Heated chemo during surgery may fight chest tumor spread
NCT ID NCT07383142
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study compares surgery alone to surgery plus heated chemotherapy (HITOC) for people with thymic tumors that have spread to the lining of the chest. About 202 participants will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups. The goal is to see if adding HITOC helps keep the cancer from coming back longer.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- doxorubicin and cisplatin (heated chemotherapy)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a better way to control thymic tumors that have spread to the chest lining, potentially delaying recurrence.
- What could go wrong
- This is a Phase 3 trial, but it hasn't started recruiting yet. The heated chemotherapy adds risks like infection or organ damage, and it may not improve survival over surgery alone.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 202 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Feb 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Feb 2032
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: 1. Age range: 18-75 years old; Expected survival time \> 12 months; Preoperative imaging (CT, MRI, or PET-CT) clinically diagnosed as TETs 2. Patients with de novo stage IVa thymoma (DNT) diagnosed by the multidisciplinary team (MDT) are eligible if deemed suitable for surgery under any of the following conditions: (1) candidates for primary surgery without contraindications; (2) candidates for staged surgery who have completed phase I surgery and are reassessed by the MDT as eligible for phase II surgery 3 months postoperatively; or (3) patients initially requiring induction therapy, provided the diagnosis is pathologically confirmed by biopsy, induction therapy is administered according to TET guidelines, imaging and laboratory evaluations are performed 4-6 weeks after completion of therapy, and the MDT confirms the absence of surgical contraindications upon re-evaluation. 3. For patients with thymoma with pleural recurrence (TPR), the initial surgery must have achieved complete resection without evidence of pleural dissemination or intraoperative tumor rupture, and the interval between the first surgery and the development of pleural metastasis must be longer than 6 months. 4. According to the definition of T1-3NxM1a stage, no intrapericardial dissemination, no intrapulmonary parenchymal metastatic nodules, no distant organ metastasis (M1b) 5. During the operation, the pleural nodules were removed. The frozen section pathology during the operation confirmed that the pleural nodules were TETs pleural metastatic nodules. 6. No history of other malignant tumors, except for patients who had prior malignancies treated with curative surgery, were confirmed to have pathologic stage I disease requiring no adjuvant therapy (e.g., resected pulmonary ground-glass opacity or papillary thyroid carcinoma) and have remained free of recurrence for more than 5 years. 7. ASA stage I/II 8. Be able to understand the situation of this study and sign the Informed Consent form. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Preoperative imaging examinations such as CT, MRI or PET-CT, or intraoperative exploration revealed that the tumor involved the ascending aorta, aortic arch, descending aorta, intrapericardial pulmonary vessels, heart, trachea or esophagus (T4), or had dissemination within the pericardium (M1a) or hematogenous metastasis (M1b stage); 2. Within 4-6 weeks after completion of induction therapy (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or targeted therapy), imaging studies (CT or PET-CT) and laboratory evaluations (complete blood count, liver and renal function, cardiac biomarkers, and thyroid function) were performed by the mediastinal MDT to assess surgical eligibility; patient found to have surgical contraindications and deemed unsuitable for surgery or HITOC were excluded; 3. The diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy or puncture as a non-TETs type (such as lymphoma, neurogenic tumor, germ cell tumor, thymic lipoma, thymic sarcoma or neuroendocrine tumor); 4. The patient had a history of multiple surgeries in the past (≥2), the initial surgery of TPR was palliative resection, and pleural dissemination was a iatrogenic implantation site; or the patient received a radiotherapy dose greater than 60 Gy before enrollment; 5. Had other active malignant tumors, or had received anti-tumor treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, small molecule targeted therapy or other anti-tumor biological agents) for other malignant tumors in the past; 6. The patient had myasthenia gravis in an unstable state or during an acute exacerbation; 7. Had the following major cardiovascular disease histories: congestive heart failure, poorly controlled angina pectoris, transmural myocardial infarction, high-risk arrhythmia, significant valvular disease or poorly controlled hypertension, cardiovascular compensatory dysfunction; 8. The patient had a weight loss of more than 5 kg within the past one month; severe uncontrolled systemic systemic diseases, such as active infection or poorly controlled diabetes; patients with bleeding disorders and those with bleeding tendencies; patients with abnormal coagulation function, with bleeding tendencies or undergoing thrombolysis or anticoagulation treatment; patients with grade II-IV bone marrow suppression; 9. The patient had a history of thoracic surgery due to tuberculous pleurisy or mesothelioma, and the contralateral lung atrophy involved one or more lung lobes or more than one lung lobe; 10. The patient had an allergy history to cisplatin or doxorubicin drugs; 11. Had a history of organ transplantation (including autologous bone marrow transplantation and peripheral stem cell transplantation); Had a history of mental disorders, neurological diseases or other central nervous system diseases affecting compliance; 12. The patient was in the acute inflammatory stage due to bacterial, viral or other pathogenic microorganism infection; Had active infection of immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) or known HIV seropositivity; 13. Pregnant or lactating women, and fertile men and women who were unwilling to use adequate contraceptive measures during treatment; 14. The patient had received grade IV surgical treatment within 2 months or was in a recovery state due to other diseases or was in the intervention period of other research projects.
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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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Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital
Shanghai, 200032, China
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Heated chemo after surgery shows promise for rare chest cancer spread
- New hope for rare thymus cancers: PT-112 trial launches
- Experimental drug targets rare thymus cancers after chemotherapy fails
- Scientists dive deep into thymic tumors to unlock new clues