Muscle wAsting in Major Abdominal Surgery
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Do patients having major abdominal surgery exhibit significant muscle wasting?
IRAS ID
167465
Contact name
Ben Creagh-Brown
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Surrey County Hospital Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 2 days
Research summary
Do patients having major elective abdominal surgery exhibit significant muscle wasting?
Patients who have major abdominal surgery may require some of their care to be delivered on the intensive care unit, particularly if they have complications of surgery or have significant pre-existing health problems. Patients on intensive care unit are well recognised to be at risk of developing muscle wasting. Due to a stress response the muscles decrease in size and strength. This may hinder rehabilitation, and patient's ability to breathe without the aid of a ventilator. It has been established that some patients who have cardiac (heart) surgery also develop muscle wasting but it remains undetermined if this occurs in other types of surgery.
Some patients recover quicker than others from major abdominal surgery. These procedures are usually associated with big incision on the tummy (sometimes extended to the chest) and involve partial or total removal of different parts of the guts or genital organs, usually due to cancer. We suspect muscle wasting occurs and has an effect on recovery after these cases.
At Royal Surrey County Hospital we would like to carry out an observational study to investigate the changes of muscle size and strength of patients undergoing such major elective surgeries. We also would like to include some blood tests, monitoring of physical activity and look for complications and outcome measures. We would like to find the relationship between those results and identify risk factors. You are eligible to participate in this trial if you are over 18 and having major elective abdominal surgery at our hospital (exclusion criterias may apply). We are aiming to recruit 87 participants within 2 years.REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0139
Date of REC Opinion
1 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion