An interventional study of Multimodal Thermal Therapy and Targeted and Immune Drugs in Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), sponsored by Zhejiang University. Not yet recruiting at 7 sites in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-22.
Sponsored by Zhejiang University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Multimodal Thermal Therapy combined with targeted therapy and immunotherapy versus targeted therapy and immunotherapy alone for systemically untreated unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
This prospective, multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled study is titled "Multimodal Thermal Therapy combined with targeted therapy and immunotherapy versus targeted therapy and immunotherapy alone for systemically untreated unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)". The research aims to evaluate the clinical benefits of combining local intervention with systemic treatments. The primary objective is to compare the progression-free survival (PFS) between the combination therapy and standard systemic therapy. Secondary objectives include assessing the objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS), and general safety. Furthermore, the study includes an exploratory goal of monitoring changes in peripheral blood immune indicators to analyze the impact of the combined treatment on the patient's immune function. The study aims to enroll a total of 166 patients, who are randomized in a 1:1 ratio into either an experimental group or a control group, resulting in 83 participants per arm. Eligible participants are adults aged 18 to 80 with unresectable HCC staged as BCLC B or C who have not previously received systemic drug therapy. Inclusion requires a Child-Pugh score of 7 or less, an ECOG-PS score of 0 to 1, and at least one evaluable lesion suitable for ablation with a maximum diameter of 5 cm. Patients are excluded if they have portal vein main trunk invasion, diffuse HCC, symptomatic brain metastases, or extensive distant metastases.
3,648 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; 1,061 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 166 is above the median of 54 across 2,618 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular.
Browse Carcinoma, Hepatocellular studies →Zhejiang University is the lead sponsor of 356 studies on the registry; 166 are open to participants now.
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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.
Age 18-80, regardless of gender;
Exclusion Criteria:
Invasion of the main portal vein;
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.
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
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.
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
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.
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.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
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.
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Child-Pugh class
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Immunosuppression
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Multimodal Thermal Therapy Combined with Targeted and Immune Drugs
Device: Multimodal Thermal Therapy · Drug: Targeted and Immune Drugs
Targeted and Immune Drugs
Drug: Targeted and Immune Drugs
Multimodal Thermal Therapy (MTT) is an advanced ablation technique that utilizes an integrated microprobe to combine liquid nitrogen freezing with radiofrequency heating. This dual-action process creates a rapidly shifting temperature field and significant tissue stress, leading to the complete destruction of tumor cells and their associated blood vessels. Beyond local tumor removal, the procedure acts as an "in situ vaccine" by releasing tumor-associated antigens and danger signals into the bloodstream, which activates a systemic and durable anti-tumor immune response.
In this research, systemic treatment specifically refers to the combination of targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as PD-1 inhibitors. These drugs are selected based on their approval by the NMPA for liver cancer treatment and the specific clinical needs of the patient. The primary role of the immune drugs is to block immune checkpoints, which prevents the tumor from escaping the body's defenses and significantly enhances the natural anti-tumor function of T cells. Complementing this, the targeted drugs-often anti-angiogenic agents-work to inhibit tumor blood vessel growth and improve the overall immune microenvironment. When used together, they create a synergistic "dual" effect: the targeted drugs optimize the environment for immune cell infiltration while the immune drugs activate T cells to more effectively attack the cancer.
Progression-free survival (PFS) per mRECIST
Progression-free survival (PFS) was defined as the interval from randomization to initial confirmed disease progression or all-cause death, whichever came first, with tumor assessments conducted per mRECIST by on-site investigators.
Time frame: Up to ~24 months.
Objective Response Rate (ORR) per mRECIST
ORR is defined as the percentage of participants who have a confirmed complete response (CR: disappearance of any intratumoral arterial enhancement in all target lesions) or partial response (PR: at least a 30% decrease in the sum of diameters of viable \[enhancement in the arterial phase\] target lesions, taking as reference the baseline sum of the diameters of target lesions), with tumor assessments conducted per mRECIST by on-site investigators.
Time frame: Up to ~24 months.
Objective Response Rate (ORR) per RECIST 1.1
Objective response rate (ORR) was defined as the proportion of participants achieving confirmed complete response or partial response, with tumor assessments conducted per RECIST 1.1 by on-site investigators.
Time frame: Up to ~24 months.
Progression-free survival (PFS) per RECIST 1.1
Progression-free survival (PFS) was defined as the interval from randomization to initial confirmed disease progression or all-cause death, whichever came first, with tumor assessments conducted per RECIST 1.1 by on-site investigators.
Time frame: Up to ~24 months.
Overall Survival
Overall survival (OS) was defined as the time from randomization to all-cause death, with outcome assessments conducted by on-site investigators.
Time frame: Up to ~36 months.
Disease Control Rate (DCR) per RECIST 1.1
Disease control rate (DCR) was defined as the proportion of participants achieving confirmed complete response, partial response or stable disease, with tumor assessments conducted per RECIST 1.1 by on-site investigators.
Time frame: Up to ~24 months.
Disease Control Rate (DCR) per mRECIST
Disease control rate (DCR) was defined as the proportion of participants achieving confirmed complete response, partial response or stable disease, with tumor assessments conducted per mRECIST by on-site investigators.
Time frame: Up to ~24 months.
Percentage of Participants Who Experience At Least One Adverse Event (AE)
An AE is any untoward medical occurrence in a clinical study participant, temporally associated with the use of study intervention, whether or not considered related to the study intervention. The percentage of participants who experience at least one AE will be reported.
Time frame: Up to ~36 months.
Percentage of Participants Who Experience At Least One Serious Adverse Event (SAE)
An SAE is an AE that results in death, is life threatening, requires or prolongs a hospitalization, results in persistent or significant disability or incapacity, is a congenital anomaly or birth defect, is a cancer, is associated with an overdose, or is another important medical event. The percentage of participants who experience at least one SAE will be reported.
Time frame: Up to ~36 months.
Plan to share: No
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