Evaluation of the Administration of Artificial Nutrition by Feeding Jejunostomy During Neoadjuvant Treatment on Postoperative Morbidity in the Context of Esophageal or Stomach Cancer (FREJENO)

May 7, 2026 updated by: University Hospital, Bordeaux
Malnutrition is common at the time of diagnosis of esogastric cancers. However, there are no recommendations regarding preoperative nutritional support (type and duration) or on the impact of refeeding on postoperative morbidity and mortality.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Malnutrition is frequently associated with esogastric cancers at diagnosis (65-80% of cases). It has been shown that malnutrition in digestive oncology is linked to increased mortality, higher rates of postoperative complications, greater toxicity induced by chemoradiotherapy, and reduced survival. Furthermore, malnutrition present before the start of neoadjuvant treatment is likely to worsen during therapy, due to the occurrence of diarrhea, malabsorption, and dysgeusia during chemotherapy.

However, there are no recommendations regarding the use of nutritional support (type and duration) during the neoadjuvant treatment phase for esogastric cancers. Indeed, the data in the literature are quite heterogeneous regarding the duration of preoperative nutrition, ranging from a few days to several weeks, as well as the type of nutritional support to be used. No study has specifically investigated the evolution of nutritional status during this refeeding phase. As for postoperative complications, the results are mixed, although the trend suggests a reduction in postoperative complications for esophageal surgery. For gastric surgery, only one study examined surgical site infections and found a decrease in incidence when adequate nutrition was provided for more than 14 days before surgery. Nevertheless, postoperative mortality was not affected by improved nutritional status. Most of these studies are small retrospective series. The only prospective studies assessed preoperative nutrition for just 7 days before surgery, with limited sample sizes.

An educational review was published in 2012 highlighting the importance of nutritional support in malnourished patients, recommending nutritional supplementation for all patients: oral supplementation for non-malnourished patients, and jejunostomy feeding for malnourished patients.

In this context, the primary objective of this study is to evaluate the rate of postoperative complications with perioperative enteral nutrition compared to the absence of preoperative enteral nutrition.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

670

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 Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • France
      • Pessac, France, 33600
        • Recruiting
        • Hopîtal du Haut Lévêque
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Caroline GRONNIER, MD, PhD
        • 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

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Retrospective case-control study including patients with esophageal cancer treated with neoadjuvant therapy.

The control group consists of patients who did not receive enteral or parenteral nutrition during neoadjuvant treatment.

The case group consists of patients who received enteral or parenteral nutrition during neoadjuvant treatment.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patient undergoing surgery for esophageal cancer
  • Malnourished patient at the time of management
  • Receiving neoadjuvant treatment

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patient not malnourished at the time of management
  • Patient who did not receive neoadjuvant treatment

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Control group
patients who did not receive enteral or parenteral nutrition during neoadjuvant treatment.
Case group
patients who received enteral or parenteral nutrition during neoadjuvant treatment.
Dietary supplement: Enteral or parenteral nutrition
Patients who did not receive enteral or parenteral nutrition during neoadjuvant treatment.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of postoperative complications according to the Clavien classification
Time Frame: Day 30
Proportion of patients experiencing at least one postoperative complication, classified according to Clavien-Dindo, in malnourished patients with versus without nutritional support.
Day 30

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University Hospital, Bordeaux

Collaborators

French Eso-Gastric Tumors Working Group

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Caroline GRONNIER, MD, PhD, University Hospital, Bordeaux

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 (Estimated)

November 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 19, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CHUBX 2025/060

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Data access via extraction from the national FREGAT database.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP

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.

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