• Milad Fahim, Alice Couwenberg, Maaike E Verweij, Lea M Dijksman, Helena M Verkooijen, and Anke B Smits.
• Department of Value-Based Healthcare, St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
• Br J Surg. 2022 Oct 14; 109 (11): 1081-1086.

BackgroundIn minimally invasive surgery of the sigmoid colon and rectum a retractor sponge has been introduced as an alternative to the Trendelenburg position. This randomized clinical trial (RCT) compared postoperative duration of hospital stay and perioperative outcomes in patients with sigmoid or rectal cancer undergoing sponge-assisted versus Trendelenburg position surgery.MethodsThe SPONGE trial is a single-centre RCT nested within the Dutch nationwide prospective observational cohort of patients with colorectal cancer, and follows the Trials within Cohorts (TwiCs) design. Patients with sigmoid or rectal cancer undergoing elective laparoscopic or robotic surgery were randomized to either sponge-assisted or Trendelenburg surgery on a 1:1 basis using block randomization. Duration of postoperative hospital stay was the primary outcome and was compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of complications, readmissions, or mortality versus the χ2 test in intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses. This trial was not blinded for patients in the intervention arm or physicians.ResultsBetween November 2015 and June 2021, 82 patients were randomized to sponge-assisted surgery and 81 to Trendelenburg surgery. After post-randomization exclusion, 150 patients remained for analyses (75 patients per arm). There was no statistically significant difference in median duration of hospital stay (5 days versus 4 days, respectively; P = 0.06), 30-day postoperative complications (30 per cent versus 31 per cent; P = 1.00), readmission rate (8 per cent versus 15 per cent; P = 0.30), or mortality (0 per cent versus 1 per cent, P = 1.00). The per-protocol analysis showed similar results. No adverse device events were seen.ConclusionSponge-assisted laparoscopic/robotic surgery does not reduce the duration of hospital stay, or perioperative morbidity or mortality.Trial RegistrationNCT02574013 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of BJS Society Ltd. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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