Application of a Comprehensive Protocol Aimed at Reducing the Risk of Complications After Surgery for Sarcoma. Interventions Before, During and After Surgery for Known and Presumed Risk Factors Compared to Standard of Care in a Total of 300 Patients.

NCT ID: NCT06968884

Last Updated: 2025-05-13

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

300 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-09-24

Study Completion Date

2028-12-31

Brief Summary

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Sarcoma is a rare malignancy made up by several sub types that can occur throughout the body. Roughly speaking, the division into soft tissue sarcoma (STS) and skeletal sarcoma (SS) can be made. STS of the limbs and trunk are primarily treated by surgical removal of the tumour and a margin of surrounding healthy tissue. Since size, depth and locale of tumours vary widely, surgery is seldom standardised.

Both STS and SS commonly result in large resections, leaving tissue defects that are prone to local complications such as seroma formation, wound dehiscence and infection. A wound complication following surgery can be considered minor if it does not call for additional surgery, i.e. seroma formation, a superficial infection or delayed wound closure that can be helped by oral antibiotics or wound care. A major wound complication is one that requires surgical treatment like debridement surgery, secondary suture of a ruptured wound or flap-reconstruction.

It is known that some tumour related factors increase the risk of wound complications, e.g. certain anatomical areas such as the inner thigh, large size and higher grade of the tumour. Other patient related factors known to influence the risk of complication are smoking, malnutrition and diabetes.

There is some research on orthopaedic patients looking at intraoperative factors that could affect risk of infection. Time in surgery, prophylactic antibiotics and bleeding have all been shown to influence outcome.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a project implemented in other fields of surgery. It is a complete take on the risk factors for complications surrounding a patient and their surgery, as well as recovery afterwards. Some patient-related (intrinsic) risk factors associated with complications, such as obesity and alcohol abuse, take time to change. In other cases, even a short duration of for example smoke-cessation, correction of anaemia or better nutrition could have an effect on results. Intraoperative environmental (extrinsic) adjustments like surgical haemostasis and administration of Tranexamic acid are known to reduce risk of haematoma formation. This in turn reduces both the need for transfusion and the risk of infection.

In other areas, multimodal anaesthesia and analgesia have been shown to decrease use of opioids while still offering sufficient pain relief. This leads to reduced postoperative nausea and further promotes early postoperative mobilisation.

The thought behind a structured program addressing risk factors before, during and after surgery being that the collective risk reduction will big enough to be measurable where individual efforts might not be.

Since sarcoma surgery is burdened by postoperative complications, every possibility to affect this should be explored.

Detailed Description

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Prospective inclusion of patients 15 years or older, undergoing surgery for STS or SS. These include grade 1-3 sarcomas and all types of resection and reconstruction. The first 150 patients are the control group, treated according to standard procedure (best available care). The following 150 patients are the ERAS-interventions group.

This protocol with consecutive and not parallel arms is designed because of the difficulty to implement a new standard of care. To do so in only part of the population would increase the risk of contamination between groups and make evaluation harder.

Preoperative labs for anaemia and nutritional status are drawn at suspicion of sarcoma at the first visit to clinic. Patient reported information on smoking, alcohol use, weight and physical activity are registered. Preoperative interventions such as the administration of parenteral iron, enteral B1 or Folic acid, medication for smoking cessation or nutritional complements are prescribed.

The extra costs for nutritional supplements, iron injection and blood tests are minor. If number of days in hospital is shortened or any complication avoided these costs will be negligible.

Hypotheses A structured pre-, per- and postoperative effort on minimising known risk factors for complications are believed to reduce the rate of such complications by 40% compared to patients treated traditionally.

Primary outcome

* Early (\<30 days) postoperative complications. Secondary outcomes
* Delayed complications (30d-1y), time to wound healing, time in hospital, death and patient reported outcome measures using EQ5d.

Conditions

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Surgical Complications Sarcoma

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Interventional prospective study. Control group included first and interventional group included thereafter.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Control group - best available care

Patients receive best available care. Sarcoma surgery, transfusions and medication given is best known to medical professionals in care.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Control (Standard treatment)

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Preoperative bloods including haemoglobin to establish that surgery is safe. Transfusions given if clinically necessary, no other protocol for anaemia treatment other then available clinical guidelines.

Peri- and postoperative treatment given in accordance with best clinical practice, no additional protocol.

ERAS intervention

The complete protocol including pre- per- and postop adjustments in addition to sarcoma surgery.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Protocol based

Intervention Type OTHER

Preoperative administration of iron, b12 and folate if criteria is met. Medication to aid in smoking cessation is offered if patient uses tobacco. Nutritional supplements offered pre-operative is patient malnurished and preoperative drink offered to all.

Anaesthetic method adapted with increased use of epidural, blocks and local anaesthesia.

Administration on TXA and fluids according to protocol. Postoperative nutritional drink to increase protein intake. Early mobilisation to reduce risk of VTE.

Interventions

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Protocol based

Preoperative administration of iron, b12 and folate if criteria is met. Medication to aid in smoking cessation is offered if patient uses tobacco. Nutritional supplements offered pre-operative is patient malnurished and preoperative drink offered to all.

Anaesthetic method adapted with increased use of epidural, blocks and local anaesthesia.

Administration on TXA and fluids according to protocol. Postoperative nutritional drink to increase protein intake. Early mobilisation to reduce risk of VTE.

Intervention Type OTHER

Control (Standard treatment)

Preoperative bloods including haemoglobin to establish that surgery is safe. Transfusions given if clinically necessary, no other protocol for anaemia treatment other then available clinical guidelines.

Peri- and postoperative treatment given in accordance with best clinical practice, no additional protocol.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Sarcoma of the extremities or trunk
* Surgery for sarcoma at karolinska university Hospital in Sweden
* Age 15 years or older

Exclusion Criteria

* Not meeting inclusion
* Patient declines
* Patient not a Swedish citizen
Minimum Eligible Age

15 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Karolinska Institutet

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Region Stockholm

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Panagiotis Tsagkozis, Associate professor, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Karolinska University Hospital

Locations

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Karolinska University Hospital

Stockholm, Stockholm County, Sweden

Site Status

Countries

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Sweden

References

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White JJ, Houghton-Clemmey R, Marval P. Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS): an orthopaedic perspective. J Perioper Pract. 2013 Oct;23(10):228-32. doi: 10.1177/175045891302301004.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24279038 (View on PubMed)

Wischmeyer PE, Carli F, Evans DC, Guilbert S, Kozar R, Pryor A, Thiele RH, Everett S, Grocott M, Gan TJ, Shaw AD, Thacker JKM, Miller TE, Hedrick TL, McEvoy MD, Mythen MG, Bergamaschi R, Gupta R, Holubar SD, Senagore AJ, Abola RE, Bennett-Guerrero E, Kent ML, Feldman LS, Fiore JF Jr; Perioperative Quality Initiative (POQI) 2 Workgroup. American Society for Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Quality Initiative Joint Consensus Statement on Nutrition Screening and Therapy Within a Surgical Enhanced Recovery Pathway. Anesth Analg. 2018 Jun;126(6):1883-1895. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000002743.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 29369092 (View on PubMed)

Perrault DP, Lee GK, Yu RP, Carre AL, Chattha A, Johnson MB, Gardner DJ, Carey JN, Tseng WW, Menendez LR, Wong AK. Risk Factors for Wound Complications After Soft Tissue Sarcoma Resection. Ann Plast Surg. 2021 Mar 1;86(3S Suppl 2):S336-S341. doi: 10.1097/SAP.0000000000002592.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33234885 (View on PubMed)

Moore J, Isler M, Barry J, Mottard S. Major wound complication risk factors following soft tissue sarcoma resection. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2014 Dec;40(12):1671-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ejso.2014.10.045. Epub 2014 Oct 18.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25456440 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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K2024-9009

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

RA 2024/98

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

2024-00847-01

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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