Randomised Oesophagectomy: Minimally Invasive or Open
Funder: NIHR/HTA
Sponsor: University Hospitals Bristol
Status: In Follow Up
Oesophageal (gullet) cancer is relatively common in the UK. If detected early, it may be cured with surgery (oesophagectomy). Different surgical approaches are routinely used to treat oesophageal (gullet) cancer – open surgery or combined open and keyhole surgery (“combined surgery”). The approaches are very similar, both approaches aim to remove the cancer and replace the gullet with the stomach. ‘Open surgery’ is performed by making large incisions in the abdomen and the chest. ‘Combined surgery’ is performed by making a large incision in the chest and 4 to 8 small cuts in the tummy. In both approaches sometimes incisions may be made to the neck.
The operation is complex and although the benefit of surgery is survival, surgery is followed by a reduction in health quality of life. At the moment we do not know which surgical approach is best for removing the cancer and for the patient in terms of recovery. The ROMIO study aims to find out which is the best surgical approach to treat oesophageal cancer.
Half of the patients who take part will be treated with “open surgery”, the other half will be treated with “combined surgery”. The results of each group will be compared to see if one surgical approach is better overall than the other.
The ROMIO trial will recruit 406 patients in total, at 8 surgical centres which will allow important differences in surgical recovery to be detected. We will also collect data, to allow a comparison of the cost-effectiveness of the two approaches to provide information relevant to policy making in the NHS.
Publications
Quality Assurance Protocol paper
ROMIO_Combined_Newsletter&Infographic_V1.0_Winter2020_2021
Contact Information
Chief Investigator: Chris Metcalfe
Study coordinator: Liz Ward
Study Assistant coordinator: Stephan Palmer
E-mail: romio-study@bristol.ac.uk