An interventional study of POEM-F and Conventional POEM in Achalasia, sponsored by Chinese University of Hong Kong. Recruiting at 7 sites in 4 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-12-03.
Sponsored by Chinese University of Hong Kong · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) has emerged as the endoscopic treatment of choice for achalasia, offering comparable symptom relief with laparoscopic Heller's cardiomyotomy. The main concern with POEM is the higher incidence of post-procedure gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), occurring in up to 50-60% of patients. In order to reduce the risk of GERD, endoscopic fundoplication has been developed as a novel procedure mimicking surgical anterior partial fundoplication that can be performed in the same session as POEM (POEM-F). Case series of POEM-F in patients with achalasia reported encouraging outcomes of low GERD rate of \~12% at 1 year. Prospective comparative data between POEM-F and conventional POEM on post-procedure GERD is current lacking. The investigators therefore designed an international multicenter prospective randomized study to investigate the efficacy of POEM-F. The investigators postulate that POEM-F could reduce the incidence of post-procedure GERD when compared with conventional POEM.
This is an international multicenter randomized controlled trial conducted between high volume expert centers from Hong Kong SAR, China, India and United States of America. Adult patients with manometry confirmed achalasia would be randomised to undergo POEM-F or POEM. The procedure would be performed by experts with vast experience in POEM. The primary outcome is the incidence of post-procedure GERD at 1 year, defined by the updated Lyon consensus. Secondary outcomes include technical and clinical success rates, adverse events, post-POEM endoscopic and manometry findings as well as patients' symptom scores.
Sample size calculation Based on existing pilot comparative data on POEM-F and POEM, it is estimated that 84 patients would be required to demonstrate a difference in post-procedure GERD of 47.6% to 18.2%, with 80% power and false positive rate of 0.05, accounting for 10% loss to follow-up.
Purpose and potential The current study proposal could demonstrate the superiority of POEM-F over POEM in reducing post-procedural GERD. It would also demonstrate the safety and reproducibility of the technique in expert centers across the globe. It could potentially replace conventional POEM as the preferred minimally invasive endoscopic treatment for achalasia.
Achalasia is the most common esophageal motility disorder worldwide, with an annual incidence of 1.6 per 100'000 individual and prevalence of 10 per 100'000 population. The incidence of achalasia has been dramatically rising over the past decade. A study conducted in Chicago suggested that over the 10 years from 2004 to 2014, the incidence and prevalence of achalasia were two- to threefold greater than estimates would have predicted. The likely explanation to the rise in incidence is an increased awareness of this condition and widespread availability of accurate diagnostic test with high resolution manometry. The cardinal features of achalasia include failed relaxation of lower esophageal sphincter and absent esophageal peristalsis. Owing to the benign nature of the disease, patients suffering from it would experience longstanding debilitating symptoms of dysphagia, chest pain, regurgitation, resulting in poor quality of life. In the past, laparoscopic Heller's cardiomyotomy with partial fundoplication and endoscopic pneumatic dilatation were considered as treatment options for achalasia.
In the past 10 years, per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) has emerged as the incisionless minimally invasive endoscopic treatment of choice for achalasia. This Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgical (NOTES) technique involves mucosal incision and creation of a submucosal tunnel in the distal esophagus down to gastric cardia, followed by esophageal and gastric myotomy. Since the procedure was first reported by Inoue H, et al in 2010, it has seen worldwide acceptance as first-line therapy. POEM has been associated with excellent relief of dysphagia and achalasia-related symptoms with a low and acceptable adverse event rate of 0.5%. In a previous randomised controlled trial, POEM had a higher treatment success rate than pneumatic dilatation. When compared with laparoscopic Heller's cardiomyotomy, POEM was associated with at least similar treatment efficacy and a trend towards reduced short term adverse event. POEM could perform even better than surgical myotomy in patients with type III achalasia.
The main limitation of POEM is the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) post-POEM. Kumbhari et al. looked at rates of GERD after POEM on patients who underwent subsequent objective pH testing. A total of 282 patients were included in this analysis from multiple centers in America, Asia, and Europe. About 58% of patients had objective evidence of abnormal acid exposure, with 23% showing evidence of esophagitis. More concerning, however, was that 60% of the patients with GERD were completely asymptomatic. This highlights an important issue at hand that many patients, either related to the propensity of GERD to be silent or the nature of achalasia to develop and insensate esophagus, do not report symptoms while showing high rates of GERD. POEM has been found to be consistently associated with higher rate of GERD than conventional Heller's cardiomyotomy or pneumatic dilatation across multiple studies.
Supported by evidence demonstrating the efficacy of partial fundoplication during Heller's operation, there has been a significant interest in performing fundoplication after POEM during the same session to prevent the development of post-POEM GERD. Inoue et al. pioneered the technique of POEM-F that mimics the surgical Dor (anterior partial fundoplication) procedure. In the pilot study, technical success was achieved in all 21 patients, and all but one had an intact fundoplication wrap on upper endoscopy at a 1-month follow-up. Four more studies conducted in Japan and India have reported good early outcomes with POEM-F (Technical success of 85-100%) for achalasia. No severe adverse event has been reported in these studies which reiterates the safety of this procedure. In the longest follow-up study on POEM-F, GERD diagnosed by an abnormal esophageal acid exposure was seen in 11.1% of the 21 cases at one-year follow-up: comparable (8.8%) to a large meta-analysis of 4871 Heller's cardiomyotomy with fundoplication procedures.
To date, no prospective multicenter randomised study has been conducted to compare the efficacy of POEM-F with conventional POEM in reducing post-procedure GERD. Therefore, in this study, the investigators aim to evaluate the of POEM-F in patients with achalasia through an international multicenter randomized controlled trial.
140 studies on the registry are indexed under Esophageal Achalasia; 44 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 81 is above the median of 60 across 93 interventional studies indexed under Esophageal Achalasia.
Browse Esophageal Achalasia studies →Chinese University of Hong Kong is the lead sponsor of 1,419 studies on the registry; 487 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Patients with achalasia type I, II or III who are one of the following:
Exclusion criteria:
The detail of the procedure has been reported in the literature. After completion of myotomy as per conventional anterior POEM, a serosal incision would be made at the level of the GE junction below the diaphragmatic crus. The peritoneal cavity would then be entered and the anterior gastric wall could be identified. A detachable endoloop would be introduced alongside the endoscope with the guidance of endoscopic clip. Three to four clips would be applied to the anterior gastric fundus while additional 3-4 clips would be applied to the edge of the submucosal tunnel, all anchoring to the endoloop. Upon tightening of the endoloop the anterior fundus would be approximated to the esophagogastric junction and thus completing the partial anterior fundoplication. Abdominal paracentesis to treat capnoperitoneum would be performed as required based on patient's clinical condition.
Procedure: POEM-F
Conventional per-oral endoscopic myotomy An anterior POEM would be performed per usual manner described in the literature. The procedure would be performed under general anaesthesia by expert endoscopists with at least 50 case experience of conventional POEM and 5 cases experience of POEM-F. The requirement of POEM experience is based on a recent multicenter study of learning curve by Fujiyoshi Y, et al. The procedure would follow the current recommendations from expert panel in reducing GER, including avoidance of excessive gastric myotomy and preservation of the sling fibers are the gastric cardia. The length of the esophageal and gastric myotomy is standardized at 5cm and 2cm respectively
Procedure: Conventional POEM
POEM-F would be performed as described in the arms section
Anterior POEM performed as described in the arms section
Post-procedure rate of gastroesophageal reflux
Defined by updated Lyon 2.0 consensus as fulfilling one or more of the criteria: 1. Endoscopic erosive esophagitis, LA grade B or above 2. Long segment Barrett's esophagus 3. Peptic esophageal stricture 4. 24-hour pH study with acid exposure time \>6% Both endoscopy and pH study to be performed with proton pump inhibitor stopped for 4 weeks
Time frame: 1 year
Clinical success rate of procedure
Post-treatment Eckhardt score \<=3
Time frame: 1 year
Adverse event of procedure
frequency of severe adverse events with probable or definite attribution to the procedure based on the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) lexicon as well as Clavien Dindo classification
Time frame: 30 day
Technical success rate of procedure
Completing all steps of the intended procedure successfully in the same session
Time frame: 1 day
Procedure time
Procedure time of the intended procedure in minutes
Time frame: 1 day
Erosive esophagitis on post-procedure endoscopy
The presence of erosive esophagitis as well as the grading on post-procedure endoscopy
Time frame: 1 year
Fundoplication wrap integrity on post-procedure endoscopy
Endoscopic appearance of fundoplication wrap on retroflexion in the stomach. 1. Intact - wrap is completely visualised 2. Indistinct - wrap is visualised but appears to be loosened 3. Absent - the wrap is completely not visible
Time frame: 1 year
Distensibility index on EndoFLIP, premyotomy
Distensibility index (mm2/mmHg) using EndoFLIP
Time frame: During index procedure, before myotomy
Distensibility index on EndoFLIP, post myotomy
Distensibility index (mm2/mmHg) using EndoFLIP
Time frame: During index procedure, after myotomy
Distensibility index on EndoFLIP, post fundoplication
Distensibility index (mm2/mmHg) using EndoFLIP
Time frame: During index procedure, after fundoplication
Distensibility index on EndoFLIP, on follow-up
Distensibility index (mm2/mmHg) using EndoFLIP, at follow-up endoscopy
Time frame: 1 year
Maximum diameter on EndoFLIP, premyotomy
Maximum diameter (mm) on EndoFLIP
Time frame: During index procedure, before myotomy
Maximum diameter on EndoFLIP, post-myotomy
Maximum diameter (mm) on EndoFLIP
Time frame: During index procedure, after myotomy
Maximum diameter on EndoFLIP, post-fundoplication
Maximum diameter (mm) on EndoFLIP
Time frame: During index procedure, after fundoplication
Maximum diameter on EndoFLIP, on follow-up
Maximum diameter (mm) on EndoFLIP, at follow-up endoscopy
Time frame: 1 year
GERD-HRQL score
Symptom and quality of life score relating to GERD The score ranged from 0-50 with higher score signifying more severe GERD symptom / worse quality of life
Time frame: 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 1 year
GERD-RSI score
Symptom and quality of life score relating to GERD The score ranged from 0-45 with higher score signifying more severe GERD symptom
Time frame: 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 1 year
GERD-Q score
Symptom and quality of life score relating to GERD The score is ranged from 0-18 with the higher score signifying more symptom of GERD
Time frame: 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 1 year
Use of proton pump inhibitor post-procedure
Number of participants who are on regular / as required / not on PPI
Time frame: 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year
Plan to share: No
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Chinese University of Hong Kong