Cytosponge for post-chemoradiation surveillance of oesophageal cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of a Non-Endoscopic Immunocytological Device (Cytosponge) for post chemo-radiotherapy surveillance in patients with oesophageal cancer – a feasibility study
IRAS ID
227234
Contact name
Somnath Mukherjee
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
The CYTOFLOC trial will obtain preliminary data on the acceptance rate, effectiveness and completion rate of a minimally invasive technique called Cytosponge that collects cells from the gullet (oesophagus), which can then be potentially used for identification of disease recurrence.
Cytosponge is a capsule-sized device which contains an expandable, spherical mesh which is attached to a string. The capsule dissolves in the stomach after swallowing, releasing the sponge which is then retrieved by gently pulling the string after five minutes. As the sponge is pulled out it collects the cells from the lining of the oesophagus.
The Cytosponge samples the entire oesophagus and therefore is more likely to pick up any abnormal cells than a biopsy, because Cytosponge will pick up abnormal cells even from areas not visualised on endoscopy (video examination of the gullet and stomach).
Participants have the option to consent to their surplus tissue remaining after routine biopsies being used in further research analysis. These samples include:
- baseline diagnostic biopsies
- endoscopic/surgery biopsies testing for residual cancer near the time of CYTOSPONGE testing (post chemo-radiotherapy)Participants also have the option of providing a research blood sample for further analysis.
If we can show that Cytosponge is a safe, feasible and acceptable screening tool for detection of residual or recurrent cancer following treatment with Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for oesophageal cancer, we plan to run larger clinical trials in the future. In such studies we will study the effectiveness of Cytosponge as surveillance strategy after CRT, by using the test on multiple occasions over a period of time.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SC/0661
Date of REC Opinion
29 Dec 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion