Quality of Life and High-Risk Abdominal Cancer Surgery (ChangeQoL)

April 27, 2026 updated by: Julien Maillard, University Hospital, Geneva

Changes of Health-related Quality of Life 6 Months After High-risk Oncological Upper Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Surgery: a Single-centre Prospective Observational Study (ChangeQol Study)

The investigators plan to measure the changes of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) at 6 months and 12 months after the following high-risk oncological abdominal surgery: gastrectomy, esophagectomy, pancreatectomy and hepatectomy. The investigators will measure the HRQoL using the validated EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire before and at 6 months and 12 month after the surgery. The investigators will identify phenotypes of HRQoL changes (improvement, stability and deterioration) at 6 months and 12 months after surgery.

The second aim is to assess the regret of the patient at 6 months and 12 months regarding his/her decision to undergo surgery. The investigators will also assess the regret of the next of kin at 6 months regarding the decision to undergo surgery.

This descriptive, prospective, observational, single-centre cohort study aims to: identify phenotypes of HRQoL changes after abdominal surgical oncology (improvement, stability and deterioration); assess the regret of patients regarding their decision to undergo surgical oncology at 6 months and 12 months; assess the regret of the next of kin regarding the decision of the patient to undergo surgical oncology at 6 months and 12 months. The investigators will include patients scheduled for the following elective abdominal cancer surgery: gastrectomy; esophagectomy; pancreas resection and hepatectomy. The investigators will assess HRQoL using the validated EORTC QLQ-C30 Summary Score before and 6 months and 12 months after surgery. The cut-offs for the three phenotypes of HRQoL changes will be defined using the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of 10 points. The investigators will assess regret using the Decision Regret Scale (DRS) at 6 months and 12 months after surgery.

The expected results are: The investigators can identify phenotypes of HRQoL changes after surgical oncology using the EORTC QLQ-C30 Summary Score; the investigators will describe the distribution of these phenotypes and will find an association with the pre-existing frailty. The investigators can describe the extent of the regret of the patient and of the next of kin at 6 months using the DRS. The investigators will observe an association between the DRS score at 6 months and the HRQoL Summary Score change. The investigators will not observe a relationship between the DRS score of patients and next-of-kins.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The full protocol has been published: DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-065902

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

295

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

  • Switzerland
      • Geneva, Switzerland, 1206
        • University Hospitals of Geneva

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

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Elective patients scheduled for high-risk abdominal cancer surgery

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Adult patients (>18 years) scheduled for the following elective abdominal cancer surgery known for high one-year mortality4: gastrectomy; esophagectomy; pancreas resection and hepatectomy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with inoperable tumours; i.e. some patients will be excluded at the time of surgery if unexpected advanced tumour staging is confirmed intraoperatively (e.g. peritoneal carcinomatosis or any other diagnosis without therapy).
  • Hepatectomy for metastasectomy
  • Mentally impaired patients (known diagnosis)
  • Psychotic diagnoses (i.e. schizophrenia)
  • Dementia (mini mental score (MMSE) < 18)
  • Incapacity to understand the information sheet
  • Blindness (unable to perform the visual part of the mini-mental state examination)

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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health-related Quality of Life
Time Frame: 6 months after surgery
EORTC-QLQ C30. Minimum 0, Maximum 100
6 months after surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Regret
Time Frame: 6 and 12 months after surgery
Decision Regret Scale. Minimum 0, Maximum 100
6 and 12 months after surgery
Health-related Quality of Life
Time Frame: 12 months after surgery
EORTC-QLQ C30. Minimum 0, Maximum 100
12 months after surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University Hospital, Geneva

Investigators

  • Study Director: Bernhard Walder, MD, University Hospitals of Geneva - Switzerland

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 (Actual)

September 5, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 8, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

July 20, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 12, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 22, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

June 23, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 27, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020-00536

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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.

Clinical Trials on Quality of Life

Clinical Trials on High Risk Abdominal Surgery

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in India

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe