An observational study in Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Stage A, B or C HCC and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), sponsored by Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-02.
Sponsored by Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine · Observational
Among 10 studies in Carcinoma, Hepatocellular by Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine — 2 open to participants now, 4 under way, none of them phase 3. Carcinoma, Hepatocellular · Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine.
Among the 10 studies in Carcinoma, Hepatocellular by Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine, this one is the only one that started in 2026, is the only observational one, and was the 10th registered.
3,648 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; 1,061 are open to participants now.
Browse Carcinoma, Hepatocellular studies →2 of the 10 studies in Carcinoma, Hepatocellular by Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine are open now, in 1 country. Recruiting first, the newest first:
Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine · Sites in United States
By country, each count listing its studies:
Of the 736 Carcinoma, Hepatocellular studies recruiting now, 382 (52%) set no upper age limit and 249 (34%) stop at 75 or younger; 31 take children under 18; 30 take healthy volunteers.
This study: 18 Years and older · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.
The full table on the hub →This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
10 studies; the count open now beside each. This study's row is marked.
A study in two phases is counted once above. Listed by phase, each with its combined phases: Phase 1 6 · Phase 2 2
First in 2003; this study’s year is marked. 1 started in 2026.
This study's planned enrollment of 232 is above the median of 200 across 850 observational studies indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular.
Median enrollment 14 across the 8 interventional studies, 232 across the 1 observational. Of the 5 that completed or were terminated, 2 (40%) have results posted.
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine is the lead sponsor of 460 studies on the registry; 87 are open to participants now.
Of its 33 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 14 (42%) have results posted.
3 of the studies in Carcinoma, Hepatocellular by Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine that are under way reach primary completion within a year, 0 of them phase 3. Phase 3 first, then by date:
| Study | Primary completion |
|---|---|
| NCT01918683Abramson Cancer Center at Penn MedicineTACE With or Without SBRT as Bridging Therapy for Pre-transplant HCC Patients | 2026-12 |
| NCT06204159Abramson Cancer Center at Penn MedicineLipiodol Deposition Using Endhole vs. Pressure-Modulated Delivery | 2026-12-30 |
| NCT05488522Abramson Cancer Center at Penn MedicineSBRT With Atezo/Bev for HCC | 2026-12-31 |
Among the 10 studies in Carcinoma, Hepatocellular by Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine, from their registry updates:
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
This proposal describes a non-therapeutic diagnostic clinical trial to estimate the ability of DNP-MRS imaging of hyperpolarized 1-13C-pyruvate uptake and metabolism to predict response following LRT with TACE/TARE/Microwave Ablation or ST in patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage A, B or C HCC. The primary hypothesis is that intratumoral pyruvate, lactate, alanine and carbon dioxide/bicarbonate measured by DNP-MRSI correspond to cellular viability resulting from recurrent or progressive HCC following LRT or ST. The secondary hypothesis is that lactate-to-alanine ratios measured by DNP-MRSI can distinguish well- vs. poorly perfused tumor regions as identified on contrast-enhanced MR imaging.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most rapidly increasing cause of cancer mortality in the United States (US)1. HCC is a notoriously chemo-resistant malignancy. Surgical resection or liver transplantation remain the therapies of choice; however, fewer than 20% of HCC patients are candidates for resection, and transplantation rates are limited both by a static donor pool and HCC progression which precludes eligibility. Locoregional therapies for HCC include (i) trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE), an endovascular locoregional embolotherapy that involves hepatic artery embolization with intra-arterial infusion of a chemotherapeutic agent, (ii) trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE), an endovascular locoregional embolotherapy that involves hepatic artery embolization with intra-arterial infusion of a non-absorbable microspheres containing the radioactive material yttrium-90 (Y90) and (iii) microwave ablation, a percutaneous therapy that targets tumor cells using thermal energy. Together with systemic therapies (ST), these approaches represent the most commonly used treatments for HCC in the United States.
While these therapies have a proven survival benefit, local recurrence and progressive disease are common, and long-term survival rates are poor even following a complete radiographic response (49% over median follow-up of 72 months), due at least in part, to suboptimal measures of response. Conventional imaging approaches have been unsuccessful in providing representative measures of response that are essential for guiding locoregional and systemic therapies for HCC. These approaches apply established guidelines for measurements provided by anatomic imaging, such as tumor size, and were originally intended to allow a uniform response assessment following conventional chemotherapeutics. The general inability of these guidelines to characterize the response to LRT or systemic therapy underscores fundamental limitations in the applied imaging paradigms which fail to provide functional measures of the intended therapeutic effect or the associated tumor response. This challenge requires the development of new imaging paradigms applying knowledge of the underlying tumor biology to enable the detection of treatment refractory, viable tumor domains.
Adults age 18 and older. Patients with BCLC stage A, B or C HCC based on standard staging criteria.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
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.
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.
The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NYHA class (heart failure)
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECG (electrocardiogram)
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
QT and QTc
On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.
The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Transarterial Chemoembolization Microwave Ablation
Drug: Hyperpolarized 1-13C -Pyruvate
Transarterial Radioembolization
Drug: Hyperpolarized 1-13C -Pyruvate
Systemic Therapy
Drug: Hyperpolarized 1-13C -Pyruvate
The 1-13C pyruvate dose for each DNP-MRSI session is approximately 0.43ml/kg of 250mM (approximate range for all studies is anticipated to be between 185-285 mM) of hyperpolarized 1-13C-pyruvate (11.9 mg/kg).
Primary Objective:
To estimate the accuracy of metabolic imaging using DNP-MRS imaging of hyperpolarized 1-13C-pyruvate uptake and metabolism for (i) predicting time to recurrence of HCC in patients following LRT or systemic therapy as determined by mRECIST criteria applied to standard-of- care (SOC) imaging.
Time frame: 5 Years
Secondary Objective:
To measure alterations in metabolism of hyperpolarized 1-13C-pyruvate uptake and metabolism to 1-13C-lactate, 1- 13C-alanine and/or 13C-carbon dioxide/bicarbonate in enhancing and non- enhancing regions of tumor following LRT and ST.
Time frame: 5 Years
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Sep 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Sep 2031, 59 months after the start.
Of 302 non-industry observational studies under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular, half reached primary completion within 54 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 35 and three quarters within 114. This study's planned 59 months is close to that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 351 studies reached it within 51 months; a quarter within 32 and three quarters within 108.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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.
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Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine →