ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06421610Updated May 20, 2024

OPC5: Pressurized IntraThoracic Aerosol Chemotherapy (PITAC) in Patients With Malignant Pleural Effusion.

A Phase 1 interventional study of PITAC in Malignant Pleural Effusion, Pleural Neoplasms and Quality of Life, sponsored by Odense University Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-05-20.

Sponsored by Odense University Hospital · Phase 1, Interventional, and Supportive care

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2024, 1 year 10 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Sep 2023; still recruiting 3 years 1 month later.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study will monitor and evaluate patient and personnel safety and toxicity during the implementation and evaluation of Pressurized IntraThoracic Aerosol Chemotherapy (PITAC) directed treatment. Furthermore, this study will focus on Quality of Life questionnaires, LENT score, and evaluate pain and breathlessness using af visual analogue scales (VAS).

Read the detailed description

This is a safety and feasibility study of repeated (minimum two procedures) PITAC directed treatments, and the primary outcome is the number of patients with medical adverse events (AEs) according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) and/or surgical complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. This study will include consecutive MPE patients until 20 patients have completed at least two PITAC´s. The PITAC directed treatment will be performed in 4 week intervals. Bedside ultrasound, VAS-pain and VAS-breathlessness, and Quality of Life questionnaires will be performed at baseline, one month follow-up and three months follow-up.

Patients with MPE who are eligible for surgery are identified during the multidisciplinary tumor (MDT) conference at the Department of Surgery, Odense University Hospital (OUH), and included based on predefined in- and exclusion criteria. Patients with MPE from non-colorectal or -appendix cancer will be treated with a combination of cisplatin and doxorubicin. Patients with MPE from colorectal or appendix cancer will be treated with oxaliplatin.

In brief, The PITAC procedure is the application of aerosolized chemotherapy into the pleural cavity using thoracoscopy. PITAC is performed in the prone or lateral position. A double lumen endotracheal tube is used to allow exclusion of the ipsilateral lung, but this is not (always) necessary with the patient in the prone position. The first trocar is placed guided by ultrasound, and after safe positioning a second trocar can be inserted guided by video thoracoscopy. The chemotherapy is applied to the pleural cavity through a nebulizer inserted through one of the trocars and linked to a high-pressure injector. After five minutes the chemotherapy has been delivered to the pleural cavity, and after an additional 30 minutes of simple diffusion, the intrathoracic air saturated with chemotherapy is evacuated through a series of filters.

The patients are monitored for a minimum of one day and will after each PITAC directed treatment be screened for adverse events.

02

Conditions studied

  • Malignant Pleural Effusion
  • Pleural Neoplasms
  • Quality of Life
  • Chemotherapy Effect
  • Chemotherapeutic Toxicity
  • Pleural Carcinomatosis
  • Pleural Cavity Effusion
03

In context

Pleural Effusion, Malignant

169 studies on the registry are indexed under Pleural Effusion, Malignant; 39 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 55 across 125 interventional studies indexed under Pleural Effusion, Malignant.

Browse Pleural Effusion, Malignant studies →

Lead sponsor

Odense University Hospital is the lead sponsor of 479 studies on the registry; 110 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 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

  • Symptomatic MPE visible with bedside ultrasound
  • or cytologically verified
  • Status CT-scan not older than four weeks
  • MPE requiring at least one drainage procedure
  • Drained ≥ 14 days before the first PITAC directed treatment
  • Bidirectional systemic chemotherapy or immunotherapy ≥ 14 days before the first PITAC directed treatment or no simultaneous systemic chemotherapy or immunotherapy
  • Performance status 0-2
  • ≥ 3 months
  • Age ≥ 18 years
  • Danish-speaking and reading patients
  • Written according to the local Ethics Committee requirements

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • A history of allergic reaction to cisplatin or other platinum containing compounds or doxorubicin
  • Renal impairment, defined as \< 40 ml/min ( Equation)
  • Myocardial insufficiency, defined as class > 2
  • Impaired liver function defined as ≥1.5
  • Fertility, pregnancy and lactation: Female subjects will be considered of non- if they are either a, b or c:

    1. (defined as at least 12 months with no menses without an alternative medical cause; in women \< 45 years of age a high follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level in the postmenopausal range may be used to confirm a post-menopausal state in women not using hormonal or hormonal replacement therapy. In the absence of 12 months of amenorrhea, a single FSH measurement is insufficient.
    2. have had a hysterectomy and/or bilateral oophorectomy, bilateral salpingectomy or bilateral tubal ligation/occlusion, at least 6 weeks prior to screening.
    3. have a congenital or acquired condition that prevents childbearing. Previous intrathoracic chemotherapy, intrathoracic antibody treatment or chemical pleurodesis
  • Any other condition or therapy, which in the investigator´s opinion may pose a risk to the patient or interfere with the study objects
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(12)

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.

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.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

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.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

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.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    PITAC

    Malignant Pleural Effusion (MPE) from colorectal or appendix cancer will be treated with Pressurized IntraThoracic Aerosol Chemotherapy (PITAC) using oxaliplatin 92 mg/m2 in 150 ml dextrose. MPE from non-colorectal or -appendix cancer will be treated with PITAC using cisplatin 10.5 mg/m2 in 150 ml saline and 2.1 mg/m2 in 50 ml saline. PITAC is performed with a intrapleural pressure of 12 mmHg and the aerosolised chemotherapy will be nebulized at a maximum pressure of 300 PSI and a flow-rate of 0.5-1.8 ml/min. The PITAC directed treatment will be planned with 4 week intervals and patients may receive bi-directional systemic chemotherapy simultaneously.

    Drug: PITAC

Interventions

  • DrugPITAC

    Cisplatin, oxaliplatin and doxorubicin are standard, commercially available intravenous cytostatic drugs in oncologic treatment with alkylating and topoisomerase inhibitor effect, respectively. Based on the available data and experience from 11 PITAC procedures at OPC, PITAC with cisplatin, oxaliplatin and doxorubicin for intrapleural administration is expected to be well tolerated with a minimal of nausea, subcutaneous emphysema and transient chest pains.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Medical adverse events

    Number of patients with medical adverse events (AEs) according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 6.0 defined as CTCAE ≥ 4 within 30 days after the procedure.

    Time frame: 30 days from PITAC directed treatment

  2. Surgical complications

    Number of patients with surgical complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification defined as Clavien-Dindo ≥ 3b within 30 days after the procedure.

    Time frame: 30 days from PITAC directed treatment

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of patients completing three PITAC treatments

    To evaluate the number of patients completing three PITAC treatments

    Time frame: 12 months

  2. Extent of visible pleural metastasis

    To macroscopically evaluate the extent of visible pleural metastasis (PLM) during PITAC directed therapy via the new PLM-score based on size of lesions (LS). LS 0 No tumor seen LS1 Tumor up to 0.5 cm LS2 Tumor up to 5.0 cm LS3 Tumor \> 5.0 cm or confluence

    Time frame: 12 months

  3. Pathology on pleural metastasis biopsies

    To evaluate Pleural Regression Grade Score (Ple-RGS) in biopsies from visible pleural metastasis Ple-RGS is a modification of the Peritoneal Regression Grading score (PRGS). Ple-RGS 1: Complete histological response Ple-RGS 2: Regressive changes are predominant over cancer cells (major response) Ple-RGS 3: Cancer cells are predominant over regressive changes (minor response) Ple-RGS 4: No response

    Time frame: 12 months

  4. Cytology on malignant pleural effusion fluid

    To evaluate cytology on MPE during PITAC directed therapy. The cells will be graded according to a five-tiered score: malignant cells, suspicious cells, atypical cells, no malignant cells and other

    Time frame: 12 months

  5. LENT score

    To evaluate the LENT score after each PITAC directed therapy. Low risk: 0-1 Moderate risk: 2-4 High risk: 5-7

    Time frame: 12 months

  6. Length of Stay (LOS)

    Quantify the length of stay (LOS) (surgery = day 0)

    Time frame: 12 months

  7. Personnel safety (environmental)

    Assess personnel safety by measuring of platinum traces in the operating room.

    Time frame: 12 months

  8. Personnel safety (biological)

    Assess personnel safety by measuring of platinum traces in blood samples from surgeons and/or OR nurses.

    Time frame: 12 months

  9. Lung function evaluation by SAT

    To evaluate lung function by saturation (SAT) before PITAC directed treatment (day 0) and at discharge (day 1), day 30 and 3 months after the last PITAC directed treatment

    Time frame: 12 months

  10. Breathlessness

    To evaluate breathlessness using visual analogue scales (VAS-breath) before PITAC directed treatment (day 0) and at discharge (day 1), day 30, and 3 months after the last PITAC directed treatment

    Time frame: 12 months

  11. Pain assessment

    To evaluate pain using visual analogue scales (VAS-pain) before PITAC directed treatment (day 0) and at discharge (day 1), day 30, and 3 months after the last PITAC directed treatment

    Time frame: 12 months

  12. Quality of Life questionnaires

    To evaluate the quality of life with EORTC-QLQ-C30 at baseline, day 30 and 3 months after the last PITAC directed treatment

    Time frame: 12 months

  13. Change in MPE volume

    To calculate the change in volume of drained MPE from 2 months before the first PITAC treatment to three months after the last PITAC treatment

    Time frame: 12 months

  14. Long term complications

    To assess long-term complications 3 months after the third PITAC directed treatment

    Time frame: 12 months

  15. Survival

    Median overall survival

    Time frame: 12 months

  16. Lung function evaluation by FEV1

    To evaluate lung function by Forced Expired Volume in the first second (FEV1) before PITAC directed treatment (day 0) and at discharge (day 1), day 30 and 3 months after the last PITAC directed treatment

    Time frame: 12 months

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Odense PIPAC Center, Department of Surgery, Odense University Hospital
    Odense, 5000, Denmark
    Recruiting
    • Martin Graversen, MD · Contactmartin.graversen@rsyd.dk · +45 30549497
    • Martin Graversen, MD, Ph.D. · Principal investigator
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — Publications and presentations will be based on patient data, but the database is not open to other researchers.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Sep 2023 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2024, 15 months after the start.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Apr 26, 2023
First posted
May 20, 2024
StartActual
Sep 15, 2023
Primary completionEst.
Dec 31, 2024
CompletionEst.
Dec 31, 2024
Last update
May 20, 2024
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 20, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06421610
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 20, 2024
Start date
Sep 15, 2023
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2024 (estimated)
Last update
May 20, 2024

Study contacts

Pernille Schjødt Hansen, Student
Contact
pernille.schjodt.hansen@rsyd.dk
+45 65411857

Oversight

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

Interested in this study?

Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.

Contact study team

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion