VITAL

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Volatile vs Total intravenous Anaesthesia for major non-cardiac surgery: A pragmatic randomised triaL

• IRAS ID

  297034

• Contact name

  Joyce Yeung

• Contact email

  J.Yeung.4@warwick.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Warwick

• ISRCTN Number

  ISRCTN62903453

• Duration of Study in the UK

  4 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  VITAL is a multi-centre pragmatic randomised controlled trial, aiming to test whether TIVA (Total Intravenous Anaesthesia) is superior to inhalational anaesthesia.
  More than 1.5 million major non-cardiac surgeries are performed in the NHS each year. In the NHS, general anaesthesia is most often given with an inhaled anaesthetic gas. A commonly used alternative is to give anaesthesia using anaesthetic drugs given into the veins, a technique called total intravenous anaesthesia or TIVA. The two techniques may have important differences in how quickly and how well patients recover.
  Many anaesthetists believe TIVA is just as safe as inhalational anaesthesia and provides better and faster recovery after surgery. However, others are not convinced that the benefits of using TIVA outweighs the increased cost of this method of anaesthesia. There is a distinct lack of data describing which method might be better. The VITAL trial will measure the benefits of each technique in terms of patient recovery, survival and safety. The results will ensure that the best method of general anaesthesia is being used in the NHS, so that patients can go home quicker, and with reduced cost for the NHS.
  Patients undergoing elective major non-cardiac surgery who are 50 years or over will be eligible to take part in VITAL. Following consent to take part, patients will be randomised to receive either TIVA or inhalational anaesthesia. Patients will then be followed up for 6 months following surgery to see how they’re doing. VITAL are working with another research programme called the Perioperative Quality Improvement Programme (PQIP). PQIP collect data about patient surgeries and use that to inform hospitals how they can improve their surgeries. A lot of the data collected for PQIP will also be used in VITAL. VITAL will run in approximately 40 NHS hospitals across the UK, and is due to finish in May 2025.

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  21/YH/0162

• Date of REC Opinion

  31 Jul 2021

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion