Fast Tracking in VATS Lobectomy: A Prospective, Historically Controlled, Propensity-Matched Clinical Trial

Currently, at the CHUM - Notre-Dame Hospital, there is no standardized patient care pathway for patients undergoing Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) lobectomy. The investigators goal is to implement an Enhanced Recovery Program (ERP) for patient undergoing VATS lobectomy.

The care given to patient prior to the implementation of this protocol was different amongst patients and depended on the surgeon's preferences. The implementation of this ERP will permit a reproducible and routine management for patients following their surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer related death in men and women worldwide annually. In North America in 2009, an estimated 246,000 people were diagnosed with lung cancer, and 178,000 died as a result. Lobectomy consists of the surgical removal of an anatomic lobe of the lung. It represents the standard of care in the treatment of malignant lesions involving one lobe of the lung. This operation can be performed either with a chest incision with rib spreading (thoracotomy) or with a minimally invasive approach which does not include rib spreading (thoracoscopy - Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery; VATS).

In the last decade, the trend towards implementation of protocols to enhance patient recovery and diminish length of stay has been gaining popularity and increasing in prevalence. Those protocols are commonly referred to as fast track surgery or enhanced recovery after surgery protocol. The rationale behind these protocols is that by combining multimodal therapies that reduce surgical stress, having good pain control post-operatively, and involving the patient in this process, the treating team has the potential to reduce length of stay.

In the last few years, many surgeons in their respective centers have implemented the use of fast track surgery in the thoracic surgery service. It has been shown to be a safe and effective method for managing postoperative patients after lobectomy. Fast track surgery is a systemic approach to the management of surgical patients, where all the different actions to take postoperatively are standardized and reproducible. Fast track surgery has the potential to diminish the rate of postoperative complications, the length of stay, and achieve a similar patient recovery. In an era, where medical costs are on the rise, hospital beds are limited and nursing staff not always available, fast track surgery has the potential to improve increase throughput, improve efficiency, decrease costs and improve surgical productivity.

Currently, at the CHUM - Notre-Dame Hospital, there is no standardized patient care pathway for patients undergoing VATS lobectomy. The care given to patient prior to the implementation of this protocol was different amongst patients and depended on the surgeon's preferences. The implementation of this Enhanced Recovery Program (ERP) will permit a reproducible and routine management for patients following their surgery.

The principal outcomes that will be compared amongst patients pre and post implementation of this protocol will be the length of stay and the number of complications. The investigators think that the results will be different between these two groups. The rational for this is due to the fact that the patients in this Enhanced Recovery Program will have: (1) their urinary catheter removed sooner, (2) their thoracic drain removed earlier and (3) they will be mobilized more quickly. These differences will enable these patients to potentially have less complications post operatively and decrease their hospital stay.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

100

Phase

  • 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

    • Quebec
      • Montréal, Quebec, Canada, H2L 4M1
        • Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All patients undergoing a VATS lobectomy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Less than 18 year old, inability to consent, VATS lobectomy conversion to open lobectomy

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: ERAS patients
Enhanced recovery pathway
The enhanced recovery pathway consists of postoperative medical orders including nursing care, investigations and tests, and other peri-operative orders. The enhanced recovery pathway is standardized for all patients, and can be discontinued at any time when clinical judgment mandates (i.e. patient has a severe complication).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comprehensive Complication Index
Time Frame: 30 days post operative
Number and Severity of Complications
30 days post operative

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Moishe Liberman, MD, PhD, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montréal

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

November 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 21, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 21, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

October 22, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 1, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 31, 2017

Last Verified

August 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 14.386

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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