Electrical Impedance analysis in patients having surgery for cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Bioelectrical impedance analysis and post-operative complications following elective surgery for cancer
IRAS ID
249425
Contact name
Lewis Matthews
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospital Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 28 days
Research summary
Approximately 1.5 million major surgical procedures are performed in the UK each year, and many of these are for patients with cancer. Surgical and anaesthetic doctors have tools to tell them how well the heart, lungs and kidneys work before major surgery but there is not yet a good way of knowing the general health of the body cells.
The metabolic health of the of the body can be affected by many things such as the effect of the cancer on a persons' nutrition (eg. Loss of appetite), side-effects of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy they might undergo before their operation as well as the surgery itself.
We believe that if doctors and nurses had a better way of assessing who was in poor metabolic health, before surgery, then we might be able to use this information to improve recovery and reduce complications following major surgery for cancer.
Our study aims to investigate whether or not a small bedside device, called a bioelectrical impedance analyser, is able to predict whether or not a patient is at higher risk of post-operative complications due to poor metabolic health. The device will be used in the build-up to surgery as well as in the immediate post-operative period.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0151
Date of REC Opinion
8 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion