Clinical research studies

Colorectal and haematology

FIAT – Fistula-in-ano trial – It aims to evaluate a new treatment for patients suffering with anal fistula
CHAMPion – To identify cancer patients with more aggressive cancers by using abnormalities of blood clotting as a marker
FOXTROT – A controlled trial in high-risk, operable colon Cancer
SaFaRI – A study comparing two different devices for the treatment of adult faecal incontinence
ST03 – A study looking at peri-operative chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab in operable stomach and gastro-oesophageal cancer

Urology

OPEN – Study comparing open and endoscopic surgery for recurrent urethral stricture in men
PHOTO – A trial comparing 2 types of treatment for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer
POUT – A trial comparing peri-operative chemotherapy versus surveillance in upper tract urothelial cancer hepato-pancreato-biliary and upper gastrointestinal medicine

Hepatobiliary surgery

ESPAC-5F – A trial to compare immediate surgery compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapies and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy
PANasta – A trial looking at different techniques of panreatico-jejunostomy following pancreato-duodenectomy

Trauma & Orthopaedics

VISCOSEAL: A study looking at the effects of two different drugs after shoulder surgery. Patients undergoing arthroscopic sub-acromial decompression surgery will be randomly allocated to receive either viscoseal or saline.

Ear nose and throat

TOPPITS: A study looking at patients with throat problems and if a medicine used to prevent stomach acid can also help with this condition. Patients will either take a proton pump inhibitor, or PPI (lansoprazole) or a placebo. Treatment will be allocated at random and neither the patient nor doctor will know which treatment the patient is receiving.
VOCALIST: A study comparing the effects of two different types of surgery in patients suffering with voice loss. Two treatments currently available to patients with vocal cord paralysis are type I thyroplasty and laryngeal reinnervation. At the moment we do not know which method of surgery provides the best results, so this study aims to answer this question. Patients will be randomly assigned to receive one of the two procedures.
QUICKFIRE: A study looking at the possible benefits of a new drug for cochlear implant users. The design of this study means that over the course of two treatment periods patients will receive both the study drug AND placebo, but will be unsure of which at each time.
IMMEDIATE BAHA: A study looking at two different timings of installing a patient’s hearing aid. Patients in the study will be eligible for a bone anchored hearing aid. Some will have theirs fitted on the day of surgery, whilst some will be fitted two weeks after surgery. The findings will be compared to see which gives the better results.