Transarterial Chemoembolisation Plus Bevacizumab for Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Clinical Trial

Official title: AVATACE-1: Bevacizumab (Avastin®) as Inhibitor of Collateral Tumor Vessel Growth During Transarterial Chemoembolisation (TACE) for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) a Pilot Trial

Status Terminated

Clinical Trial Summary

Patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma will undergo transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) as clinically indicated and will be randomized to receive bevacizumab or placebo every 2 weeks up to 1 year. Tumor response will be assessed using MR of the liver and PET-scanning.

It will be tested whether the addition of bevacizumab as angiogenic inhibitor will slow down tumor progression, reduce the need for re-embolisation and will improve patient survival.

Clinical Trial Description

TACE is an established therapy for patients with advanced stage HCC not amenable to liver transplantation or resection and has been shown to significantly improve survival in these patients compared to no treatment (8). TACE takes advantage of the predominantly arterial blood supply of malignant liver tumors contrary to the surrounding normal liver tissue, which receives more blood supply through the portal venous system.

TACE leads to predictable tumor necrosis until new blood vessels grow into the tumor margins to support tumor growth. Quite often after cutting off the blood supply through the hepatic artery, the tumor induces active angiogenesis to promote collateral blood vessel growth from liver capsule arteries or collaterals from the gastroduodenal artery. VEGF seems to be an important player in inducing this angiogenetic activity and tumor control and survival of patients after TACE have been linked to serum VEGF-levels with higher levels showing reduced survival.

Inhibition of these neoangiogenetic activity could lead to significantly improved in tumor control and survival in patients with advanced stage HCC.

2. STUDY OBJECTIVE

• to assess the effectiveness of bevacizumab in combination with TACE as measured by patients without tumor progression on MRT after 3 cycles of TACE as well as the number of TACE cycles applied for recurrent tumor after a maximum of one year treatment with bevacizumab

• to assess collateral tumor vessel growth on MRT / CT ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Safety/Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Carcinoma
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
• Hepatocellular Carcinoma

• NCT number: NCT00280007
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Medical University of Vienna
• Status: Terminated
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: January 2006
• Completion date: December 2010