Clinical trial NCT06328361: Nordic ORgan Preservation Pilot Approach Nonrandomised Single-Arm Trial for Non-Operative Management of Rectal Cancer
Official title: Nordic ORgan Preservation Pilot Approach - a Nonrandomised Single-Arm Trial for Non-Operative Management of Rectal Cancer (NORPPA-1)
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Rectal Cancer
Rectal Adenocarcinoma
Lead sponsor: Tampere University Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Tampere University
name: Helsinki University Central Hospital
name: Turku University Hospital
name: Kuopio University Hospital
name: Oulu University Hospital
name: Jyväskylä Central Hospital
name: Seinajoki Central Hospital
name: Satakunta Central Hospital
name: North Karelia Central Hospital
name: Tartu University Hospital
name: East Tallinn Central Hospital
name: West Tallinn Central Hospital
name: North Estonia Medical Centre
First posted: 2024-03-25
Enrollment: 200
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The goal of this one-arm clinical trial is to implement and study the oncological outcomes of nonoperative management of rectal cancer having complete clinical response to neoadjuvant therapy. The main questions to answer are

* if the oncological results of nonoperative management after Nordic practice in chemoradiotherapy indications differ from experiences elsewhere
* what is the organ preservation rate
* what is the local regrowth rate

Detailed description: Background: Non-operative management (NOM) for rectal cancer is an accepted treatment option that has not been commonly utilized in Finland but has been widely adopted in major cancer centers worldwide. NOM can be considered if the rectal tumor disappears with neoadjuvant treatment, resulting in a complete clinical response.

Objective: The aim of the study is to establish a unified NOM protocol for national use and determine whether the outcomes of Finnish and Estonian treatment practices align with international experiences.

Design: The study is a prospective, non-randomized, single-arm, international multicenter trial examining the oncological and quality-of-life consequences of NOM.

Primary Endpoint: The primary endpoint is disease-free survival 2 years after the initiation of NOM.

Secondary Endpoints: These include overall survival, disease-specific survival, survival free from total mesorectal excision (TME) surgery, survival free from circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection after complete clinical response, recurrence-free survival, incidence of local recurrence and metastases, salvage TME success rate, quality of life at 1 year post-NOM, and treatment-related morbidity up to 5 years.

Inclusion Criteria: Patients must have histopathologically confirmed primary rectal adenocarcinoma before neoadjuvant treatment, achieve clinical complete response (cCR) after neoadjuvant therapy, and express willingness to undergo rectum-preserving treatment after considering the risk of recurrence.

Exclusion Criteria: Patients with evidence of metastasis at diagnosis, aged under 18, those not receiving neoadjuvant treatment, or those unable to provide informed consent are excluded.

Diagnosis and Treatment: Pretreatment of patients follows standard practice. Upon meeting inclusion criteria with confirmed cCR, patients undergo protocolized monitoring with clinical examination, laboratory tests, and imaging.

Randomization: No randomization is performed.

Follow-up: Patients are monitored every 3 months for the first 2 years, then every 6 months for 3 years. Monitoring replaces surgical intervention unless cancer recurs. Follow-up is part of standard care, with costs covered by the healthcare system.

Safety: Incidence of local recurrence and success of resection post-recurrence are monitored closely. If over 30% local recurrence occurs post-cCR, it may necessitate study termination at the center.

Data Collection: Clinical data are entered into electronic case report forms (eCRFs) based on primary healthcare documentation and stored pseudonymized on the primary research center's server. Molecular and pseudonymized clinical data are collected securely for analysis.

Sample Size Calculation and Statistical Analysis: A sample of 200 patients is estimated to provide sufficient data for the primary and key secondary endpoints and to meet other study objectives accurately.

Data Handling: Data handling adheres to privacy legislation, with information stored pseudonymously.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Histopathological verification of primary rectal adenocarcinoma
* Complete clinical response at response assessment after neoadjuvant therapy
* Informed consent to organ preservation study

Exclusion Criteria:

* Evidence of metastatic disease (fulfilling M-class criteria of TNM)
* No neoadjuvant therapy
* Inability to understand the information related to harms and benefits

Primary outcomes:
measure: Disease-free survival
timeFrame: 2 years
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Overall survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: TME-free survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: ctDNA-free survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Post local regrowth disease-free survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Post local regrowth overall survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Local regrowth-free survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Local recurrence-free survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Distant metastases-free survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Disease-free survival
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Salvage rate after local regrowth
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Quality of life score
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Complication rates
timeFrame: 5 years
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Tallinn
country: Estonia
facility: East Tallinn Central Hospital
city: Tallin
country: Estonia
facility: North Estonia Medical Centre
city: Tallin
country: Estonia
facility: West Tallinn Central Hospital
city: Tartu
country: Estonia
facility: Tartu University Hospital
city: Helsinki
country: Finland
facility: Helsinki University Central Hospital
city: Joensuu
country: Finland
facility: North Karelia Central Hospital
city: Jyväskylä
country: Finland
facility: Jyväskylä Central Hospital
city: Kuopio
country: Finland
facility: Kuopio University Hospital
city: Oulu
country: Finland
facility: Oulu University Hospital
city: Pori
country: Finland
facility: Satakunta Central Hospital
city: Seinäjoki
country: Finland
facility: Seinajoki Central Hospital
city: Tampere
country: Finland
facility: Tampere University Hospital
city: Turku
country: Finland
facility: Turku University Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: Tampere University Hospital
name: Toni T Seppälä, MD, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: