CClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT05491434Updated May 20, 2025

Sarcopenia in Colorectal Cancer Patients, Intervention Study

An interventional study of Protein supplement in Sarcopenia, Postoperative Complications and Infection;Post Surg Procedure, sponsored by Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge. Recruiting at 1 site in Spain. Open to participants aged 70 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-05-20.

Sponsored by Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Oct 2025, 11 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Registered 1 year 8 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Dec 2020, registered Aug 2022).
  • Started Dec 2020; still recruiting 5 years 10 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
370
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
70 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The sarcopenia is a new concept for evaluating the functional status of patients, introduced during the last 20 years. This is defined as the relationship between the deterioration of muscle mass and the decrease in strength, the metabolic rate, the aerobic capacity and subsequently the evaluation of the functional status. The sarcopenia has been estimated to affect 5% to 13% of people aged between 60 and 70 years, increasing from 11% to 50% in those aged 80 years and older. In a study by Lieffers et al. of a total of 234 patients with colorectal cancer, with a mean age of 63 years according to the values observed by Prado et al., the prevalence of sarcopenia would be around 39%, being able to reach up to 60% in patients with chronic diseases.

The goal of this study is to compare the cumulative incidence of post-surgical complications due to infection at 30 days between the group of patients without sarcopenia and the group of patients with sarcopenia with an intervention based on a nutritional supplement + physical exercise.

Read the detailed description

CONCEPTUAL HYPOTHESIS Improving functional status through physical exercise and nutritional supplementation of sarcopenic colon cancer patients at diagnosis can reduce the rate of infectious complications after surgery.

OPERATIONAL HYPOTHESIS Active preoperative preparation of sarcopenic colon cancer patients reduces post-surgical infectious complications by at least 11%, reaching a rate similar to patients without initial sarcopenia.

Inclusion criteria: - Age ≥ 70 years old; - Colon adenocarcinoma without synchronous metastases; - No urgent surgery; - ECOG performance status ≤ 2 .; - no pregnancy or lactation .; - signature of the informed consent; - ability to comply with the study indications. Exclusion criteria: - rectal cancer; - Concomitant neoplastic disease in the last 5 years - medical or mental condition of the patient that compromises the authorization of informed consent; - Concomitant uncontrolled or stable medical condition; - Clinically significant heart disease (congestive heart failure, symptomatic coronary disease) - Refusal to participate in the study.

Study variable (categorization of patients): Evaluation of Sarcopenia: it will be performed by CT, identifying the image of L3 (3rd lumbar vertebra). Main outcome variable: Cumulative incidence of post-surgical complications due to infection at 30 days.

Secondary variables: Frailty, Immune status, Quality of life (QoL) C30 and CR29 INTRVENTION (study groups)

  • ARM A (Control: No sarcopenia): the usual pre-surgical preparation and conditioning will be carried out, without providing nutritional supplements or increased physical activity.
  • ARM B (Experimental: Sarcopenia): in addition to the usual pre-surgical preparation and conditioning, a nutritional supplement and increased physical activity will be provided in a controlled manner for 3 weeks.
02

Conditions studied

  • Sarcopenia
  • Postoperative Complications
  • Infection;Post Surg Procedure

Keywords

  • Sarcopenia
  • Colon cancer
  • Postoperative complications
  • Inmunologic status
  • L3 CT image
03

In context

Sarcopenia

1,208 studies on the registry are indexed under Sarcopenia; 402 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 370 is above the median of 60 across 775 interventional studies indexed under Sarcopenia.

Browse Sarcopenia studies →

Lead sponsor

Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge is the lead sponsor of 118 studies on the registry; 29 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
70 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Age ≥ 70 years old,
  • Colon adenocarcinoma without synchronous metàstasis,
  • No urgent surgery,
  • ECOG performance status ≤ 2,
  • no pregnancy or lactation,
  • signature of the informed consent,
  • ability to comply with the study indications.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • rectal càncer,
  • Concomitant neoplastic disease in the last 5 years
  • medical or mental condition of the patient that compromises the authorization of informed consent,
  • Concomitant uncontrolled or stable medical condition,
  • Clinically significant heart disease (congestive heart failure, symptomatic coronary disease)
  • Refusal to participate in the study.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
370 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Control

    The usual pre-surgical preparation and conditioning will be carried out, without providing nutritional supplements or increased physical activity

  • Experimental
    Experimental

    In addition to the usual pre-surgical preparation and conditioning, a nutritional supplement and increased physical activity will be provided in a controlled manner for 3 weeks.

    Dietary Supplement: Protein supplement

Interventions

  • Dietary supplementProtein supplement

    One líquid brick every day during 3 weeks

    Also known as: 10gr protein/100 ml. Every liquid brick have 200 ml

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. to evaluate the rate of post-surgical infectious complications between the group of sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic patients

    Evaluate the cumulative incidence of post-surgical complications due to infection at 30 days between the group of patients without sarcopenia and the group of patients with sarcopenia with an intervention based on a nutritional supplement + physical exercise in the latter group

    Time frame: 30 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. To asess the rate of post-surgical complications between the group of sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic patients

    All complications, not just infectious

    Time frame: 30 days

  2. Overall survival at one year

    To study survival one year after surgery in patients considered preoperatively as having sarcopenia.

    Time frame: One year

  3. Quality of life of surgical patients

    Evaluate the quality of life according the QLQ EORTC QlQ C-30 y ClQ CR29

    Time frame: At 3 months, 6 months and one year after surgery

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge
    L'Hospitalet De Llobregat, Barcelona 08709, Spain
    Recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 20, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05491434
Lead sponsor
Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge
Responsible party
Ricardo Frago Montanuy (PhD, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 8, 2022
Start date
Dec 1, 2020
Primary completion
Oct 31, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 31, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
May 20, 2025

Study contacts

Ricardo Frago, Ph D
Contact
rfrago@bellvitgehospital.cat
+34932607485

Oversight

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

Interested in this study?

Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.

Contact study team

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