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CompletedNCT04939103Updated Sep 1, 2022

TRUS-FNA For The Prediction Of pCR After Neoadjuvant Treatment In Rectal Cancer

An observational study in EUS-FNA, Rectal Cancer and Pathological Complete Remission, sponsored by Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. Completed at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-09-01.

Sponsored by Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Case-only
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
63
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Colorectal cancer is one of the most malignancies worldwide. The dominant clinical research strategy of LARC includes neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy before radical surgery followed combined with adjuvant treatment. Approximately 15% to 20% of the patients after nCRT can achieve a pathologic complete response (pCR)---no residual tumor is reported at histology after a standard resection. Some researchers suggest that those patients with pCR can be spared the morbidities of surgery instead by a nonoperative approach---watch- and-wait(W\&W). However, neither FDG-PET, MRI, CT, nor enteroscopy can accurately determine a pCR.

EUS-FNA has been an important technique for the diagnosis of rectal cancer for its high accuracy and little harm. However, data on the TRUS-FNA for the cytologic diagnosis of pCR in rectal cancer is scarce. Our hypothesis is that adding transrectal ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (TRUS-FNA) compared with enteroscopy , MR, and CT alone can improve the accuracy of predicting pCR after nCRT.Therefore, the aim of the study is to assess the performance characteristics of EUS-FNA in this setting.

Read the detailed description

Following the neoadjuvant treatment of rectal cancer, appropriately 15-20%of patients receiving neoadjuvant treatment can achieve pathological complete response: a condition of no tumor cell detected in surgical specimens, which usually suggests improved oncology outcomes. In 2004, Habr-Gama, A et al. proposed that surgical resection may not increase overall and disease-free survival in these patients and lead to an increased risk of surgical complications and permanent stoma. Therefore, they suggested that nonoperative treatment, which is now referred to as "watch-and-wait"--patients with clinical complete response (cCR) can avoid unnecessary surgery and be managed by strict follow-up and observation alone. A series of studies have shown impressive survival outcomes in patients who received nonoperativetreatment:85-93% and 82-94% in 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival, respectively. Also, in case of relapse, the rate of successfully performed salvage surgery was 80-91%.

However, determining pCR after neoadjuvant treatment for distal rectal cancer remains a dilemma for clinicians. Different imaging modalities, including digital rectal examination (DRE), fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), Computed Tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and endoscopy have been well evaluated for the efficacy of predicting pCR. In contrast, none of them proved to be reliable.

Duldulao et al. found that after neoadjuvant treatment, rectal tumor cells are distributed preferentially in the muscularis of the bowel wall while few in the mucosa. That is why superficial biopsies were inadequate, and full-thickness apparitions on tumor focus may provide adequate sampling to rule out malignancy for all stages of rectal cancer after neoadjuvant treatment. Therefore, fine-needle aspiration assisted with TRUS (TRUS-FNA), which can harvest a whole layer of the bowel wall, has shown obvious advantages in this setting.

Although widely used in clinical practice, studies regarding the application of TRUS-FNA in predicting pCR after preoperative therapy of rectal cancer were scarce. We hypothesized that TRUS-FNA could improve the clinical practice of identifying patients achieving pCR after neoadjuvant treatment. Accordingly, we conducted this prospective study to evaluate the efficacy of TURS-FNA, compared with other imaging modalities, TRUS, MRI, CT, enteroscopy, and superficial biopsy, in predicting pCR of rectal cancer after neoadjuvant treatment.

02

Conditions studied

  • EUS-FNA
  • Rectal Cancer
  • Pathological Complete Remission
03

In context

Rectal Neoplasms

1,804 studies on the registry are indexed under Rectal Neoplasms; 520 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 63 is below the median of 156 across 421 observational studies indexed under Rectal Neoplasms.

Browse Rectal Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University is the lead sponsor of 217 studies on the registry; 111 are open to participants now.

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

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

all of the patients are from the sixth affiliated hospital of Sun Yet-sen University

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

  • a new diagnosis of histologically confirmed rectal adenocarcinoma
  • tumor located below the peritoneum reflex
  • over 18 years old
  • T1-4,N0-2,M0 before nCRT
  • complete nCRT treatment
  • ASA>III or ECOG>1
  • informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • multiple primary colorectal cancer
  • the history of malignant tumor,IBD,FAP
  • the history of chemoradiation treatment or resection of rectal tumor
  • actue abdomen disease requiring emergency surgery
  • not be able to tolerate surgery with severe organ dysfunction
05

Study design

Observational model
Case-only
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
63 participants (actual)
Target follow-up
7 Days
Patient registry
Yes

Groups and cohorts

  • 1

    Those patients with rectal cancer after neoadjuvant treatment and completed the examination of TRUS-FNA, TRUS, CT, MR, enteroscopy and superficial biopsy

    Device: TRUS-FNA

Interventions

  • DeviceTRUS-FNA

    Transrectal Ultrasound Guided Fine Needle Aspiration for rectal tumor

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. the accuracy of predicting pCR after nCRT

    The primary endpoint was the predictive yield of TRUS-FNA for pathological complete responses after neoadjuvant treatment.

    Time frame: 25/05/2021-25/05/2022

07

Study locations

1 site
  • The Sixth Affiliate Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University
    Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — there is no plan to make individual participant data (IPD) available to other researchers.

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 Sep 1, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04939103
Responsible party
Yanxin Luo,MD (Chief Physician, Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 25, 2021
Start date
Jul 1, 2021
Primary completion
Jun 1, 2022
Completion
Jul 31, 2022
Last update
Sep 1, 2022

Study contacts

luo yanxin, MD,PHD
study chair · the sixth affiliated hospital of Sun Yet-Sen University

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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