Clinical Evaluation of AI Decision Support for Early Rehabilitation After Surgery (DESIRE)

February 6, 2026 updated by: D.E. Hilling, Erasmus Medical Center

Evaluation of Clinical Effectiveness and Implementation of an Artificial Intelligence Based Decision Support Tool That Guides Early Rehabilitation After Gastrointestinal and Oncology Surgery

After gastrointestinal or oncology surgery, it can be difficult to determine when a patient is ready to safely begin early rehabilitation or move toward discharge. Delays may prolong hospital stay, while premature decisions may increase risks.

This study evaluates an artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision support tool that analyzes routinely collected hospital data to identify patients who are likely ready for early rehabilitation and discharge planning after surgery. The tool provides a simple yes/no output to support clinicians in their decision-making.

The AI tool does not replace clinical judgment. Treating physicians remain fully responsible for all care decisions.

The purpose of this study is to examine how well this tool performs in clinical practice and how it can be safely and effectively implemented to support postoperative care.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients who undergo gastrointestinal or oncology surgery often require careful monitoring after their operation. During the days following surgery, healthcare professionals assess many factors, such as vital signs, laboratory results, recovery progress, and the need for hospital-based treatments. Based on this information, decisions are made about when patients can safely start early rehabilitation or move toward discharge planning.

In this study, researchers are evaluating an artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision support tool designed to assist clinicians with these decisions. The tool analyzes routinely collected information from the electronic patient record, including demographic data, type of surgery, vital signs, laboratory values, and medication information. Using these data, the system provides a simple yes/no output indicating whether a patient is likely ready for early rehabilitation and discharge planning on the second day after surgery.

The AI tool is advisory only. It does not make treatment decisions and cannot initiate any actions. The treating physician always reviews the patient's condition independently and makes the final decision about care, rehabilitation, and discharge planning.

The study focuses on two main aspects:

  1. How accurately the AI tool identifies patients who are ready for early rehabilitation and discharge planning.
  2. How the tool can be safely and practically integrated into everyday clinical workflows.

Participation in this study does not change the standard of care. All patients continue to receive routine postoperative care according to existing hospital protocols. The AI tool serves solely as an additional source of information for clinicians.

Patient data used by the AI system are processed within secure hospital systems and handled in accordance with data protection regulations. No additional tests or procedures are required specifically for this study.

The results of this study may help improve postoperative care by supporting timely rehabilitation and discharge planning, potentially reducing unnecessary hospital stays while maintaining patient safety.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

103

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • Netherlands
      • Rotterdam, Netherlands
        • Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam
        • Contact:

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults aged 18 years or older
  • Undergoing gastrointestinal or oncological surgery
  • Postoperatively admitted to the surgical ward
  • Expected to remain admitted for at least 2 days after surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at the time of prediction on postoperative day 2
  • Inability to provide informed consent in Dutch or English

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Cohort of 103 patients undergoing GE/oncological surgery and admitted >2 days after surgery
Device: DESIRE: AI-Based Clinical Decision Support for Postoperative Rehabilitation Planning

The intervention consists of the clinical use of a locked, non-adaptive artificial intelligence (AI)-based clinical decision support system (DESIRE) that analyzes routinely collected electronic health record data to predict, on postoperative day 2, the risk that a patient will require hospital-specific interventions after gastrointestinal or oncological surgery.

The system automatically extracts demographic, perioperative, vital sign, laboratory, and medication-related variables and generates a binary (yes/no) output indicating whether the patient is likely to be at low risk for requiring additional hospital care. A predefined conservative threshold is used to identify patients eligible for early rehabilitation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of patients requiring unplanned escalation of hospital-specific care within 30 days after early transfer to rehabilitation area.
Time Frame: From postoperative day 2 (time of AI prediction and potential transfer to rehabilitation area) through 30 days after surgery

This is a composite outcome, consisting of any of the following events:

ICU admission

Re-operation

Radiological intervention

Administration of intravenous antibiotics

Respiratory failure (new need for supplemental oxygen)

30-day mortality

30-day emergency readmission
From postoperative day 2 (time of AI prediction and potential transfer to rehabilitation area) through 30 days after surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Erasmus Medical Center

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 (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 6, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 12, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 6, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • DESIRE implementation

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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 Gastrointestinal Cancers

Clinical Trials on DESIRE: AI-Based Clinical Decision Support for Postoperative Rehabilitation Planning

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Nigeria

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe