Clinical trial NCT06055387: Frailty Assessment and Intervention in Elderly Patients with Gastric Cancer Receiving Gastrectomy and Adjuvant Chemotherapy
Official title: Frailty Assessment and Intervention in Elderly Patients with Gastric Cancer Receiving Gastrectomy and Adjuvant Chemotherapy
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Gastric Cancer
Keywords: Frailty
Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA)
Outcome
Radical surgery
Adjuvant chemotherapy
Lead sponsor: Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan
First posted: 2023-09-26
Enrollment: 300
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 65
Standard ages: OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: Gastric cancer ranks among the top ten leading causes of death in Taiwan. Radical surgery is the sole curative method for gastric cancer. However, our previous research has revealed that elderly gastric cancer patients undergoing radical surgery face a significantly elevated risk of postoperative complications. Even after gastric cancer resection, only 70% of patients receive adjuvant chemotherapy, with a particularly low likelihood among those aged ≥ 65 to undergo such treatment. With the increasing elderly population in our country, an increasing number of elderly gastric cancer patients must decide whether they can withstand radical surgery for gastric cancer and whether to undergo adjuvant chemotherapy. Therefore, increasing the rates of elderly gastric cancer patients undergoing radical surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, as well as improving the success rate of chemotherapy, has become a critical issue.

Frailty has been a frequent topic in geriatric medicine in recent years. It involves assessing multifaceted aspects of physical functioning to determine an individual's frailty status, which can help predict the likelihood of severe side effects from medical interventions. International organizations like the American Cancer Society recommend frailty assessment for all elderly cancer patients before undergoing chemotherapy and corresponding interventions to address frailty. However, there is a lack of large-scale studies on frailty assessment and its practical clinical benefits in our population.

This study is a prospective, open-label, randomized clinical trial designed to investigate the impact of geriatric intervention on the tolerance of surgery/chemotherapy in patients diagnosed with gastric cancer. As part of the study protocol, all enrolled patients will undergo a comprehensive frailty assessment within a window of 7 days before initiating their first treatment, followed by tailored geriatric interventions.

The primary objective of this study is to assess and compare the effects of geriatric intervention on postoperative complications, chemotherapy tolerance, treatment-related toxicity, and overall quality of life among two distinct groups: frail and non-frail patients. Our research team aims to promote widespread frailty assessment and interventions with the following objectives:

1. Reduce the probability of postoperative complications among elderly gastric cancer patients receiving surgery.
2. Enhance the tolerance and success rate of adjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer.

These efforts ultimately aim to improve the survival prognosis of this patient group.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients aged sixty-five or older with locally advanced (stage II and stage III) gastric cancer, preparing for curative gastric cancer surgery and scheduled to receive adjuvant chemotherapy within 4-8 weeks postoperatively, either as outpatients or inpatients.
* Patients must provide signed informed consent.
* Estimated survival of more than 3 months.
* Conscious and able to communicate verbally or in writing, and willing to cooperate with invasive procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients with cognitive impairment or unable to cooperate with the interventional procedures as determined by the clinical physician.
* Patients receiving concurrent other anticancer treatments (radiation or surgery).
* Patients with multiple types of cancer requiring simultaneous treatment.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Comparing surgical complications between frail and non-frail patients using the Clavien-Dindo grading system.
timeFrame: After completion 3 months treatment.
measure: Utilize CTCAE v5.0 to assess the grade and frequency of adverse events and treatment-related toxicity in frail and non-frail patient groups, and compare the differences between the two.
timeFrame: After completion 3 months treatment.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Examine whether implementing appropriate frailty interventions can reduce the likelihood of adverse events, as assessed by the Clavien-Dindo grading system or CTCAE v5.0, occurring in frail groups three months after initiating treatment.
timeFrame: After completion 6 months treatment.
measure: To compare overall survival between two distinct groups: frail and non-frail patients.
timeFrame: up to 1 year.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Taoyuan
country: Taiwan
facility: Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Study officials:
References: