ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03331588Updated Mar 2, 2020

Comparison of Post-operative Pain and Quality of Life Between Subxiphoid and Intercostal VATS for Lung Cancer

A Phase 3 interventional study of Subxiphoid uniportal VATS and Intercostal uniportal VATS in Lung Neoplasms, Thoracic Surgery and Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, sponsored by Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China. Completed at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-03-02.

Primary conditionCarcinoma, Non-Small-Cell LungRegistry: Lung NeoplasmsReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Lung Neoplasms — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
Why
  1. The study's listed conditions name Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, a narrower term within Lung Neoplasms.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
200
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-12

Among 46 studies in Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung by Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China — 31 open to participants now, 34 under way, 3 of them phase 3. Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung · Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China.

Enrollment
5th of 34
200 · median 69
Started
2017
the only one that year
Phase 3
5 of 46
3 open now
Registered
3rd of 46
by date

Among the 46 studies in Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung by Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China, this one is the 5th largest by enrollment of the 34 interventional ones that give a count, is the only one that started in 2017, is one of 5 in phase 3, and was the 3rd registered.

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung

7,620 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; 1,838 are open to participants now.

Browse Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung studies →

Open to participants now

31 of the 46 studies in Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung by Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China are open now, in 1 country. Recruiting first, the newest first:

26 more — sign in →

By country, each count listing its studies:

All 31 open studies →

Where they have run

Who these studies take

Of the 1,324 Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung studies recruiting now, 986 (74%) set no upper age limit and 226 (17%) stop at 75 or younger; 34 take children under 18; 39 take healthy volunteers.

This study: 18 Years to 80 Years · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.

The full table on the hub →

This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.

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Watch this landscapeDownload CSVNarrow it in search →With an account: a weekly mail of what changed among 46 studies in Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung by Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China, or all of them as a file.
02

Study summary

One-thirds of patients underwent video-assisted thorascopic surgery (VATS) still have severe pain.Uniportal lobectomy or segmentectomies emerged as a promising and exciting approach for minimally invasive thoracic surgery. However, nearly all reported uniportal VATS lobectomies have been performed via the intercostal route, and chest wall trauma has still occurred. Here,the investigators undertook novel uniportal VATS technique involving a subxiphoid route for pulmonary lobectomies or segmentectomies.We would like to evaluate the post-operative pain and quality of life between Subxiphoid and Intercostal VATS for Lung Cancer.

Read the detailed description

Is subxiphoid route VATS surgery better than Intercostal VATS surgery for lung cancer?

Video assisted thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer (VATS) is less traumatic than traditional open surgery for lung cancer. A novel uniportal VATS technique involving a subxiphoid route for thoracic surgery has been occured. It is reported that subxiphoid route VATS surgery is better than Intercostal VATS surgery in post-operative pain and quality of life, but this has never been documented in a randomized trial. Some surgeons hesitate to use subxiphoid VATS because it is technically more demanding, others question if the two methods are oncologically equal. Regardless, VATS has been implemented as a routine method for lung cancer surgery several places around the world, while Shanghai pulmonary Hospital is one of the best to perform subxiphoid VATS. The investigators have launched the first randomized controlled trial in the world comparing the two surgical methods to investigate any differences in length of hospitalization, postoperative pain, life quality within the first year.

The investigators include patients with stage I lung cancer, and randomize between subxiphoid VATS and Intercostal VATS in a design where both the patient and doctors doing general rounds in the ward are blinded until discharge because the dressing on the surgical wound is identical, regardless of the surgical method. The surgeon cannot influence clinical decisions including time to discharge, which is decided by other specialist surgeons. Pain evaluation is performed 1 time daily and followed 6 months using the VAS-score, life quality is evaluated continuously during the first 6 months using SF-MPQ-2 questionnaires.

200 patients will be asked to participate in each study at shanghai pulmonary Hospital,china in collaboration with surgeons from department of thoracic surgery.

03

Conditions studied

  • Lung Neoplasms
  • Thoracic Surgery
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
  • Lung Diseases
  • Carcinoma, Bronchogenic
  • Thoracic Neoplasm

Keywords

  • Lung cancer
  • Pain
  • Quality of life
04

In context

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung Reclassified

7,620 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; 1,838 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 200 is above the median of 62 across 6,019 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung.

Browse Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung studies →

Lead sponsor

Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China is the lead sponsor of 160 studies on the registry; 95 are open to participants now.

Compared within Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Lung Neoplasms. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

05

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Eligible for surgery for lunge cancer.

Elective surgery (surgery planed > 2 days).

Accepts randomization.

Age 18 or above.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous thoracic surgery.

Any type of chronic pain, requiring daily use of analgetics.

pregnant.

Breast feeding.

to NSAID.

Chemo- and/or radiotherapy in connection to present admission.

Major surgery planned in connection to this admission.

Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

06

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Care provider)
Enrollment
200 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Subxiphoid uniportal VATS

    Standard Subxiphoid single-port video assisted thoracic surgery, no use of rib-spreader.

    Procedure: Subxiphoid uniportal VATS

  • Active comparator
    Intercostal uniportal VATS

    Standard Intercostal single-port video assisted thoracic surgery, no use of rib-spreader.

    Procedure: Intercostal uniportal VATS

Interventions

  • ProcedureSubxiphoid uniportal VATS

    Patients were placed in a supine position, and the operating table was manipulated as needed to elevate the appropriate side of the body for surgery. The surgical procedures followed principles of pulmonary resections

  • ProcedureIntercostal uniportal VATS

    The surgical procedures followed principles of pulmonary resections

07

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Postoperative pain

    visual analogue score (VAS-score) is to asses the development of acute and chronic pain after VATS surgery. 11 point numeric rating scale of 0 represented "no pain"and a score of 10 represented "worst pain ".

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Quality of life

    SF-MPQ-2 questionnaire is used.

    Time frame: 6 months

08

Study locations

1 site
  • Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital
    Shanghai, Shanghai 200433, China
09

References and documents

Publications

  • Gonzalez-Rivas D, Yang Y, Lei J, Hernandez L, Jiang G. Subxiphoid uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic middle lobectomy and anterior anatomic segmentectomy (S3). J Thorac Dis. 2016 Mar;8(3):540-3. doi: 10.21037/jtd.2016.02.63. PubMed 27076952 ↗
  • Hernandez-Arenas LA, Lin L, Yang Y, Liu M, Guido W, Gonzalez-Rivas D, Jiang G, Jiang L. Initial experience in uniportal subxiphoid video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for major lung resections. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2016 Dec;50(6):1060-1066. doi: 10.1093/ejcts/ezw189. Epub 2016 Jul 11. PubMed 27401700 ↗
  • Song N, Zhao DP, Jiang L, Bao Y, Jiang GN, Zhu YM, Ding JA. Subxiphoid uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for lobectomy: a report of 105 cases. J Thorac Dis. 2016 Mar;8(Suppl 3):S251-7. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2016.02.32. PubMed 27014471 ↗
  • Chen Z, Jiang L, Zheng H, Zhang W, Lv X, Abdellateef A. Early postoperative pain after subxiphoid uniportal thoracoscopic major lung resection: a prospective, single- blinded, randomized controlled trial. Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2022 Jun 15;35(1):ivac133. doi: 10.1093/icvts/ivac133. PubMed 35579360 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes

10

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Nov 2017 to primary completion in Feb 2020, 27 months.

Of 109 non-industry phase 3 interventional studies under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, half reached primary completion within 81 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 49 and three quarters within 129. This study's 27 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 423 studies reached it within 45 months; a quarter within 30 and three quarters within 69.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 1, 2017
First posted
Nov 6, 2017
StartActual
Nov 10, 2017
Primary completionActual
Feb 28, 2020
CompletionActual
Feb 28, 2020
Last update
Mar 2, 2020
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 2, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03331588
Responsible party
Lei Jiang (associate chief physician, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai, China) — Principal investigator
First posted
Nov 6, 2017
Start date
Nov 10, 2017
Primary completion
Feb 28, 2020
Completion
Feb 28, 2020
Last update
Mar 2, 2020

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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