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Enteral Versus Parenteral Nutrition in the Conservative Treatment of Upper Gastrointestinal Fistula After Surgery

Enteral Versus Parenteral Nutrition in the Conservative Treatment of Upper Gastrointestinal Fistula After Surgery: a Multicenter, Randomized, Parallel-group, Open Label

Status
Terminated
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03742752
Acronym
NUTRILEAK
Enrollment
6
Registered
2018-11-15
Start date
2019-06-07
Completion date
2021-09-14
Last updated
2026-04-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Enteral Nutritional Support, Gastrointestinal Fistula

Keywords

enteral nutrition, parenteral nutrition, gastrointestinal fistula

Brief summary

The incidence of clinically significant anastomotic leaks (AL) after upper gastrointestinal (GI) surgery is approximately 4 % - 20 %, and the associated mortality can be as high as 80 % . Nutritional support is a key component of therapy in such cases, related to high prevalence of malnutrition and nil per month required for leak treatment. In the prophylactic setting, before the occurrence of any AL, a literature review based on seven randomised trials showed that enteral nutrition (EN) is associated with shorter hospital stay, lower incidence of severe of infectious complications, lower severity of complications and decreased cost compared to parenteral nutrition (TPN) following major upper GI surgery . In the curative setting, after the AL occurrence, very few evidence is available. Only one randomized clinical trial suggested the superiority of EN versus TPN after pancreatic surgery with a increase of the 30-day fistula closure rate from 37% in the TPN group to 60% in the EN group . This sole randomised study available did not include all postoperative upper GI AL (PUGIAL) that can occur after esophageal, gastric, duodenal, pancreatic surgery (including obesity surgery), whereas the concept of enteral nutritional support is highly relevant for all these situations. However surgeons are usually reluctant to provide EN in case of AL. A randomized study suggested the feasibility of EN in 47 patients with upper GI AL but no randomized study to date has been designed to test the superiority of EN versus TPN in PUGIAL. The study aim is to demonstrate the superiority of EN versus TPN to accelerate AL healing after upper GI surgery. Hypothesis: EN increases the 30-day fistula closure rate in PUGIAL, allowing better HRQOL without increasing morbi-mortality.

Interventions

OTHEREnteral nutrition

administration of enteral nutrition

OTHERParenteral nutrition

administration of parenteral nutrition

Sponsors

University Hospital, Lille
Lead SponsorOTHER
Ministry of Health, France
CollaboratorOTHER_GOV

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patients ≥ 18 years * Patients having received upper GI surgery for benign or malignant disease including, oesophageal, gastric, duodenal or pancreatic surgery or bariatric surgery * Diagnosis of an active postoperative fistula or persisting after a failure of surgical or endoscopic procedure dedicated to close the fistula * AL diagnosed from less than 72h AND confirmed on at least two criteria among the followings: * clinical symptoms of AL * ct scan / ultrason imaging and /or endoscopic diagnosis of AL * biologic/bacteriology diagnosis on fluid output * intraoperative diagnosis of AL at time of reoperation * Indication of nil per mouth * American society of anesthesiologist score 1, 2 or 3 * In case of neoplasm, absence of peritoneal carcinomatosis or distant metastasis * No severe concomitant uncontrolled disease * Life expectancy more than 6 months * No history of allergy or study product intolerance * Ongoing healthcare insurance

Exclusion criteria

* \- Scheduled surgical or endoscopic treatment with the aim to close the fistula (suture, prosthesis, clip or glue). In case of such treatment failure, patients are eligible to participate to the study. Endoscopic or surgical drainage are not

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
30-day fistula closure rate30 days after randomizationFistula closure will be defined as an output of no fluid for at least 48 hours in wound or drainage AND absence of any fluid collection on imaging (Computed Tomography scan with injection of contrast product).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
6-month fistula closure rateat 6 months after randomizationPercentage of patients having their fistula closed according to the definition above within 6 months after randomization
Time to first fistula closureat 6 months after randomizationTime to first fistula closure defined as time in days from randomization to first AL closure within 6 months after randomization
Treatment-related complicationslongitudinal evaluation during all the study duration (from randomization to 6 months)number of patients presenting at least one complication related to the nutritional support (catheter related infection or thrombosis, tube related complication)
Postoperative mortality rateat 30 days after randomizationrate of death after operation
Postoperative morbidity rateat 30 days after randomizationrate of patients with a Clavien-Dindo grade 3-4-5 complications
Weightlongitudinal evaluation during all the study duration (from randomization to 6 months)in kg
Albumin and prealbuminlongitudinal evaluation during all the study duration (from randomization to 6 months)in g/L
C reactive proteinlongitudinal evaluation during all the study duration (from randomization to 6 months)mg/L
Grip testlongitudinal evaluation during all the study duration (from randomization to 6 months)muscular strength
Length of hospital stay in healthcare structurefrom the randomization until the end of hospitalization, up to 6 monthsLength of hospital stay in healthcare structure (including home hospitalization) based on the number of days of hospitalization
Short form questionnaire 36 (SF-36)at inclusion, day 30, day 60, 3 months and 6 monthsPatient's Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) score. The SF-36 includes a single-item measure of health transition or change. he SF-36® Health Survey items and scales were constructed using the Likert method of summated ratings.4 Answers to each question are scored (some items need to be recoded). These scores are then summed to produce raw scale scores for each health concept which are then transformed to a 0 - 100 scale. Thie higher the score is, the better the quality of life is.

Countries

France

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORGuillaume Piessen, MD,PhD

University Hospital, Lille

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Apr 28, 2026