Recruiting

SBRT

Sponsor:

London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's

Code:

NCT04745390

Conditions

Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Liver Metastases

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Radiation therapy

Study Details

Brief summary:

Radiation is a standard treatment option for patients with liver cancer. Unfortunately, the tumour grows after radiation in many patients and radiation can harm normal tissues. A new treatment using a specialized radiation procedure called Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) may increase the chance to control liver cancer and reduce the chance of harm to normal tissues. SBRT allows radiation treatments to be focused more precisely, and be delivered more accurately than with older treatments. SBRT has become a routine treatment. Further research has found that specialized computer programs can possibly guide the selection of an appropriate SBRT dose. This is called radiobiological guidance. However, this has not yet been proven to improve outcomes and/or reduce toxicity.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out if SBRT at standard dose versus SBRT guided by radiobiological techniques is better for you and your liver cancer.

Conditions

Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Liver Metastases

Study ID

NCT04745390

Start date

Aug 1, 2021

Status verified date

Mar, 2025

Completion date

Apr, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Apr, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Eligible patients include patients with any of the following:

  • Primary hepatobiliary cancer confirmed pathologically or,
  • Non-lymphoma liver metastases confirmed pathologically or,
  • Radiographic liver lesions most consistent with metastases, in a patient with known pathologically proven non-lymphoma cancer and a previously negative CT or MRI of the liver or,
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosed with vascular enhancement of the lesion consistent with hepatocellular carcinoma, and with an elevated AFP, in the setting of cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis.
2. ≤ 5 liver lesions measurable on a contrast-enhanced liver CT or MRI performed within 90 days prior to study entry.
3. Primary liver lesion or liver metastases measuring ≤ 25 cm.
4. Extrahepatic cancer is permitted if liver involvement is judged to be life-limiting
5. No contraindications to radiotherapy
6. Patient must be judged medically or surgically unresectable
7. Zubrod Performance Scale = 0-3
8. Age > 18
9. Systemic treatment including multikinase inhibitors and immunotherapy are allowed.

Multikinase inhibitors must be held 2 weeks prior to radiation and may be restarted 1 week post radiation.
10. Previous liver resection or ablative therapy is permitted
11. Chemotherapy must be completed at least 2 weeks prior to radiation therapy and not planned to be administered for at least 1 week (for anthracyclines at least 4 weeks) after completion of treatment.
12. Life expectancy > 6 months.
13. Women of childbearing potential and male participants must practice adequate contraception.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Severe cirrhosis or liver failure defined as Child Pugh >B7
2. Prior radiotherapy to the region of the study cancer that would result in overlap of radiation therapy fields
3. Severe, active co-morbidity, defined as limiting the patient's life to less than 6 months
4. Active hepatitis or clinically significant liver failure. Treated hepatitis is permitted.
5. Pregnancy, nursing women, or women of childbearing potential, and men who are sexually active and not willing/able to use medically acceptable forms of contraception; this exclusion is necessary because the treatment involved in this study may be teratogenic.

Study Design

Enrollment

110 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: Standard Dose Radiation

Patients in the standard arm will receive a standard dose of 2000cGy in 5 fractions using simple CT planning. IMRT is allowed. Treatment will be every second day excluding weekends and holidays.

experimental: Personalized Dose Selection Radiation

Patients in the experimental arm will receive individually selected prescription dose guided by radiobiological parameters described below, preferably delivered in 5 fractions every other day, excluding weekends and holidays. Volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is the preferred planning technique. Typical planning uses 2 arcs, <=10MV and FFF mode where possible as almost all liver treatments are gated). In the event of multiple lesions, multiple isocentres are allowed. Often lateral isocentre shifts are significant and therefore arc ranges should be chosen to minimize collision risk. Treatment will be every second day excluding weekends and holidays.

Interventions

Radiation therapy

Patients will be randomized between standard of care palliative irradiation of 2000cGy in 5 fractions (Arm 1) versus radiobiologically guided dose selection also in 5 fractions (Arm 2). For all patients randomized, radiation is to be delivered in 5 fractions delivered over 5 to 15 days.

Primary outcome measure

  • Overall survival [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  • Treated lesion progression [ Time Frame: 6 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

London Regional Cancer Program

Recruiting

London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5W9

Contacts

More Information

Sponsor

London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's

Last update posted

Mar 11, 2025

Last verified

Mar, 2025

Keywords

  • Hepatocellular Carcinoma
  • Radiation Therapy
  • Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's on 2025-03-11.