment for thyroid cancer will be provided with the samples. An example of the report can be found in Appendix 3. Tissue specimens taken during routine clinical care are to be subjected to ex vivo vibrational spectroscopic analysis immediately prior to being sent for routine histopathological analysis. Vibrational spectra are to be correlated with consensus histopathology of adjacent sections. Multivariate analysis is to be used to evaluate the classification accuracy of VS ex vivo. The vibrational spectra will be assessed for both prognostic as well as diagnostic information.

Study Design

Study Type:
Observational
Anticipated Enrollment :
40 participants
Observational Model:
Case-Only
Time Perspective:
Retrospective
Official Title:
Evaluation of the Role of Vibrational Spectroscopy in the Diagnosis of Premalignant and Malignant Disease of the Thyroid RAFTER (RAman For Thyroid cancER)
Anticipated Study Start Date :
Sep 1, 2022
Anticipated Primary Completion Date :
Oct 1, 2022
Anticipated Study Completion Date :
Oct 1, 2022

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Normal benign

participants with normal benign nodules (no cancer)

Procedure: thyroid lobectomy
routine surgical removal of thyroid for biopsy
Other Names:
  • thyroid nodule removal
  • Device: Raman spectroscopy probe measurement
    The measurement of Raman spectra from the excised tissue

    Follicular thyroid cancer

    participants with follicular thyroid cancer

    Procedure: thyroid lobectomy
    routine surgical removal of thyroid for biopsy
    Other Names:
  • thyroid nodule removal
  • Device: Raman spectroscopy probe measurement
    The measurement of Raman spectra from the excised tissue

    Papillary thyroid cancer

    participants with papillary thyroid cancer

    Procedure: thyroid lobectomy
    routine surgical removal of thyroid for biopsy
    Other Names:
  • thyroid nodule removal
  • Device: Raman spectroscopy probe measurement
    The measurement of Raman spectra from the excised tissue

    Anaplastic thyroid cancer

    participants with anaplastic thyroid cancer

    Procedure: thyroid lobectomy
    routine surgical removal of thyroid for biopsy
    Other Names:
  • thyroid nodule removal
  • Device: Raman spectroscopy probe measurement
    The measurement of Raman spectra from the excised tissue

    Medullary thyroid cancer

    participants with medullary thyroid cancer

    Procedure: thyroid lobectomy
    routine surgical removal of thyroid for biopsy
    Other Names:
  • thyroid nodule removal
  • Device: Raman spectroscopy probe measurement
    The measurement of Raman spectra from the excised tissue

    Outcome Measures

    Primary Outcome Measures

    1. Test the Raman needle probe on freshly exised tissue [1 year]

      Measure Raman spectra and match with histopathology. Perform leave-one-out analysis to measure performance of diagnosis of Raman spectroscopy

    Secondary Outcome Measures

    1. Calculate diagnostic performance of Raman spectroscopy probe for thyroid cancer [1 year]

      Diagnostic performance (specificity and sensitivity) of Raman spectroscopy (RS) for differentiation of thyroid cancer vs normal benign (no cancer). Diagnostic performance of RS for differentiation of thyroid cancer types. Papillary thyroid cancer Follicular thyroid cancer Anaplastic thyroid cancer Medullary thyroid cancer

    Eligibility Criteria

    Criteria

    Ages Eligible for Study:
    18 Years and Older
    Sexes Eligible for Study:
    All
    Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
    No
    Inclusion Criteria:
    • Patients undergoing routine diagnostic thyroid biopsy at surgery
    Exclusion Criteria:
    • Patients are unable to provide informed consent.

    • Patients not attending for standard diagnostic biopsy for thyroid cancer

    Contacts and Locations

    Locations

    Site City State Country Postal Code
    1 Biophotonics Research Unit Gloucester Gloucestershire United Kingdom GL1 2AF

    Sponsors and Collaborators

    • Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

    Investigators

    None specified.

    Study Documents (Full-Text)

    More Information

    Publications

    Responsible Party:
    Alex Dudgeon, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
    NCT04040673
    Other Study ID Numbers:
    • 18/044/GHT
    • 245612
    • 18/LO/1545
    First Posted:
    Aug 1, 2019
    Last Update Posted:
    Mar 15, 2022
    Last Verified:
    Mar 1, 2022
    Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
    No
    Plan to Share IPD:
    No
    Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:
    No
    Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:
    No
    Keywords provided by Alex Dudgeon, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
    Additional relevant MeSH terms:

    Study Results

    No Results Posted as of Mar 15, 2022