Comparing Treatment of Urolithiasis Between Disposable and Reusable Ureteroscope

NCT ID: NCT03040466

Last Updated: 2020-10-01

Study Results

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

180 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2014-08-31

Study Completion Date

2016-09-30

Brief Summary

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Reusable flexible ureteroscopes are widely used to treat various upper urinary tract diseases including urinary stones. However, they require a long turnover time between procedures because of the sterilization process. Moreover, repeated use of a scope ultimately deteriorates its image quality which leads to a high maintenance cost in the long-term. A disposable digital flexible ureteroscope was released in the United States in January 2016, offering an improved image resolution, new scope performance characteristics with every case, and no need for sterilization and repair. Preliminary data from our center has demonstrated that disposable scopes shorten operative time by 25% compared to reusable fiberoptic scope and are associated with a 2/3 reduction in procedural complication rate. Therefore, treatment with disposable scopes may be more effective for patients and facilitate cost management within the hospital.

Here, we propose a three-armed, prospective randomized study, comparing treatment outcomes between disposable digital, reusable fiberoptic, and reusable digital flexible ureteroscopes.

Detailed Description

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This is a single center, prospective, randomized controlled pragmatic clinical trial designed to compare between disposable, reusable fiberoptic, and reusable digital ureteroscopes in upper urinary tract stone treatment efficacy. Three hundred subjects with kidney and/or ureteral stones are planned to recruit for the study. All subjects will be computer sequence-randomized into having their ureteroscopic treatment performed with a disposable (LithoVue™), reusable fiberoptic (URF-P6™), or reusable digital (URF-V2™) flexible ureteroscope. Patient's demographics, physical, laboratory, and image findings will be collected before surgery. These clinical data are already being collected as part of an ongoing registry study. Perioperative timing as well as operator's satisfaction and fatigue and need for a second ureteroscope during the case will be recorded during the treatment course. Other clinical data will be collected at days 7, 30, 90, 180 after surgery. The condition of the used ureteroscopes will be tracked and recorded to confirm the repair rate.

Screening data will be reviewed to determine subject eligibility. Subjects who meet all inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria will be entered into the study.

The following surgical treatment will be used similarly for all three randomized arms and represents standard of case therapy:

Ureteroscopic stone removal Under general anesthesia, the patient is placed in the lithotomy position. All procedures are performed under direct videoscopic and fluoroscopic guidance. Fluoroscopic screening is utilized using a mobile multidirectional C-arm fluoroscopy unit. Initially, a safety guide-wire is placed into the renal pelvis, followed by a ureteral access sheath as needed to maintain low intra-renal pressure and to facilitate the procedures. Using a flexible ureteroscope, renal or ureteral stones are identified and fragmented with a holmium YAG laser. Basket extraction of residual fragments is done until visual complete clearance of stone fragments is achieved.

After ureteroscopy is done and stone clearance is achieved, a ureteral stent is placed at the end of the procedure to drain the kidney for 2-21 days if it is clinically indicated.

The total duration of the study is expected to be one year for subject recruitment and one year and six months for final subject follow-up.

Conditions

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Kidney Calculi Ureter Calculi

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Participants will be assigned to each 3 type of ureteroscope and receive the flexible ureteroscopy. In each ureteroscopy, only one type of ureteroscope will be used; therefore this study will be parallel model.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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reusable fiberoptic ureteroscope

For this arm, participants will receive the ureteroscopy for their kidney and ureter stones using reusable fiberoptic flexible ureteroscope (URF-P6, Olympus). The surgical method of the ureteroscopy will be a standard fashion same as other arms.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

reusable fiberoptic ureteroscope

Intervention Type DEVICE

We will use reusable fiberoptic ureteroscopes for the treatment of kidney and ureter stones.

disposable digital ureteroscope

For this arm, participants will receive the ureteroscopy for their kidney and ureter stones using disposable digital flexible ureteroscope (LithoVue, Boston Scientific). The surgical method of the ureteroscopy will be a standard fashion same as other arms.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

disposable digital ureteroscope

Intervention Type DEVICE

We will use disposable digital ureteroscopes for the treatment of kidney and ureter stones.

Interventions

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reusable fiberoptic ureteroscope

We will use reusable fiberoptic ureteroscopes for the treatment of kidney and ureter stones.

Intervention Type DEVICE

disposable digital ureteroscope

We will use disposable digital ureteroscopes for the treatment of kidney and ureter stones.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age at their first clinical visit.
2. Patients with either unilateral or bilateral upper urinary tract stone of any size and location, treatable by flexible ureteroscopy, diagnosed by preoperative ultrasound, computed tomography or plain radiographic imaging
3. Patients being able and willing to provide consent.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Serious illness likely to cause death within the next 5 years, so as to exclude significant metabolic derangements that might lead to adverse surgical outcome.
2. Pregnancy.
3. Staged ureteroscopic procedure.
4. Antegrade flexible ureteroscopy.
5. Dual procedures (ureteroscopy concurrently performed with other operations).
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

80 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University of California, San Francisco

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Thomas Chi, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Urology, University of California San Francisco

Locations

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University of California, San Francisco

San Francisco, California, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Healy KA, Pak RW, Cleary RC, Colon-Herdman A, Bagley DH. Hand problems among endourologists. J Endourol. 2011 Dec;25(12):1915-20. doi: 10.1089/end.2011.0128. Epub 2011 Oct 17.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 22004843 (View on PubMed)

Karaolides T, Bach C, Kachrilas S, Goyal A, Masood J, Buchholz N. Improving the durability of digital flexible ureteroscopes. Urology. 2013 Apr;81(4):717-22. doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2013.01.016. Epub 2013 Mar 7.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23465156 (View on PubMed)

Multescu R, Geavlete B, Geavlete P. A new era: performance and limitations of the latest models of flexible ureteroscopes. Urology. 2013 Dec;82(6):1236-9. doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2013.07.022. Epub 2013 Aug 28.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23992972 (View on PubMed)

Somani BK, Al-Qahtani SM, de Medina SD, Traxer O. Outcomes of flexible ureterorenoscopy and laser fragmentation for renal stones: comparison between digital and conventional ureteroscope. Urology. 2013 Nov;82(5):1017-9. doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2013.07.017. Epub 2013 Aug 31.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24001703 (View on PubMed)

Carey RI, Martin CJ, Knego JR. Prospective evaluation of refurbished flexible ureteroscope durability seen in a large public tertiary care center with multiple surgeons. Urology. 2014 Jul;84(1):42-5. doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2014.01.022. Epub 2014 May 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24837456 (View on PubMed)

de la Rosette J, Denstedt J, Geavlete P, Keeley F, Matsuda T, Pearle M, Preminger G, Traxer O; CROES URS Study Group. The clinical research office of the endourological society ureteroscopy global study: indications, complications, and outcomes in 11,885 patients. J Endourol. 2014 Feb;28(2):131-9. doi: 10.1089/end.2013.0436. Epub 2013 Dec 17.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24147820 (View on PubMed)

Geavlete P, Multescu R, Geavlete B. Pushing the boundaries of ureteroscopy: current status and future perspectives. Nat Rev Urol. 2014 Jul;11(7):373-82. doi: 10.1038/nrurol.2014.118. Epub 2014 Jun 3.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24890883 (View on PubMed)

Tosoian JJ, Ludwig W, Sopko N, Mullins JK, Matlaga BR. The effect of repair costs on the profitability of a ureteroscopy program. J Endourol. 2015 Apr;29(4):406-9. doi: 10.1089/end.2014.0435. Epub 2014 Nov 7.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25286008 (View on PubMed)

Buttice S, Sener TE, Netsch C, Emiliani E, Pappalardo R, Magno C. LithoVue: A new single-use digital flexible ureteroscope. Cent European J Urol. 2016;69(3):302-305. doi: 10.5173/ceju.2016.872. Epub 2016 Aug 26. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27730000 (View on PubMed)

Doizi S, Kamphuis G, Giusti G, Andreassen KH, Knoll T, Osther PJ, Scoffone C, Perez-Fentes D, Proietti S, Wiseman O, de la Rosette J, Traxer O. First clinical evaluation of a new single-use flexible ureteroscope (LithoVue): a European prospective multicentric feasibility study. World J Urol. 2017 May;35(5):809-818. doi: 10.1007/s00345-016-1936-x. Epub 2016 Sep 26.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27671898 (View on PubMed)

Martin CJ, McAdams SB, Abdul-Muhsin H, Lim VM, Nunez-Nateras R, Tyson MD, Humphreys MR. The Economic Implications of a Reusable Flexible Digital Ureteroscope: A Cost-Benefit Analysis. J Urol. 2017 Mar;197(3 Pt 1):730-735. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2016.09.085. Epub 2016 Sep 28.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27693449 (View on PubMed)

Usawachintachit M, Isaacson DS, Taguchi K, Tzou DT, Hsi RS, Sherer BA, Stoller ML, Chi T. A Prospective Case-Control Study Comparing LithoVue, a Single-Use, Flexible Disposable Ureteroscope, with Flexible, Reusable Fiber-Optic Ureteroscopes. J Endourol. 2017 May;31(5):468-475. doi: 10.1089/end.2017.0027. Epub 2017 Mar 13.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 28287823 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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16-20844

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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