With this vital investment and the planned growth within the research nurse and trial co-ordinator support team, 2016 is looking to be an exciting year of growth and development for surgical research.
The Division of Surgery provides clinical surgical services for the population of Central Manchester and also houses a broad range of disciplines providing complex tertiary care surgery for wider communities. In 2014-15 the Division ran 74 studies, above their target of 65, and exceeded their publication target of 20 with 43 papers published in the top 25% of academic journals.
In particular research activity in vascular surgery is expanding with number of studies increasing and the appointment of a new dedicated research nurse, supported by the NIHR Clinical Research Network: Greater Manchester.
Mr Bilal Alkhaffaf, Consultant in Oesophago-gastric and General Surgery was successful in securing an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship to support his work titled ‘Development of a core outcomes set for gastric cancer surgery effectiveness trials’.
Each year in the UK approximately 7,000 people are diagnosed with gastric cancer, which is linked with poor survival. Research has attempted to find ways to improve the survival from gastric cancer and reduce the risks of surgery. Results have been reported in different ways and so the question of ‘what is the best treatment for gastric cancer’ has been difficult to answer.
Mr Alkhaffaf’s study aims to develop a standard set of outcomes that should be measured, called a core outcome set (COS), that all gastric cancer surgery research trials should measure and report. These outcomes will be chosen by both health professionals and patients. This would mean that research is reported in the same way and proper comparisons can be made.
Professor Jim Hill, Consultant in Colorectal Surgeon and General Surgery was awarded an NIHR Health Technology Assessment grant for his research ‘Comparison of efficacy between uncovered and covered self-expanding metallic stents in malignant large bowel obstruction’.
A significant proportion of patients with colorectal cancer present with the cancer causing a blockage of their bowel. An alternative treatment to surgery for patients who present with a blockage is to insert a stent across the part of the bowel which is blocked. The stent procedure can provide immediate relief of symptoms and avoids the need for surgery and the need for a stoma (colostomy or ileostomy).
There are a number of complications associated with stenting including perforation of the bowel, stent obstruction with recurrent blockage of the bowel and stent migration. Two designs of stent are in current use in the UK; uncovered stents and covered stents, with the latter designed to reduce the chances of stent blockage.
Currently there is insufficient information comparing the two stents in terms of complications and outcome related to patient’s expectations and quality of life. This study is designed to test which stent design is best for patients. Patients will be asked to complete Quality of Life questionnaires in accordance with specified research guidelines and data will be collected on stent related complications.
Professor Kevin Munro, Honorary Consultant Clinical Scientist, has also been successful in winning an NIHR Research for Patient Benefit for his research ‘Improving clinical practice in the early care pathway for deaf babies’.
Childhood hearing loss is a potentially devastating long-term condition. For this reason, all babies get a hearing test soon after birth and hearing aids are now prescribed in infancy. However, there are no reliable tests that can provide information about the necessity for, and appropriateness of, hearing aids in infants and so there is an urgent need for one.
Our researchers have completed an exploratory study on 100 normal-hearing babies using a promising solution called ‘Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials’ (CAEPs).
The next step is to turn these findings into a routine clinical procedure for infants with hearing loss. Researchers aim to
1. Check the CAEP test is accurate for a range of different sounds
2. Measure the proportion of infants who complete the CAEP procedure and how long it takes to make the measurements
3. Interview parents and find out how acceptable they find the procedure
