Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), the second most prevalent primary malignant liver neoplasm, features highly aggressive biological behavior and dismal prognosis. Even following curative surgical resection, patients have a 5-year overall survival rate lower than 5%, while unresectable patients achieve a median overall survival of only around 6 months. Most patients are diagnosed with locally advanced disease; frequently, surgical resection is contraindicated owing to unfavorable tumor location, vascular invasion or multifocal tumor spread. Therefore, exploring effective therapeutic strategies to boost survival outcomes for such patients is extremely critical. China carries a heavy disease burden of biliary tract malignancies, with approximately 140,000 newly diagnosed cases each year. The incidence of cholangiocarcinoma exceeds 6 per 100,000 persons (more than 84,000 annual new cases). Moreover, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma outnumbers extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in incidence, which underscores the urgent demand for optimized treatment strategies. Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy (HAIC) is a regional therapeutic approach. Its theoretical foundation lies in the biological trait that malignant liver tumors are predominantly supplied by the hepatic artery. This modality delivers high-dose chemotherapeutic agents straight to tumor lesions through arterial routes, raising local intratumoral drug concentration and simultaneously reducing systemic adverse toxic reactions. In recent years, innovations in interventional techniques - especially the application of modified percutaneous hepatic arterial chemotherapy port implantation - have greatly elevated the safety, feasibility and patient adherence of HAIC. Hence, HAIC has attracted extensive attention in treating hepatobiliary malignancies including ICC. Current research focuses on the value of HAIC monotherapy, HAIC combined with systemic chemotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy for unresectable ICC, as well as its potential role as neoadjuvant therapy.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
30
Each treatment cycle lasts 21 days. Treatment response and tolerability will be evaluated after 2 cycles. The investigator will decide to discontinue treatment or continue for an additional 2-4 cycles accordingly.
Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital
Tianjin, Tianjin Municipality, China
Objective Response Rate
Proportion of patients with CR or PR assessed by RECIST v1.1 and mRECIST
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8-12 weeks
Disease Control Rate (DCR)
Proportion of patients with CR, PR or SD based on RECIST v1.1 and mRECIST
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8-12 weeks
Adverse events (AEs)
AEs will be graded per NCI-CTCAE v5.0. Evaluate overall AE rate, grade-specific AE rate, Grade ≥3 AE rate and SAE rate.
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment, up to 6 months
Conversion Resection Rate
Rate of successful radical resection in patients with initially unresectable lesions post treatment
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 12-24 weeks
Progression-Free Survival (PFS)
Time from treatment start to disease progression (RECIST v1.1 and mRECIST)
Time frame: Time from treatment start to disease progression, up to 6 months
Overall Survival (OS)
Time from treatment initiation to death from any cause.
Time frame: Time from treatment initiation to death from any cause, an average of 2 years.
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