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TerminatedNCT02722616Updated Jan 18, 2024Results posted

Ultrasound Monitoring of Abdominal Soft Tissue

An interventional study of Ultrasound scan of the pancreas and Ultrasound scan of the Liver in Pancreatic Cancer and Liver Cancer, sponsored by Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Terminated at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 100 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-01-18.

Sponsored by Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

Why this study was terminated
Ultrasound vendor cannot support the study
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
2
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years to 100 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

This research study is being done to collect data and analyze the motion of soft tissue in the abdomen (liver, pancreas, stomach and intestines) of people who have pancreatic and liver cancer as well as healthy volunteers.

During the study researchers will look at the movement of organs in the abdomen that naturally occurs with breathing and with a bowel movement.

This study will examine the differences between abdominal soft tissue motion in healthy volunteers and in cancer patients with the goal of developing a better way to manage and minimize the abdominal soft tissue motion. Accurate location of the tumor is very important in treatment delivery and reduction of toxicity.

Read the detailed description

Within the last decade, Linac based stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has been shown to be an effective treatment option for pancreas1, 2 and liver3, 4 tumors. SBRT delivers high doses of radiation therapy to the tumor over only 1-5 treatments. Because of the spatial precision of SBRT, it is feasible to administer a high radiation dose in only a few treatments. By minimizing the amount of radiation to surrounding healthy tissue, it is possible to decrease the rate of toxicity/complication and increase the radiation dose to cancerous tissue, thereby allowing better local control.

SBRT of the abdomen has been limited by the movement of intra-abdominal organs that naturally occurs with respiration and bowel movement. Organ motion occurs both intra- and inter-fractionally. While intra-fractional motion is a result of respiration, peristalsis and cardiac motion, the magnitude of inter-fractional target motion is dependent of daily variations in organ filling, weight change, tumor growth and radiation induced changes of tissue. Tumor movement may lead to tumor displacement and suboptimal dose delivery. Accurate localization of the target is very important to improve treatment delivery accuracy and reduce toxicity of the treatment. To evaluate tumor motion due to breathing motion, a four dimensional (4D) CT simulation scan is performed. If the tumor moves more than 3 mm during a breathing cycle, breathing motion management is employed using Active Breathing Control (ABC) technique. ABC requires the patient to hold his/her breath within the proper tidal volume while treatment is delivered, while free breathing may be resumed between periods of treatment. This technique limits the delivery of RT to specific phases of the respiratory cycle so as to minimize the influence of breathing on the delineated tumor.

Despite significant progress made in ABC technique, tumor and organ motion could only be minimized and not eliminated completely with this technique. Assessing patient specific tumor/organ motion (both intra- and interfractional) throughout the course of SBRT treatment offers the possibility of ensuring delivery of the prescribed target dose while simultaneously minimizing normal tissue damage. In order to monitor the abdominal soft tissue motion, the Department of Radiation Oncology has developed a 4D ultrasound technique based on an ultrasound probe holder and a continuous motion monitoring software. The 4D ultrasound image is acquired by using a motorized 3D ultrasound probe and image continuously. 4D ultrasound is a new non-ionizing and non-invasive imaging technique that continuously monitors the tumor motion during the radiation treatment in real time.

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Conditions studied

  • Pancreatic Cancer
  • Liver Cancer

Keywords

  • Ultrasound
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins is the lead sponsor of 572 studies on the registry; 73 are open to participants now.

Of its 111 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 67 (60%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 100 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Arm 1: Healthy adult (age >18 years)
  • Arm 2: Pancreatic cancer patients (age >18 years) currently receive SBRT treatment at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
  • Arm 3: Hepatic cancer patients (age >18 years) currently receive SBRT treatment at JHU

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children (age \< 18 years) are excluded.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
2 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Pancreatic Cancer

    A 4D ultrasound scan of the pancreas will be acquired at the time at simulation and used as a reference ultrasound image for localizing tracking target. The ultrasound probe will be placed at the abdominal area to monitor the pancreas motion. The probe will remain in place during the CT scan. Patient setup and the ultrasound probe location will be recorded so that the same setup can be reproduced during treatment delivery. The ultrasound probe in the CT image will be contoured and radiation beams that directly pass through the ultrasound probe will be avoided. On each treatment day, 4D ultrasound images will be acquired continuously during beam on time to monitor pancreas motion. Intra-fraction CBCT images acquired during treatment will be registered with reference CT images. Organ motion registered by ultrasound will be compared to motion recorded by CBCT and the accuracy of the ultrasound system will be evaluated.

    Device: Ultrasound scan of the pancreas

  • Active comparator
    Liver Cancer

    A 4D ultrasound scan of the liver will be acquired at the time at simulation and used as a reference ultrasound image for localizing tracking target. The ultrasound probe will be placed at the abdominal area to monitor the liver motion. The probe will remain in place during the CT scan. Patient setup and the ultrasound probe location will be recorded so that the same setup could be reproduced during treatment delivery. On each treatment day, 4D ultrasound images will be acquired continuously during beam on time to monitor liver motion. The system will record all relevant images, but will not be used in clinical decision making. Intra-fraction CBCT images acquired during treatment will be registered with reference CT images. Organ motion registered by ultrasound will be compared to motion recorded by CBCT and the accuracy of the ultrasound system will be evaluated.

    Device: Ultrasound scan of the Liver

  • Other
    Healthy Volunteer

    A reference ultrasound scan will be conducted on each subject during breath-hold. Subjects will be required to lie in supine position and engaged with ABC; an ultrasound probe will be placed at the abdomen area with minimal pressure applied. Continuous motion monitoring is achieved by acquiring 4D ultrasound images using a motorized 3D ultrasound probe to image the pancreas, liver and other intra-abdominal organs continuously. Several 4D ultrasound scans will be collected during subsequent breath-holds that serve as secondary images. Additional registration of ultrasound images will be performed with Velocity software to evaluate accuracy of automated registration software in the ultrasound system.

    Drug: Reference ultrasound

Interventions

  • DeviceUltrasound scan of the pancreas

    A 4D ultrasound scan will be acquired at the time at simulation and used as a reference ultrasound image for localizing tracking target. The ultrasound probe will be placed at the abdominal area to monitor the pancreas motion. The probe will remain in place during the CT scan. Patient setup and the ultrasound probe location will be recorded so that the same setup can be reproduced during treatment delivery.

    Also known as: 4D ultrasound

  • DeviceUltrasound scan of the Liver

    A 4D ultrasound scan will be acquired at the time at simulation and used as a reference ultrasound image for localizing tracking target. The ultrasound probe will be placed at the abdominal area to monitor the liver motion. The probe will remain in place during the CT scan. Patient setup and the ultrasound probe location will be recorded so that the same setup could be reproduced during treatment delivery. The ultrasound probe in the CT image will be contoured and radiation beams that directly pass through the ultrasound probe will be avoided.

    Also known as: 4D ultrasound

  • DrugReference ultrasound

    A reference ultrasound scan will be conducted on each subject during breath-hold. Subjects will be required to lie in supine position and engaged with ABC; an ultrasound probe will be placed at the abdomen area with minimal pressure applied. Continuous motion monitoring is achieved by acquiring 4D ultrasound images using a motorized 3D ultrasound probe to image the pancreas, liver and other intra-abdominal organs continuously. Several 4D ultrasound scans will be collected during subsequent breath-holds that serve as secondary images.

    Also known as: 4D ultrasound

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Abdominal Soft-tissue Movement

    Measuring changes in abdominal soft-tissue movement through 4D ultrasound system

    Time frame: change in abdominal soft-tissue movement from baseline to 3 weeks

  2. Tissue Change During Radiation Treatment

    monitoring of tumor and surrounding organ/tissue during pancreas and liver SBRT treatments using 4D ultrasound system

    Time frame: change in tumor tissue from baseline to 3 weeks

  3. Change 4D Ultrasound to Traditional Cone-beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) Monitoring

    Evaluate accuracy of the 4D ultrasound motion monitoring system compare to CBCT based intra-fraction motion monitoring during pancreas and liver SBRT treatments

    Time frame: change in imaging studies of 4D ultrasound from baseline to 3 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in Dosimetry Measurements

    Evaluation of dosimetry differences due to target/organ motion observed

    Time frame: dosimetric changes in abdominal soft-tissue movement from baseline to the end of radiation treatment at 3 weeks

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Results

Posted Jan 18, 2024

Participant flow

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestonePancreatic CancerLiver CancerHealthy Volunteer
Started200
Completed000
Not completed200
Withdrew: Sponsor closed study after one month200

Outcome measures

PrimaryAbdominal Soft-tissue Movement

Measuring changes in abdominal soft-tissue movement through 4D ultrasound system

Time frame:
change in abdominal soft-tissue movement from baseline to 3 weeks

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

PrimaryTissue Change During Radiation Treatment

monitoring of tumor and surrounding organ/tissue during pancreas and liver SBRT treatments using 4D ultrasound system

Time frame:
change in tumor tissue from baseline to 3 weeks

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

PrimaryChange 4D Ultrasound to Traditional Cone-beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) Monitoring

Evaluate accuracy of the 4D ultrasound motion monitoring system compare to CBCT based intra-fraction motion monitoring during pancreas and liver SBRT treatments

Time frame:
change in imaging studies of 4D ultrasound from baseline to 3 weeks

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryChange in Dosimetry Measurements

Evaluation of dosimetry differences due to target/organ motion observed

Time frame:
dosimetric changes in abdominal soft-tissue movement from baseline to the end of radiation treatment at 3 weeks

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

Adverse events

Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
Pancreatic Cancer———
Liver Cancer———
Healthy Volunteer———

Baseline characteristics

Sponsor closed study after 2 patients in Pancreatic Cancer arm of the study were enrolled.

Age, Continuous
Age, Continuous(years)Pancreatic CancerLiver CancerHealthy VolunteerTotal
Mean76 (74 to 78)——76 (74 to 78)
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, Male(Participants)Pancreatic CancerLiver CancerHealthy VolunteerTotal
Female1——1
Male1——1
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)(Participants)Pancreatic CancerLiver CancerHealthy VolunteerTotal
Hispanic or Latino0000
Not Hispanic or Latino2002
Unknown or Not Reported0000
Race (NIH/OMB)
Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants)Pancreatic CancerLiver CancerHealthy VolunteerTotal
American Indian or Alaska Native0000
Asian0000
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander0000
Black or African American0000
White2002
More than one race0000
Unknown or Not Reported0000
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Study locations

1 site
  • Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
    Baltimore, Maryland 21231, United States
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References and documents

Study documents

  • Protocol and statistical analysis plan · Jul 18, 2016

Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 18, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02722616
Lead sponsor
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
Collaborators
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Mar 30, 2016
Start date
May 2016
Primary completion
Oct 28, 2022
Completion
Oct 28, 2022
Results posted
Jan 18, 2024
Last update
Jan 18, 2024

Study contacts

Amol Narang, M.D.
principal investigator · The SKCCC at Johns Hopkins

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is terminated, as verified in Dec 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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