Ultrasound-Guided Versus Standard Margin Selection in Ileocecal Resection of Terminal Ileal CD (SMILE-CD)

August 26, 2026 updated by: Anthony de Buck van Overstraeten, The Cleveland Clinic

Ultrasound-Guided Versus Standard Margin Selection in Ileocecal Resection of Terminal Ileal Crohn's Disease: A Phase II Randomized Trial

This is a Phase II, single-center (Cleveland Clinic), two-arm, randomized, parallel-group superiority trial. The two arms will compare IOUS-guided margin selection against standard macroscopic margin selection in patients undergoing ileocolic resection for terminal ileal Crohn's disease. Patients and outcome assessors (pathologists, endoscopists) will be blinded to the intervention arm, while surgeons, by the nature of the intervention, cannot be blinded. Randomization will be computer-generated with concealed allocation using permuted blocks to ensure balanced group sizes.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

22

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

  • United States
    • Ohio
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44195
        • Recruiting
        • Cleveland Clinic
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Anthony de Buck van Overstraeten, MD
        • 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.
  • Diagnosis of terminal ileal Crohn's disease with inflammatory or fibrostenotic phenotype localized to terminal ileum/ileocecal region and assessed on either preoperative imaging or during surgical exploration at the time of surgery.
  • Scheduled to undergo primary ileocolic resection.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Penetrating disease with abscess or complex fistula requiring complex resection.
  • Prior ileocolic resection.
  • Diagnosis of Crohn's colitis.
  • Pregnancy or inability to provide informed consent.
  • Stoma at or before randomization: Participants in whom a stoma is required before randomization (identified intra-operatively) will not be randomized and will be excluded from the trial. Stoma after randomization: If a stoma is created after randomization-either during the index operation or at re-operation for postoperative complications-the participant remains in the trial. All feasibility, histopathology, operative, and safety outcomes will be collected and analyzed in the assigned arm (ITT). However, these participants will not be evaluable for the endoscopic-recurrence endpoint; they will be listed as "not assessed for endoscopic recurrence (stoma)" with reasons documented.
  • Contraindication to IOUS (as determined by the surgeon).

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
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: IOUS-guided margin selection "Margin B"
After the surgeon initially selects the macroscopic Margin A, IOUS will be performed to guide the selection of a proximal resection margin ("Margin B"). Margin B will be defined by specific IOUS criteria: mural thickness ≤ 2.5 mm and preserved stratification of the bowel wall.
Device: IOUS-guided margin selection
Intra-operative ultrasound (IOUS)-guided proximal resection margin selection during ileocolic resection for terminal ileal Crohn's disease
No Intervention: Macroscopic margin selection "Margin A"
The proximal transection site of the ileocecal resection will be chosen by the surgeon based on gross visual and tactile assessment of the bowel ("Margin A"). This represents the current standard of care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
feasibility in ultrasound assessment of resection margin
Time Frame: Intraoperative / day of surgery
Feasibility, defined as the proportion of cases in which IOUS is successfully performed with a designated proximal margin (Margin B) in the IOUS arm, will be reported as a percentage with 95% confidence intervals. Feasibility will be declared if ≥ 75% of randomized patients in the IOUS arm achieve successful designation of Margin B. Failure will be defined as such: Technical inability to measure bowel wall thickness with ultrasound or to stratify the bowel wall stratification; failure to identify an appropriate margin within 30min; resection exceeding the additional length by 20cm in more than 20% of the cases.
Intraoperative / day of surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comparison of histologic inflammation within the IOUS arm at 6 to 12 months
Time Frame: 6 to 12 months
Comparison of histologic inflammation within the IOUS arm (Margin A versus Margin B versus distal margin) will be performed using McNemar's test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired data, as appropriate. Between-arm comparison of histologic findings (IOUS arm versus standard arm) will be performed using Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, or Wilcoxon rank-sum test for unpaired comparisons.
6 to 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

The Cleveland Clinic

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)

September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 22, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 29, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 2, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 26, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 26-491

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data will not be shared outside the Cleveland Clinic study team. Results will be reported in aggregate form in presentations and publications. This is a small single-center feasibility study, and the consent form does not include a plan for external sharing of de-identified individual participant-level data.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

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.

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