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Enrolling by invitationNCT05745233Updated Aug 24, 2023

Intraperitoneal Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor for Malignant Ascites

An interventional study of Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab in Malignant Ascites, sponsored by China Medical University Hospital. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in Taiwan. Open to participants aged 20 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-08-24.

Sponsored by China Medical University Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 1 month after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2021, registered Feb 2023).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
20 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

This projectis aim to evaluate the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab or nivolumab) on the malignant ascites of patients with advanced gastric, pancreatic and biliary tract cancers.

Read the detailed description

Malignant ascites appear when cancer cells metastasize to peritoneal cavity and interfere the circulation of lymph and blood. Patients with malignant ascites suffer from abdominal fullness, abdominal pain, poor intake, decreased nutrition, disability, and eventually inability to further anticancer treatment. Malignant ascites put a heavy burden on patient, their family, society and health care system.

Malignant ascites from cancers of stomach, pancreas and biliary tract are more refractory to intravenous chemotherapy or intraperitoneal chemotherapy than ascites from ovarian or chemo-naïve colorectal cancers because of the inherent nature of chemoresistance. Paracentesis is a treatment with immediate effect but the ascites regrow rapidly and repetitive paracentesis puts patients on the risk of intraabdominal infection. Intraperitoneal infusion of OK-432 can reduce malignant ascites but with intolerable adverse effects of fever, chills, pain, vomiting and septation of ascites which limit the further paracentesis.

Cumulating clinical experience suggests a tolerable safety profile of immune checkpoint inhibitors compared to chemotherapy for patients with malignancy. One theoretical advantage of intraperitoneal administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors is the existence of abundant inflammatory cells, immune cells and mesothelial cells dispersed in the malignant ascites. In addition, both pembrolizumab and nivolumab have been administrated intraperitoneally without obvious toxicities in murine tumor models At China Medical University Hospital, one hundred gastric cancer patients, 50 pancreatic cancer patients and 50 biliary tract cancer patients are registered and treated each year. Among them, more than 20 patients suffer from malignant ascites which will ultimately be managed by repeated paracentesis with increasing frequency. Till now, there is no reported or ongoing clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of intraperitoneal checkpoint inhibitor on the malignant ascites.

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Conditions studied

  • Malignant Ascites

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03

In context

Ascites

247 studies on the registry are indexed under Ascites; 57 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 30 is below the median of 54 across 179 interventional studies indexed under Ascites.

Browse Ascites studies →

Lead sponsor

China Medical University Hospital is the lead sponsor of 479 studies on the registry; 115 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients have cyto-/ confirmed malignant ascites from gastric, pancreatic or biliary tract adenocarcinoma
  • Patients have malignant ascites more than 1000ml
  • Patients have no history of prior intraperitoneal therapy for malignant ascites
  • Patients have of at least 4 weeks
  • Patients have adequate count ≥ 50,000/ul
  • Women or men of should agree to use an effective method
  • All patients must be informed of the nature of this study and must sign written informed consents.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients have ascites which is related to causes other than the
  • Patients who are receiving intraperitoneal treatment for their malignant ascites including therapeutic paracentesis
  • Patients with active infection
  • Patients with bleeding disorders
  • Patient with active cardiopulmonary disease or history of ischemic heart disease
  • Patients have intolerant abdominal pain
  • Patients who have serious concomitant systemic disorders incompatible with the study, i.e. poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, auto-immune disorders, cirrhosis of the liver, and the rest will be at the discretion of in-charged investigator
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(7)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Reproductive potential

Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.

Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
30 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Checkpoint inhibitor (nivolumab or pembrolizumab)

    Patients with malignant ascites will received either nivolumab or pembrolizumab intraperitoneally.

    Drug: Nivolumab · Drug: Pembrolizumab

Interventions

  • Intraperitoneal administration of nivolumab Nivolumab 20 mg in normal saline 100ml will be infused intraperitoneally through a temporary catheter in 10 minutes after paracentesis in a weekly interval.

    Also known as: Opdivo

  • Intraperitoneal administration of pembrolizumab Pembrolizumab 20 mg in normal saline 100ml will be infused intraperitoneally through a temporary catheter in 10 minutes after paracentesis in a weekly interval.

    Also known as: Keytruda

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Response rate

    Control of ascites Rate of ascites control = number of patients who have less ascites determinded by five-point method and subjective symptoms / all patients

    Time frame: From the date of registration until the end of treatment, up to 2 years.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Adverse effects

    Adverse effect of intraperitoneal immune checkpoint inhibitor Incidence of adverse effect = number of patients who develop a kind of adverse effect / all patients

    Time frame: From the date of registration until treatment termination, up to 2 years.

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Study locations

1 site
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References and documents

Publications

  • Wang ST, Chiu CF, Bai HJ, Bai LY. Intraperitoneal nivolumab in a patient with pancreatic cancer and refractory malignant ascites. Eur J Cancer. 2021 May;148:48-50. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2021.01.045. Epub 2021 Mar 15. No abstract available. PubMed 33735808 ↗

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 24, 2023, 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
NCT05745233
Responsible party
Li-Yuan Bai (Doctor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, China Medical University Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 27, 2023
Start date
Jan 1, 2021
Primary completion
Dec 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 24, 2023

Study contacts

Li-Yuan Bai
principal investigator · China Medical University Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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No contact was published for this record. The registry link below has the sponsor’s details.

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Nivolumab · Pembrolizumab

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