Clinical Research Directory

The Diverticulitis Study

Acute colonic diverticulitis is when a part of the colon gets swollen and inflamed. The diagnosis is based on a CT scan, which can show thickening of the colonic walls and infiltration of the diverticula. These changes and the concomitant symptoms can overlap with colorectal cancer (CRC). Therefore, the guidelines suggest that people with diverticulitis should be offered a colonoscopy to ensure, that CRC is not the underlying cause of the changes and symptoms. In Denmark, a lot of people get hospitalized each year due to diverticulitis, and many of them end up having colonoscopies with the purpose of excluding CRC. Currently, there are no methods for guiding colonoscopies following a diverticulitis episode, resulting in numerous unnecessary colonoscopies each year. In the Diverticulitis study, we want to investigate if a simple blood test analyzed for the presence of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), can help us decide who needs a colonoscopy. We will collect blood samples from 220 people with diverticulitis and categorize them into ctDNA positive and negative groups. The ctDNA category will be compared to the colonoscopy results to see if there is a correlation between being ctDNA positive and having a CRC diagnosed at the colonoscopy. This study could change clinical practice since we anticipate that ctDNA-guided triaging of diverticulitis patients is a cost-effective strategy for selecting diverticulitis patients needing colonoscopy, ensuring detection of the underlying CRC, and significantly reducing the number of patients undergoing unnecessary colonoscopy.

Comparison of NOM for ACLD Between Medical and Surgical Ward

In Europe, patients with acute left colon diverticulitis (ALCD) are usually admitted to surgical wards even when only medical treatment is required. The study compares ALCD non-operative management (NOM) between surgical and non-surgical environments regarding clinical outcomes, hospitalization length(LOS), and follow-up.

The COLD2B Multicenter, Two-arm Prospective Cohort Study

Since it is still debated whether 2b acute diverticulitis (AD), according to the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) classification, should be initially treated surgically or conservatively, the COLD2B study has been launched to compare the clinical results of both therapeutic regimens in a multi-institutional cohort of prospectively enrolled patients. The primary aim of the COLD2B (Conservative vs surgical (either Open or Laparoscopic) approach in the emergency management of acute Diverticulitis WSES 2B) study is to develop a model able to predict the length of hospitalization, comparing the management of WSES 2b AD in the emergency setting (conservative versus surgical approach) (primary endpoint of the first arm of the study). Moreover, the two groups will be compared regarding mortality and morbidity (secondary end-point). The second arm of the study will consider the population undergoing surgery, develop a model able to predict the length of hospitalization, and compare the open vs laparoscopic approach (primary end-point), and mortality, morbidity, and surgical outcome indices (secondary end-point).

Web-based International Register of Emergency Surgery and Trauma

The WIRES-T project (Web-based International Registry of Emergency General Surgery and Trauma) has been set up to allow to all the EGS (Emergency General Surgery) and Trauma surgeons to register their activity and to obtain a worldwide register of traumatic and non traumatic surgical emergencies. This will give the opportunity to evaluate results on a macro-data basis and to give index allowing stratifying, evaluating and improving the outcomes.