Clinical trial NCT04641637: Substudy: Interconnection of Arterial Tumor Feeders Through Tumor Sinusoid in HCC
Official title: Substudy of Protocol TACE Emulsion Versus Suspension (NCT03268499): Interconnection of Arterial Tumor Feeders Through Tumor Sinusoid in Hepatocellular Carcinoma(HCC): In-vivo Proof of Concept and Clinical Implication
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Lead sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-11-24
Enrollment: 40
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: It is postulated that all arterial tumor feeders supplying a HCC tumor are interconnected with each other through the tumor sinusoid, such that when one of the feeders is catheterized for delivery of a liquid embolic agent, the whole tumor sinusoid will be embolized, if the arterial blood flow in all the other feeders are stopped temporarily to create a negative pressure gradient.

Detailed description: Selective catheterization of segmental or more peripheral arteries in the procedure of transarterial treatment could be crucial in making a significant difference in survival outcome (1). Subsegmental chemoembolization (TACE) leading to portal vein visualization is associated with a higher chance of complete response (2), and complete response is a robust predictor of better overall survival (3). Selective TACE might also help to preserve liver function because TACE damages liver parenchyma and repeated TACE could lead to deterioration in liver function (4). In a procedure of ultra-selective TACE, each of the arterial tumor feeders is supposed to be catheterized for complete treatment of the whole tumor when there are multiple tumor feeders (5), it could be time consuming and technically challenging to achieve catheterize all the tumor feeders at a sub-subsegmental level when difficult arterial anatomy is encountered, even with the guidance of a automated tumor-feeders detection software (6). In the angioarchitecture of HCC, arterial tumor feeders lead to tumor sinusoid which is an interconnected network of vascular channel within the tumor substance (7). It is postulated that all arterial tumor feeders supplying a HCC tumor are interconnected with each other through the tumor sinusoid, such that when one of the feeders is catheterized for delivery of a liquid embolic agent, the whole tumor sinusoid will be embolized, if the arterial blood flow in all the other feeders are stopped temporarily to create a negative pressure gradient.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion criteria Child-Pugh grade A, HCC diagnosed with typical arterial enhancement and portal washout patterns on contrast enhanced CT or MRI, solitary tumor, hypervascularity, well-defined margin, size ≤7cm, at least two arterial tumor feeders on CT scan

Primary outcomes:
measure: The completeness of coverage of the tumor vasculature by therapeutic agent at the completion of the treatment as evaluated on non-contrast CT scan
timeFrame: immediately after completion of procedure
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Tumor response
timeFrame: 3 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Study officials:
affiliation: DIIR, CUHK, Hong Kong
name: Simon Yu, Professor
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: