Frailty and sarcopenia outcomes in emergency general surgery

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Frailty and sarcopenia Outcomes in emergency General Surgery (FrOGS)

• IRAS ID

  244891

• Contact name

  Malcolm West

• Contact email

  m.west@soton.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  NA, NA

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 3 months, 28 days

• Research summary

  Over 30000 patients undergo major emergency abdominal surgery each year in the UK. Despite improvements in care, over 10% do not survive for one month after surgery. To improve this further we first need better ways to identify those with the highest risk. Advantages could include providing more accurate information to patients and their families, allowing improved shared decision making and ultimately improve the care of emergency surgical patients.
  Frailty and loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia) have a direct impact on the outcomes for surgical patients. It can be difficult to perform research in emergency settings meaning this has not been sufficiently explored in these high risk patients.
  We aim to investigate the association and predictive advantage of combining routinely used questionnaires (that have previously been researched and shown to be useful) assessing frailty with muscle mass information measured from any body scan(CT) the patient undergoes during their care. This research will not alter the care of any patient with all decisions, including whether to offer a body scan or operation, remaining entirely with the responsible clinical teams in each hospital. No additional tests, hospital visits or patient contact is required to participate.

  We will perform this in two phases between May 2018 and August 2020. We will initially review data from 94 patients that underwent emergency surgery over a year ago then perform a research study in 200 patients admitted to emergency general surgical units across ten acute NHS hospital Trusts with emergency surgical problems. We will compare outcomes such as time in hospital, problems after surgery and one year survival between patients seen to have sarcopenia and those who scan shows normal muscle mass and those identified as frail or not.

• REC name

  HSC REC A

• REC reference

  18/NI/0094

• Date of REC Opinion

  8 May 2018

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion