Ex Vivo Assessment of Human Colon and Rectum Mechanical Behaviour
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ex Vivo Assessment of Human Colon and Rectum Mechanical Behaviour Towards Robot-Assisted Tumour Removal (“Mechanically Intelligent” Assessment of Tissue Condition)
IRAS ID
335036
Contact name
Hugh Paterson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/a, N/a
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. The surgical approaches to treat CRC depend on where the cancer is located, and are complicated if the tumour is in a hard-to-reach place. Ensuring all cancer is removed during a single surgery improves the result, and therefore improves patient prognosis. Robot-Assisted Surgery (RAS) allows for increased control and accuracy compared to traditional key-hole surgery, particularly when performing surgery in hard-to-reach places. However, the application of RAS in surgery for cancer lags behind other domains because the systems do not provide support for decision making based on any senses other than sight.
The global research goal is to provide surgeons with feedback during an operation that is more than just visual. By relaying to the surgeon information about how hard or soft the tissue is, the surgeon will be able to judge more accurately where the tumour stops and normal tissue begins, enabling the surgeon to remove all cancerous tissue in one surgical operation.
This study will focus on the first experimental step of the global research goal. For this, the stiffness of CRC and normal large intestinal tissue will be measured ex vivo to determine if differences in stiffness can be used to identify tumour margins. Patients who are due to undergo colectomy at Western General Hospital for the treatment of CRC will be approached for the research. If they agree to participate, the section of their large intestine that has been removed via surgery will be mechanically tested in a non-destructive way. The section will then be passed onto pathology for their usual post-operative assessment. They will also assess some of the normal tissue purely for this study. No extra visits will be required by the participants, and there will be no disruption to their care.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
24/WS/0160
Date of REC Opinion
21 Nov 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion