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Completed Not applicable Interventional

RObotic Versus LAparoscopic Resection for Rectal Cancer

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01736072

Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01736072. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.

ClinicalTrials.gov public records Last synced Sep 3, 2026, 4:27 PM EDT

Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.

Official title

RObotic Versus LAparoscopic Resection for Rectal Cancer An International, Multicentre, Prospective, Randomised, Controlled, Unblinded, Parallel-group Trial of Robotic-assisted Versus Laparoscopic Surgery for Treatment of Rectal Cancer.

Brief summary

Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.

The purpose of this study is to compare two different surgical procedures for the treatment of Rectal Cancer: Laparoscopic Surgery and Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery. The ROLARR study is for participants with cancer of the rectum for whom a laparoscopic operation (sometimes called "keyhole surgery") has been recommended by their surgeon. In the past most rectal cancers were removed using "open" surgery. Open surgery involves a large cut down the middle of the patient's abdomen to allow the surgeon to see and take out the cancer. On a previous study showed that using laparoscopic surgery to remove colorectal cancers was as good as open surgery for curing cancer. There is now another option to remove rectal cancers, which involves using a robotic system with laparoscopic surgery. This type of surgery is called "robotic-assisted" laparoscopic surgery and is now becoming widely used by surgeons to remove cancers including the rectum, as well as for other non-cancer operations. In order to perform robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon sits at a robotic control unit a few feet away from the patient. Using the robotic control unit, the surgeon can see a clear video image of the patient's abdomen and the operation site. The surgeon can perform the operation from the robotic control unit by controlling the movement of a set of robotic surgical instruments, guided by the video camera. Like standard laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon is able to carry out the entire operation through a few small cuts in the abdomen. The camera of the robotic system provides a 3D high-definition magnified view of the operation site and the robotic system is also able to translate the movements of the surgeon's hands into small precise movements inside the patient's body. We want to test whether robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery is as good, or even better, at removing rectal cancers as standard laparoscopic surgery (actually Robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery is used as standard of care in rectal cancer patients at University of California, Irvine Medical Center). We also want to investigate whether using robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery reduces the number of times a laparoscopic operation needs to be converted to an open operation, and see whether using a robotic system can also shorten the length of time patients need to stay in hospital and if it reduces the number of complications patients may have during and after their operation.

Study identification

NCT ID
NCT01736072
Recruitment status
Completed
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Not applicable
Enrollment
471 participants

Conditions and interventions

Eligibility (public fields only)

Age range
18 Years and older
Sex
All
Healthy volunteers
Healthy volunteers not accepted

This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.

Study timeline

Start date
Nov 30, 2011
Primary completion
Jan 29, 2018
Completion
Apr 29, 2018
Last update posted
Aug 13, 2023

2011 – 2018

United States locations

U.S. sites
8
U.S. states
7
U.S. cities
8
Facility City State ZIP Site status
John Muir Medical Center Concord California 94520
University of California, Irvine Medical Center Orange California 92868
Jackson South Community Hospital Miami Florida 33157
St. Joseph Mercy Health System Ypsilanti Michigan 48197
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis St Louis Missouri 63110
Duke University Medical Center Durham North Carolina 27710
Aria Health Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19144
Baylor University Medical Center Dallas Texas 75246

Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.

About this trial record page

What this page shows
Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01736072, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
What this page does not do
No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
Where the data comes from
Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
Last refresh
Last update posted Aug 13, 2023 · Synced Sep 3, 2026

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Open the official record

The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT01736072 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.

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