Open Versus Laparoscopically-assisted Esophagectomy for Cancer

April 17, 2026 updated by: University Hospital, Lille

Open vs Laparoscopically-assisted Esophagectomy for Cancer: A Multicentric Phase III Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

To compare laparoscopically-assisted gastric mobilization versus open gastric mobilization in Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy for esophageal cancer, with open thoracic approach in the 2 arms.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Open Versus Laparoscopically-assisted Esophagectomy for Cancer

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
207

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
      • Bordeaux, France, 33604
        • Hôpital du Haut Lévêque
      • Boulogne-Billancourt, France, 92 100
        • Hopital Ambroise Pare Ap-Hp
      • Clermont-Ferrand, France, 63 058
        • Hôtel Dieu
      • Colombes, France, 92 701
        • Hôpital Louis Mourier
      • Lyon, France, 69 317
        • Hôpital de La Croix Rousse
      • Marseille, France, 13 274
        • Hopital St Marguerite Ap-Hm
      • Paris, France, 75014
        • Institut Mutualiste Montsouris
      • Paris, France, 75 010
        • Hopital St Louis Ap-Hp
      • Rennes, France, 35 033
        • Hopitalpontchaillou
      • Strasbourg, France, 67 098
        • Hopitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg
      • Toulouse, France, 31 059
        • Hopital Purpan

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Squamous cell or adenocarcinoma of the thoracic esophagus T1, T2, T3, N0-N1, M0, before any treatment
  • Middle or lower third esophageal carcinoma, junctional tumor Siewert type I
  • Patients who underwent or not neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiation
  • Tumor deemed to be resectable in a curative intent at the preoperative setting
  • Age less than 75 years old, OMS status 0, 1 or 2
  • Patient who can undergo one or the other surgical modality
  • Written informed consent form
  • Possible follow-up

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. General criteria: PO2 ≤ 60 mmHg; PCO2 > 45 mmHg; FEV ≤ 1000 ml/sec

    • Hepatic cirrhosis
    • Recent myocardial infarction (in the previous 6 months) or progressive coronary disease
    • Distal arteritis (Leriche-Fontaine stage II upwards)
    • Concomitant cancer, other than subcarinal esophageal cancer

  2. Disease-related factors

    • Invasion of subclavicular lymph nodes in a clinical examination or on biospy
    • Lymph nodes near the origin of the celiac artery with a diameter ≥ 1 cm on CT or that appear to be suspect on endoscopic ultrasound (to differentiate them from the paracardial or left gastric lymph nodes, which does not constitute an exclusion criterion)
    • Recurrent nerve palsy
    • Evidence of extension to the tracheobronchial tree
    • Signs of mediastinal invasion (vertebral contact, aortic contact ≥ 90°, or invasion of nonresectable neighboring organs such as the aorta, trachea, main bronchi, etc.)
    • Distant metastasis

  3. Laparoscopy-related factors

    • Patient presenting a general contraindication to laparoscopy
    • A history of median or subcostal laparotomy

Study Plan

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

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Laparoscopically-assisted esophagectomy
Laparoscopically-assisted esophagectomy: standard abdominal procedure of gastric mobilisation but through laparoscopic route. Right thoracotomy as usual.
Procedure: Laparoscopically-assisted esophagectomy
To compare during the abdominal approach the laparoscopic route to the open route for gastric mobilization. Thoracic approach will be the same between the 2 arms through thoracotomy with extended two field lymphadenectomy
Other Names:
  • esophagectomy with extended two-field lymphadenectomy
Active Comparator: Open esophagectomy
Conventional open esophagectomy: Esophagectomy with extended 2-field lymphadenectomy through laparotomy and right thoracotomy (Ivor-Lewis standard procedure)
Procedure: Laparoscopically-assisted esophagectomy
To compare during the abdominal approach the laparoscopic route to the open route for gastric mobilization. Thoracic approach will be the same between the 2 arms through thoracotomy with extended two field lymphadenectomy
Other Names:
  • esophagectomy with extended two-field lymphadenectomy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
To decrease postoperative major 30-days morbidity from 45% in the open arm to 25% in the laparoscopically-assisted arm.
Time Frame: 30 days
30 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
overall survival
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years
quality of life
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years
overall morbidity
Time Frame: 30 days
30 days
disease free survival
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years
economical interest of the surgical technique apprehended through a hospital point of view
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University Hospital, Lille

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Christophe Mariette, MD, PhD, University Hospital of Lille, France

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
October 7, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
October 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 10, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 10, 2009

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 13, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 17, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
June 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2008_24/0904
  • PHRC 2008/1907 (Other Identifier: DHOS)
  • 2009-A00144-53. (Other Identifier: ID-RCB number, ANSM)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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