A Phase 3 interventional study of Drug-Eluting Embolic Bead and Chemotherapy drug in Liver Neoplasm and Colorectal Cancer Metastatic, sponsored by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Recruiting at 1 site in Iran, Islamic Republic of. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-04-23.
Sponsored by Tehran University of Medical Sciences · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment
A total of 116 patients who meet the inclusion criteria and are chemotherapy-naïve for their metastatic disease, will be randomly assigned to either the treatment group (DEBIRI plus systemic chemotherapy) or the control group (systemic chemotherapy alone).
After 4 cycles of chemotherapy and 2 cycles of DEBIRI, patient reassessment to evaluate treatment response, based on RECIST criteria, will be performed using MRI or CT scan within 1-3 months of treatment initiation.
The feasibility of secondary tumor resection, as primary endpoint, will be reassessed at a three-month follow-up multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting, guided by established clinical guidelines.
Upon acquiring ethical approval, patients with histologically proven, unresectable or borderline resectable liver metastases from colorectal origin who are referred to the hepatobiliary clinic between September 2024 and September 2026 will be enrolled to the study. Informed consent will be obtained for their participation prior to enrollment.
A total of 116 patients who are chemotherapy-naïve for their metastatic disease, will be randomly assigned to either the treatment group or the control group.
With the aim of controlling major confounding factors, Stratified randomization will be performed based on synchronous/metachronous liver metastases and unresectable/borderline resectable status.
Targeted therapy administration for each treatment group in based on oncologist's decision and will be tailored to the tumor's biological characteristics and the patient's clinical status. Ultimately, patients will be categorized into one of the two following treatment groups:
Group 1: DEBIRI+ standard systemic chemotherapy ± Targeted therapy Group 2: Standard systemic chemotherapy ± Targeted therapy The Tumor characteristics, including the number, size, and anatomical location, as well as the presence or absence of extrahepatic metastases, will be assessed based on initial imaging (MRI).
The treatment protocol is defined as the administration of a chemotherapy regimen on days 0 and 14, followed by DEBIRI on days 7 and 21. Each patient of the treatment arm will receive at least two doses of DEBIRI unless treatment-limiting adverse events occur.
After 4 cycles of chemotherapy and 2 cycles of DEBIRI, patient reassessment to evaluate treatment response will be performed using MRI or CT scan within 1-3 months of treatment initiation. All imagings will be reviewed by 2 radiologists who are blinded to clinical information regarding treatment arm. Treatment response will be determined using RECIST criteria.
Conversion to resectability, as primary endpoint, will be evaluated at a three-month follow-up multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting, guided by established clinical guidelines.
Secondary endpoints of the study will encompass evaluation of treatment tolerability and adverse event rate, alongside analyzing progression-free survival and overall survival.
1,345 studies on the registry are indexed under Liver Neoplasms; 335 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 116 is above the median of 48 across 928 interventional studies indexed under Liver Neoplasms.
Browse Liver Neoplasms studies →Tehran University of Medical Sciences is the lead sponsor of 231 studies on the registry; 12 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
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.
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.
The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.
It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.
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.
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
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.
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.
Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).
Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)
The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.
It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ALT and AST (liver enzymes)
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ULN (upper limit of normal)
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Adjuvant and neoadjuvant
Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Brain metastases
Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).
Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis B tests
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Patients will receive systemic chemotherapy on day 0 and 14 and DEBIRI on day 7 and 21.
Drug: Drug-Eluting Embolic Bead
Patients will receive 4 cycles of systemic chemotherapy.
Drug: Chemotherapy drug
A minimum of 2 sessions of DEBIRI treatment and 2-4 cycles of systemic chemotherapy are administered (based on tumor size, bilobar or unilobar involvement of the liver, treatment response rate, treatment tolerance, occurrence of side effects, and liver function). Prior to performing DEBIRI, initial angiography is done via the femoral or axillary artery to determine the anatomy of the right and left hepatic arteries as well as the arteries supplying the tumor. Subsequently, a vial of irinotecan (100 mg) eluted with a vial of beads(hepaSphere 25mg) is injected into the blood vessels feeding the tumor. The intervention will be repeated to deliver 200 mg of irinotecan intravascularly to the liver mass. A 14-day interval between the procedures is established to minimize side effects. Targeted therapy administration for each treatment group based on oncologist's decision and will be tailored to the tumor characteristics and the patient's clinical status as explained in control arm.
Also known as: Irinotecan-loaded drug-eluting beads (DEBIRI) plus systemic chemotherapy +/- targeted therapy
Control group will receive 2-4 cycles of systemic chemotherapy based on functional status of the patient, adverse event rate and treatment tolerance, tumor size and characteristics. Targeted therapy administration for each treatment group in based on oncologist's decision and will be tailored to the tumor characteristics and the patient's clinical status (e.g., administration of Pembrolizumab for patients with high rosatellite instability (MSI-H) or Bevacizumab for tumors harboring KRAS mutations). Due to the targeted nature of these therapies, they can not be administered to all participants of the trial, while It is not ethically justifiable to withhold targeted therapies from patients who are candidates for these treatments based on their tumor characteristics and deprive them of potentially life-extending options.
Also known as: Systemic chemotherapy +/- targeted therapy
This study also gives Pembrolizumab. No intervention listed here names it: that was found by reading the record.
Conversion to resectability: The proportion of patients who were initially deemed unresectable but, after undergoing specific intervention (Based on study arm) are reassessed for tumor shrinkage and found to be candidates for surgical resection.
The feasibility of secondary tumor resection after receiving treatment, based on follow up imaging and tumor downsizing, will be discussed in multidisciplinary meeting (including surgeons, radiologists and oncologists).
Time frame: within 3 months after treatment initiation
Adverse event rate
Unfavorable and unintended signs and symptoms associated with the treatment.
Time frame: Within 1 year of treatment administration
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Jan 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Oct 2027, 33 months after the start.
Of 30 phase 3 interventional studies under Liver Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 57 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 38 and three quarters within 97. This study's planned 33 months is below that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions 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.
Tehran University of Medical Sciences →