ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06267378Updated Jul 8, 2024

Assessing Frailty and Its Impacts on Patients Facing Major GI Surgery

An observational study in Bowel Cancer, sponsored by Doncaster And Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-07-08.

Sponsored by Doncaster And Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2024, 1 year 10 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Aug 2023; still recruiting 3 years 1 month later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
100
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The study team will look at 3 new tests that will make it easier to measure frailty in patients awaiting surgery for cancer and compare them against standard clinical measures of frailty in a pilot study. The expected outcome is that evidence will be collated in order to apply for a major grant to look at improving the care of frail patients with cancer in the future.

Read the detailed description

Over 40% of patients with bowel cancer are over the age of 75. In older patients, rates of ill health and frailty are high, with frailty found in 6 in 10 patients over the age of 90. Surgery is the main treatment for bowel cancer, but the risks of surgery are higher in older people especially if they are frail. The main features of frailty are weight loss, lack of energy, weakness, slow walking speed and low activity levels. Frailty is a condition linked to an increased risk of death and major complications after surgery. As a result, older and frailer patients are often refused surgery for their cancer. If we could identify frailty more reliably before surgery, we could offer patients better counselling about the surgical risks and benefits. We could also offer treatments that might improve their fitness, making the surgery safer (pre-operative exercise, better post-operative support). Surgeons are not very good at measuring frailty because the clinical tests for it are complicated and take a long time to complete.

02

Conditions studied

  • Bowel Cancer

Browse trials for

03

In context

Intestinal Neoplasms

178 studies on the registry are indexed under Intestinal Neoplasms; 21 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 100 is below the median of 153 across 36 observational studies indexed under Intestinal Neoplasms.

Browse Intestinal Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Doncaster And Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the lead sponsor of 5 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

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
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

Gastrointestinal cancer patients

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

  1. Male or female.
  2. Aged 70 years and over.
  3. Patients with a diagnosis of primary operable colorectal cancer where treatment includes a planned curative surgical procedure.
  4. About to undergo elective surgery for cancer.
  5. Mental capacity to consent.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with unresectable cancer.
  2. Patients presenting as an emergency.
  3. Patients who are having chemotherapy or radiotherapy before their surgery.
05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples without dna

Interventions

  • OtherFrailty measure

    All participants will be asked to complete baseline assessments and a blood test. 30 participants out of the 100 will be selected to wear a digital motion device before their surgery for seven days. (15 participants will be non-frail and 15 patients will be frail). Where possible, all baseline assessments will be scheduled to coincide with a routine clinic/hospital visit. The first assessment will complete functional, frailty, nutritional, and quality of life questionnaires. A blood test will be taken for baseline tests and metabolomic assessment. Participants who opt into having a digital motion device will also be shown how to use the device and will wear this for seven days. Written instructions to fit the device will also be given.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The sensitivity & specificity of digital motion data for the prediction of baseline clinical frailty levels & post-operative measures of frailty, mortality and adverse events

    The development of biochemical assessments of frailty could also provide valuable information to guide the treatment of the older patient although there are very few that have been validated for clinical use across a range of settings.

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  2. The sensitivity & specificity of tissue senescence for the prediction of baseline clinical frailty levels & post-operative measures of frailty, mortality and adverse events

    A further potential measure of frailty is tissue levels of senescence. Senescent cells are rare in the tissues of young organisms but become more common as tissues age, especially in adipose tissue, muscle and skin (Tchkonia et al., 2010). Both ageing and frailty are associated with cellular senescence, a mechanism of irreversible cell cycle arrest caused by persistent stress and damage, which contributes to the process of ageing, frailty and a range of diseases (Xu et al., 2018; Hickson et al., 2019). Senescent cells are causal to a wide range of diseases such as arthritis, arteriosclerosis and dementia and are also linked to the development of frailty in animal models.

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  3. The sensitivity & specificity of blood based biomarkers for the prediction of baseline clinical frailty levels & post-operative measures of frailty, mortality and adverse events

    A simple, validated biomarker of frailty, capable of identification of patients who are at an increased risk of adverse outcomes from surgery, would be of great value in the surgical decision-making process.

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

Secondary outcomes

  1. Blood biomarker correlation (baseline and post operative) with baseline frailty and poor outcomes (including length of stay and adverse events)

    as above

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  2. Adverse events related to surgery assessed CTCAE classifications

    as above

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  3. Tissue senescence correlation between baseline frailty and poor outcomes (including length of stay and adverse events)

    as above

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  4. Digital mobility outcomes correlation with baseline frailty and poor outcomes (including length of stay and adverse events)

    as above

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  5. Physical function assessment after surgery at 6 weeks, 3 months using the WHO DAS 2.0.

    as above

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  6. Quality of life at 6 weeks, 3 months after surgery using the EQ-5D-5L

    as above

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

  7. Overall survival at 3 months and 5 years (the latter via cancer registry returns)

    as above

    Time frame: 01/12/2029

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN2 5LT, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided — TBC

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 8, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06267378
Lead sponsor
Doncaster And Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 20, 2024
Start date
Aug 30, 2023
Primary completion
Dec 1, 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 1, 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 8, 2024

Study contacts

Jayan George
Contact
jayan.george@nhs.net
01302 366666
Emma Stoner
Contact
dbth.clinicalresearch@nhs.net
01302 644073
Jayan George
principal investigator · Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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