ClinicalTrials.gg
Active, not recruitingNCT03944798SAFETYUpdated Nov 22, 2024

Surveillance AFter Extremity Tumor surgerY

An interventional study of Frequency: Every 3 Months and Frequency: Every 6 Months in Soft Tissue Sarcoma and Lung Metastases, sponsored by McMaster University. Active, not recruiting at 35 sites in 14 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-11-22.

Sponsored by McMaster University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
310
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Following treatment for a primary extremity sarcoma, patients remain at risk for the development of local and systemic disease recurrence. Metastasis (distant recurrence) to the lung is the most frequent single location of disease recurrence in sarcoma patients, occurring in almost half of all patients. Therefore, careful post-operative surveillance is an integral element of patient care. However, the detection of metastases does not necessarily affect long-term survival and may negatively impact quality of life. Surveillance strategies have not been well researched and have been identified as the top research priority in the extremity sarcoma field. Using a 2X2 factorial design to maximize efficiency and reduce overall trial costs, the SAFETY trial randomized 310 extremity soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) patients to determine the effect of surveillance strategy on overall patient survival after surgery for a STS of the extremity by comparing the effectiveness of both surveillance frequency (every 3 vs. every 6 months) and imaging modality (CT scans vs. chest radiographs).

Read the detailed description

Post-treatment STS surveillance is an integral element of patient care. Although earlier detection of metastatic disease may improve long-term survival, no study has yet provided definitive evidence to support this assumption. A thorough systematic review of the literature has identified only a single limited randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating this clinical question, and surveys of sarcoma surgeons have determined that surgeons typically follow their patients based on the way in which they were trained. The orthopaedic oncology field has identified sarcoma surveillance strategy as the top research priority in the field. In order to fill the evidence gap in sarcoma surveillance, a large international RCT is required. The investigators, therefore, propose the Surveillance AFter Extremity Tumor surgerY (SAFETY) trial. In preparation for the SAFETY trial, the SAFETY investigators have completed the following preparatory work: A) establishment of a worldwide research collaborative group that spans 6 continents; B) collection of data from international sarcoma patients to determine their perceptions of sarcoma surveillance and their willingness to participate in a study in which randomization will determine their follow-up protocols; and C) the organization of a large Protocol Development Meeting with international and multidisciplinary participation, including sarcoma patient involvement, where critical aspects of the protocol were discussed and finalized.

The international, multi-center SAFETY trial will determine the effect of surveillance strategy on patient-important outcomes after surgery for a STS of the extremity by comparing the effectiveness of both surveillance frequency (every 3 vs. every 6 months) and imaging modality (CT scans vs. chest radiographs). Ultimately, the SAFETY trial will provide the necessary evidence to develop evidence-based surveillance guidelines, and is poised to have a significant impact on the post-operative care and outcomes of extremity STS patients.

02

Conditions studied

  • Soft Tissue Sarcoma
  • Lung Metastases

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Soft Tissue Sarcoma
  • Lung Metastases
  • Overall Survival
  • Surveillance
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Patient Anxiety
  • Serious Adverse Events
03

In context

Sarcoma

1,691 studies on the registry are indexed under Sarcoma; 393 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 310 is above the median of 40 across 1,300 interventional studies indexed under Sarcoma.

Browse Sarcoma studies →

Lead sponsor

McMaster University is the lead sponsor of 738 studies on the registry; 125 are open to participants now.

Of its 7 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 3 (43%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
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

  • The patient is 18 years of age or older;
  • The patient has been diagnosed with a primary extremity grade II or III soft-tissue sarcoma (STS);
  • The patient has undergone surgical excision of the tumor with curative intent and with no evidence of gross residual disease based on the pathology report;
  • The patient has completed all planned neoadjuvant or adjuvant radiation and / or chemotherapy, if applicable;
  • The tumor size is greater than or equal to (≥) five centimeters according to the pathology report or based on the pre-treatment MRI if neoadjuvant radiation and / or chemotherapy are given; and
  • The patient provides informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • The patient has metastases at initial presentation based on the radiology report of the initial thoracic imaging†;
  • The patient has recently undergone surgical excision of a local recurrence;
  • The patient has been diagnosed with one of the special sub-types, myxoid / round cell liposarcoma or extra-skeletal Ewing's sarcoma*;
  • The patient has been previously diagnosed with a genetic syndrome with an elevated risk of malignancy, such as Li-Freumeni Syndrome‡;
  • The patient has been previously diagnosed with a co-morbid condition that has a life expectancy of less than (\<) one year;
  • The site-specific surveillance protocol for the patient's disease is not compatible with the study protocol (i.e., regular planned whole-body imaging with positron emission tomography [PET] scans);
  • Likely problems, in the judgment of the investigator, with the patient maintaining follow-up (with the specific reasoning requiring approval of the Methods Center);
  • The patient is currently enrolled in a study that does not permit co-enrolment; and
  • The patient has already been enrolled in the SAFETY trial.

    • A second CT scan may be required to confirm that indeterminate nodules are false positives before the patient can be enrolled (provided that the second CT scan shows no evidence of metastatic disease);

      • Myxoid liposarcoma and extra-skeletal Ewing's sarcoma have different metastatic patterns, which necessitate different surveillance protocols;

        • Individuals with Li-Freumeni Syndrome, or other genetic syndromes with an elevated risk of malignancy, appear to be at an elevated risk for radiation-induced cancers, so the use of CT scans should be limited.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Factorial assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
310 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Surveillance Arm I

    Clinical assessment and chest radiograph (CXR) every six months for two years

    Other: Frequency: Every 6 Months · Other: Imaging Modality: Chest Radiograph (CXR)

  • Experimental
    Surveillance Arm II

    Clinical assessment and CXR every three months for two years

    Other: Frequency: Every 3 Months · Other: Imaging Modality: Chest Radiograph (CXR)

  • Experimental
    Surveillance Arm III

    Clinical assessment and chest computed tomography (CT) every six months for two years

    Other: Frequency: Every 6 Months · Other: Imaging Modality: Chest CT

  • Experimental
    Surveillance Arm IV

    Clinical assessment and chest CT every three months for two years

    Other: Frequency: Every 3 Months · Other: Imaging Modality: Chest CT

Interventions

  • OtherFrequency: Every 3 Months

    every 3 months

  • OtherFrequency: Every 6 Months

    every 6 months

  • OtherImaging Modality: Chest Radiograph (CXR)

    Chest radiograph (CXR)

  • OtherImaging Modality: Chest CT

    Chest computed tomography (CT)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Hierarchal Composite Outcome of Patient-Important Outcomes

    The composite outcome consists of overall survival, serious adverse events, and patient-reported cancer-related anxiety

    Time frame: 3 years post randomization

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient Anxiety

    The PROMIS® Cancer-Anxiety instrument assesses self-reported fear (fearfulness, panic), anxious misery (worry, dread), hyperarousal (tension, nervousness, restlessness), and somatic symptoms related to arousal (racing heart, dizziness). The PROMIS® Cancer-Anxiety instrument is a computer adaptive test. A minimum of 4 questions must be answered. One's responses will guide the system's choice of the next question. The test will continue until either the standard error drops below a specified level or the participant has answered the maximum number of 12 questions (whichever comes first). Each question has 5 response options ranging in value from 1 to 5. To find the raw score, sum the values of the response to each question. The lowest possible raw score is 4 and the highest is 60. The raw score will then be converted into a standardized T-score for each participant using the applicable conversion table. A higher T-score represents a higher degree of anxiety.

    Time frame: 3 years

  2. Patient Satisfaction

    The PROMIS® Satisfaction with Social Roles \& Activities instrument assesses satisfaction with performing one's usual social roles and activities (e.g., 'I am satisfied with my ability to participate in family activities'). This instrument is a computer adaptive test. A minimum of 4 questions must be answered. One's response will guide the system's choice of the next question. The test will continue until either the standard error drops below a specified level or the participant has answered the maximum number of 12 questions (whichever comes first). Each question has 5 response options ranging in value from 1 to 5. To find the raw score, sum the values of the response to each question. The lowest possible raw score is 4 and the highest possible raw score is 60. The raw score will then be converted into a standardized T-score for each participant using the applicable conversion table. A higher T-score represents a higher degree of satisfaction.

    Time frame: 3 years

  3. Patient Quality-of-Life

    The validated EuroQol-5 Dimension 5-level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire measures generic health status and consists of 2 sections: the descriptive system and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The descriptive system is comprised of 5 dimensions (mobility, self care, usual activities, pain / discomfort and anxiety / depression). Each question has 5 response options ranging in value from 1 to 5. To find the raw score, sum the values of the response to each question. The lowest possible raw score is 5 and the highest is 25. A lower raw score in the descriptive system represents fewer issues with each of the 5 domains. The VAS records a participant's self-rated health from 0 to 100 on a vertical VAS with endpoints labeled '100 - the best health you can imagine' and '0 - the worst health you can imagine'. The participant is asked to mark an 'X' on the scale and write the corresponding number, which is this section's raw score.

    Time frame: 3 years

  4. Local Recurrence-Free Survival

    As measured by the length of time from the time of randomization that the participant survives with no detection of recurrent disease at the initial tumor site or operative field.

    Time frame: 3 years

  5. Metastasis-Free Survival

    As measured by the length of time from the time of randomization that the participant survives with no detection of systemic disease recurrence at any anatomic location.

    Time frame: 3 years

  6. Treatment-Related Complications

    Will include both chemotherapy-related complications, such as febrile neutropenia, fungal infections or sepsis, and thoracotomy-related complications, such as pneumothorax, or surgical site infections.

    Time frame: 3 years

  7. Net Healthcare Costs

    Will include both the net costs of surveillance and costs incurred from metastasis treatment and metastasis treatment-related complications.

    Time frame: 3 years

07

Study locations

35 sites
  • University of California Davis Medical Center
    Sacramento, California 95817, United States
  • Hartford HealthCare
    Hartford, Connecticut 06102, United States
  • University of Florida Health Shands Hospital
    Gainesville, Florida 32608, United States
  • UChicago Medicine
    Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
  • Parkview Cancer Institute
    Fort Wayne, Indiana 46845, United States
  • Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center
    Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
  • Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
    Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756, United States
  • Albany Medical Center
    Albany, New York 12208, United States
  • NYU Langone Orthopaedic Hospital/Perlmutter Cancer Center
    New York, New York 10010, United States
  • Montefiore Medical Center
    The Bronx, New York 10467, United States
  • Cleveland Clinic
    Cleveland, Ohio 44195, United States
  • Oregon Health and Science University Hospital
    Portland, Oregon 97239, United States
  • Allegheny Health Network Research Institute
    Monroeville, Pennsylvania 15212, United States
  • Texas Tech Health Sciences Center
    El Paso, Texas 79905, United States
  • Huntsman Cancer Institute
    Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States
  • Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
    Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
  • Hospital Universitario Austral
    Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne
    Fitzroy, Melbourne 3065, Australia
  • LKH - Universitätsklinikum Graz
    Graz, 8036, Austria
  • Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc
    Brussels, Belgium
  • Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
    Porto Alegre, Brazil
  • Nova Scotia Health
    Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3A7, Canada
  • Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre
    Hamilton, Ontario L8V1C3, Canada
  • The Ottawa Hospital
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Mount Sinai Hospital
    Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X5, Canada
  • Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont
    Montreal, Quebec H1T 2M4, Canada
  • McGill University Health Centre
    Montreal, Quebec H4A 3J1, Canada
  • Hôtel Dieu du Quebec
    Québec, Quebec G1R 2J6, Canada
  • Helios Klinikum Berlin
    Berlin, Germany
  • Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico Hospital
    Turin, Italy
  • University Malaya Kuala Lumpur
    Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Leiden University Medical Center
    Leiden, Netherlands
  • Centro Hospitalar e Universitario de Coimbra
    Coimbra, Portugal
  • Hospital Vall d'Hebron
    Barcelona, Spain
  • Karolinska University Hospital
    Stockholm, Sweden
08

References and documents

Publications

  • SAFETY Investigators. The Surveillance After Extremity Tumor Surgery (SAFETY) trial: protocol for a pilot study to determine the feasibility of a multi-centre randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2019 Sep 18;9(9):e029054. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029054. PubMed 31537562 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

09

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

Started Nov 2019 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2027, 97 months after the start.

Of 147 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Sarcoma, half reached primary completion within 59 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 29 and three quarters within 120. This study's planned 97 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 150 studies reached it within 59 months; a quarter within 29 and three quarters within 120.

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

Registered
May 7, 2019
First posted
May 10, 2019
StartActual
Nov 19, 2019
Primary completionEst.
Dec 2027
CompletionEst.
Dec 2027
Last update
Nov 22, 2024
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 Nov 22, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03944798
Collaborators
Hamilton Academic Health Sciences Organization, Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Musculoskeletal Tumor Society
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 10, 2019
Start date
Nov 19, 2019
Primary completion
Dec 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Nov 22, 2024

Study contacts

Michelle Ghert, MD
principal investigator · McMaster University

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 active, not recruiting, as verified in Nov 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion