Can zapping liver and lung tumors boost treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer?
NCT ID NCT07824856
First seen Sep 17, 2026 · Last updated Sep 18, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
Researchers are testing whether adding CT-guided thermal ablation of liver or lung metastases to standard systemic therapy improves tumor response in people with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The trial enrolls 138 adults whose primary tumor was cured but who later developed up to five small metastases in the liver or lungs. Participants are randomly assigned to receive systemic therapy alone or systemic therapy plus ablation, and researchers measure how well tumors shrink.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- CT-guided percutaneous thermal ablation of liver and lung metastases
- What this could lead to
- If it works, adding ablation to standard systemic therapy could improve tumor response for people whose nasopharyngeal carcinoma has spread to a few spots in the liver or lungs.
- What could go wrong
- This is a single-center phase II trial, so results may not hold in larger or more diverse groups. Ablation carries risks such as bleeding, infection, or damage to nearby tissue, and it may not add benefit beyond systemic therapy alone.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
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About 138 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Oct 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Feb 2029
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 75 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Written informed consent to participate in the trial * Age 18 to 75 years, any sex * Histologically or cytologically confirmed nasopharyngeal carcinoma, with clinically diagnosed liver and/or lung metastases * Primary nasopharyngeal tumor cured after curative treatment, with no lymph node metastasis and no metastases outside the liver and lung (metachronous metastasis: distant metastasis detected at least 6 months after curative treatment of the primary tumor) * No more than 5 liver and/or lung metastases, each 3 cm or smaller in diameter * Liver and/or lung metastases amenable to ablation * ECOG performance status 0 or 1 * Adequate hematologic and organ function: absolute neutrophil count ≥1.5×10\^9/L; hemoglobin ≥70 g/L; platelet count ≥50×10\^9/L; white blood cell count ≥3.0×10\^9/L; serum albumin ≥28 g/L; total bilirubin ≤3.0 mg/dL; AST and ALT ≤5×ULN; serum creatinine ≤1.5×ULN; INR ≤2.3 (without anticoagulant therapy) * No prior systemic therapy for metastatic disease (e.g., gemcitabine plus cisplatin chemotherapy or PD-1 inhibitor) Exclusion Criteria: * History of hypersensitivity or intolerance to any study drug * Severe hepatic insufficiency, pulmonary fibrosis, or pulmonary hypertension * Poorly controlled infectious or radiation-induced inflammation around the lesion, skin infection at the puncture site, systemic infection, or fever \>38.5 °C * Estimated life expectancy less than 3 months * Poorly controlled malignant pleural effusion * Clinically significant bleeding within 30 days before study entry * Uncorrectable coagulopathy or marked hematologic abnormality with evident bleeding tendency * Severe hepatic, renal, cardiac, pulmonary, or cerebral dysfunction; severe anemia, dehydration, or nutritional/metabolic disturbance that cannot be corrected in the short term; left ventricular ejection fraction \<45% * History of congenital long QT syndrome, or corrected QT interval \>480 ms (Fridericia) * Psychiatric disorder in an active episode * Poorly controlled hypertension: systolic blood pressure \>150 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure \>100 mmHg * Urine protein ≥1 g/24 h (participants with ≥1+ proteinuria on dipstick must have 24-hour urine protein measured); prior organ transplantation * Anticoagulant and/or antiplatelet therapy (except novel oral anticoagulants such as dabigatran and rivaroxaban) not discontinued for more than 5-7 days before ablation * Other malignancy within the previous 3 years or concurrently * Prior gemcitabine plus cisplatin chemotherapy or PD-1 inhibitor therapy * Any other condition that, in the investigator's judgment, makes the patient unsuitable for the trial
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, China
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Can a Pressure-Sensitive catheter sharpen Radiation's aim at liver tumors?
- Can removing liver tumors alongside the whipple procedure extend life in stage IV pancreatic cancer?