Safety and tolerability of oxaliplatin based pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis: A phase I dose-finding study in Asian patients.

360 Background: PIPAC is a novel, laparoscopic intraperitoneal chemotherapy delivery technique which aims to improve on hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), ameliorating drug distribution and tissue penetration. Thus far, PIPAC has been conducted with oxaliplatin chemotherapy in Europe, at an arbitrary dose of 92mg/m2; 150mg/m2 was found to be intolerable. We conducted a dose-escalation phase 1 study to establish the safety, tolerability and recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) for PIPAC in Asian patients. Methods: This phase 1 study of oxaliplatin administered via PIPAC was designed as a traditional 3+3 dose escalation study for patients with predominant peritoneal metastasis from a gastrointestinal primary tumor, after failure of standard therapies. Dose levels were planned at 45, 60, 90 and 120mg/m2. Repeat doses of PIPAC were permitted, 6 weeks apart. Dose limiting toxicities (DLT) were defined as any clinically relevant grade 3 adverse events occurring within 28 days after PIPAC. Results: This study included 16 patients (25 PIPAC procedures; 8 gastric, 4 colorectal and 1 gallbladder, pancreas and appendix cancer each). Median age was 62 years, with a median peritoneal carcinomatosis index (PCI) score of 17 (range 1 - 39). Two patients developed pancreatitis (grade 2 and 3) on day 6 and day 9 after PIPAC administration at the dose cohort of 45mg/m2, necessitating cohort expansion to 6 patients. One patient was noted to have asymptomatic grade 3 hyperamylasemia (90mg/m2 cohort). There were no other DLTs and all 3 patients in the highest dose cohort (120mg/m2) tolerated PIPAC well. Nine patients who underwent a 2nd PIPAC procedure had a decrease in PCI score from 18.4 to 15.5; one patient at 120mg/m2 had an improvement in PCI from 30 to 12. Conclusions: The RP2D of PIPAC with oxaliplatin is 120mg/m2. Single agent PIPAC is well tolerated, and future studies with PIPAC must consider a bi-directional approach with the incorporation of systemic therapy, with either chemotherapy or immunotherapy to improve efficacy. Clinical trial information: NCT03172416. </jats:p

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P &lt; 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)