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RecruitingNCT06523452SIMBARUpdated Jul 26, 2024

Laser Speckle Imaging During Breast Reconstruction

An interventional study of Laser Speckle Imaging in Breast Cancer, sponsored by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-07-26.

Sponsored by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by May 2025, 1 year 6 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Apr 2024; still recruiting 2 years 6 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Around 3500 women a year have surgery to reconstruct a breast/s after cancer. Breast reconstruction can have a positive impact on their lives, but unfortunately 3 or 4 in 10 women have problems with healing after their operation. This is distressing and often leads to more medical care or surgery. These problems are often caused by poor blood flow to the skin and deeper tissues used to reconstruct the breast. The investigators have developed a new device that does not touch the skin and provides immediate, continuous images of skin blood flow (the flow that surgeons cannot see). To test this device the investigators took images of blood flow during breast reconstruction surgery. The investigators found that imaging was good at showing where skin blood flow was poor and led to problems with healing and where flow was good and there were fewer problems after surgery (from minor problems, e.g. delayed healing; to major problems, e.g. loss of new breast).

The investigators think this device can help surgeons choose healthy skin during breast reconstruction and so help more patients to heal without surgical problems. The investigators need to test the new imaging device in a large clinical trial to find out how effective it is at improving healing for women after breast reconstruction. Before this, the investigators need to find out if such a trial is possible and acceptable to patients, theatre staff and surgeons. The investigators will recruit 60 women who are having breast surgery and will randomly choose 30 to have surgery without blood flow imaging and 30 to have surgery with blood flow imaging. The investigators will follow up the women whilst in hospital and for the following 6 months to record any problems. In particular the investigators need to find out how many patients will volunteer for the study and the study can collect all the information needed during the 6 months after surgery. The results from this study will be used to plan a much larger clinical trial that will test whether blood flow imaging is effective, improves patient recovery after surgery and provides good value for money for the NHS.

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Conditions studied

  • Breast Cancer

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03

In context

Breast Neoplasms

14,825 studies on the registry are indexed under Breast Neoplasms; 3,319 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 60 is below the median of 72 across 10,896 interventional studies indexed under Breast Neoplasms.

Browse Breast Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust is the lead sponsor of 63 studies on the registry; 9 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
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

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

  • Female, aged 18 or over;
  • Able and willing to provide ;
  • Scheduled for breast reconstruction by autologous free flap surgery (either immediately post-mastectomy or delayed).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to give written .
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    LSI Assisted Group

    Breast reconstruction surgery will be standard clinical care, but tissue blood flow images will be available during surgery to aid surgical decision making. The surgical procedure will take slightly longer (approximately 10-15 minutes in total) compared to the Treatment As Usual group.

    Other: Laser Speckle Imaging

  • No intervention
    Treatment As Usual Group

    Breast reconstruction surgery will be standard clinical care

Interventions

  • OtherLaser Speckle Imaging

    At least three scans (four for skin sparing mastectomy) will be performed on participants randomised to the LSI Assisted Group. Further scans may be taken at the discretion of the surgeon.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Recruitment and retention rate for both LSI-Assisted and TAU groups

    Number of participants recruited to the study and number lost to follow up

    Time frame: End of Trial - 6 months after entry of final participant

  2. Rates of post-operative complications for both LSI and TAU groups

    Number of participants with post-operative complications and their severity over 6 months post operative using patient diaries and patient notes assessed by Clavien-Dindo or CTCAE.

    Time frame: End of Trial - 6 months after entry of final participant

Secondary outcomes

  1. A health economic framework for the future trial.

    Economic evaluation methods will be developed and tested on the collection of resource use, cost and QoL outcome data assessed using Resource Use, EQ-5D-5L and BREAST Q questionnaires.

    Time frame: End of Trial - 6 months after entry of final participant

  2. LSI training manual and understanding the views of theatre staff on the use of LSI.

    Develop appropriate training material for use of LSI Device through conducting pre-operative observations, focus groups and post operative interviews with theatre staff to assess feasibility and acceptability of LSI.

    Time frame: End of Trial - 6 months after entry of final participant

  3. Understanding the views of patients on the use of LSI.

    Conduct qualitative interviews with patients in both LSI and TAU groups

    Time frame: End of Trial - 6 months after entry of final participant

  4. LSI perfusion measures in the two groups

    Assess the perfusion through the

    Time frame: End of Trial - 6 months after entry of final participant

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
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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 26, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06523452
Lead sponsor
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 26, 2024
Start date
Apr 25, 2024
Primary completion
May 1, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
May 1, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 26, 2024

Study contacts

Lucy Gates, PhD
Contact
lucy.gates1@nhs.net
01392 408181
Angela Shore
Contact
a.c.shore@exeter.ac.uk
01392 403091

Oversight

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

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