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RecruitingNCT04001478NEEDUpdated Jul 25, 2023

Non-invasive Testing for Early oEesophageal Cancer and Dysplasia

An observational study in Oesophageal Cancer, Barrett Esophagus and Barretts Esophagus With Dysplasia, sponsored by Imperial College London. Recruiting at 12 sites in United Kingdom. Open to female participants aged 18 Years to 90 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-07-25.

Sponsored by Imperial College London · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Oct 2024, 1 year 11 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Oct 2019; still recruiting 7 years later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
1,000
Ages
18 Years to 90 Years
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

This study aims to determine whether a breath test could be used for early detection of oesophageal cancer and Barrett's high grade dysplasia.

Patients who are attending for a planned gastroscopy or who are scheduled to undergo elective resection of histologically confirmed early stage oesophageal adenocarcinoma or dysplasia will be approached to provide a breath sample.

Multi platform mass spectrometry analysis will be performed to establish volatile biomarkers that can discriminate between early stage (T1) oesophageal cancer/ Hight grade dysplasia from non cancer healthy controls/non dysplastic Barrett's cancer.

Read the detailed description

The incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma has been rising over the last decade. Despite improvements in oncological and surgical therapies the associated survival remains poor, mainly due to delays in diagnosis and advanced stage at presentation. Identifying patients at earlier stages as well as those at risk of cancer may lead to survival benefit. Barrett's oesophagus is an established risk factor for the development of oesophageal adenocarcinoma. It has an established histopathologic progression from low-grade, through high-grade dysplasia (HGD) to oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). Barrett's oesophagus patients currently undergo regular endoscopic surveillance to allow earlier detection of oesophageal cancer.

The primary objective is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of the volatile organic compounds (VOC) in exhaled breath to detect early stage oesophageal adenocarcinoma and high-grade dysplastic Barrett's oesophagus.

All patients will be fasted for a minimum of 6 hours prior to the breath sample as part of their routine clinical care. Breath collection will be conducted using a previously validated method. Samples of breath (500ml) collected using "breath collecting device utilising bags". Breath samples collected within thermal desorption tubes (Markes International, Llantrisant, UK) will be transferred to a central laboratory for analysis by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and proton transfer reaction time of flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS). Raw data files will be extracted and analysed in accordance with established protocols.

02

Conditions studied

  • Oesophageal Cancer
  • Barrett Esophagus
  • Barretts Esophagus With Dysplasia

Keywords

  • Oesophageal Cancer
  • Barretts Esophagus with Dysplasia
03

In context

Barrett Esophagus

310 studies on the registry are indexed under Barrett Esophagus; 64 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 1,000 is above the median of 127 across 115 observational studies indexed under Barrett Esophagus.

Browse Barrett Esophagus studies →

Lead sponsor

Imperial College London is the lead sponsor of 824 studies on the registry; 178 are open to participants now.

Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 6 (67%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 90 Years
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Patients attending for a planned gastroscopy as part of their Barrett's surveillance or under the two week wait rule or who are scheduled to undergo elective surgical or endoscopic resection of histologically confirmed early oesophageal adenocarcinoma/ high grade dysplasia will be eligible for inclusion in this study

Inclusion criteria

  • ≥18 years and ≤90 years of age
  • Undergoing gastroscopy or elective resection of histologically confirmed oesophageal adenocarcinoma/ high grade dysplasia
  • Fasted >6 hours
  • Able to provide informed written consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any patient \<18 years or >90 years of age.
  • Lacks capacity or is unable to provide informed written consent.
05

Study design

Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
1,000 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Control group

    Patients who are attending hospital for a gastroscopy as part of their routine clinical care as a 2 week wait rule referral and those on Barrett's surveillance , will be asked to give a sample of their breath prior to the procedure.

    Diagnostic Test: Breath test

  • Early oesophageal cancer (T1)/ Barrett's high grade dysplasia

    Patients who have known pre-diagnosed T1 oesophageal adenocarcinoma or HGD attending hospital as part of their clinical care will be asked to give a breath sample prior to their endoscopy resection/ cancer operation. Patients will be sampled upon return for follow up endoscopy to assess breath profile changes and correlation with endoscopy findings.

    Diagnostic Test: Breath test

  • Advanced Oesophageal cancer (T2/3/4)

    Patients who have been diagnosed with oesophageal adenocarcinoma attending hospital as part of their clinical care will be asked to give a breath sample prior to their endoscopy resection/ cancer operation.

    Diagnostic Test: Breath test

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testBreath test

    Patients will provide a breath test prior to gastroscopy or resection of Barrett's HGD lesion or oesophageal cancer.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Determine the diagnostic accuracy of breath test for detection of early oesophageal cancer and Barrett's high grade dysplasia

    Diagnostic accuracy will be measured by calculating the sensitivity and specificity of the test for detection of early oesophageal cancer/ high grade dysplasia. Sensitivity and specificity values are represented by a number between 0 to 1 indicating the test's ability to pick up true positive results and true negative results respectively, where a number closer to one indicates a greater detection ability.

    Time frame: 4 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Diagnostic validation study of the breath profile for prediction of early oeosphageal cancer and high grade dysplasia

    After diagnostic accuracy has been determined as per objective 1 by the discovery phase of the proposed study, a validation phase will then follow to confirm findings. Diagnostic accuracy of the validation phase results will be measured by calculating the sensitivity and specificity of the test for detection of T1 oesophageal cancer and dysplasia. Sensitivity and specificity values are represented by a number between 0 to 1 indicating the test's ability to pick up true positive results and true negative results respectively, where a number closer to one indicates a greater detection ability.

    Time frame: 3

07

Study locations

12 of 12 sites recruiting
  • University Hospitals Birmingham Nhs Foundation Trust
    Birmingham, B15 2TH, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • University Hospital Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
    Bournemouth, BH7 7DW, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire
    Coventry, CV2 2DX, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • Royal Liverpool University Hospital
    Liverpool, L7 8YE, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • University College London Hospitals Nhs Foundation Trust
    London, NW1 2PG, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • Guy'S and St Thomas' Nhs Foundation Trust
    London, SE1 9RT, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • Imperial College Healthcare Trust
    London, W2 1NY, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • Newcastle Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
    Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 5NR, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • Nottingham University Hospitals Nhs Trust
    Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • Portsmouth Hospitals Nhs Trust
    Portsmouth, PO6 3LY, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
    Southampton, SO16 6YD, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
  • Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
    Wrexham, LL13 7YP, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 25, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04001478
Lead sponsor
Imperial College London
Collaborators
Guts UK, University College London Hospitals, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 28, 2019
Start date
Oct 1, 2019
Primary completion
Oct 31, 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Oct 31, 2024 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 25, 2023

Study contacts

Sara H Jamel, MBBS MRCS
Contact
s.jamel@imperial.ac.uk
02033126328
George B Hanna, FRCS PhD
Contact
g.hanna@imperial.ac.uk
02033126328
George B Hanna, FRCS PhD
principal investigator · Imperial College London

Oversight

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

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