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NeuWave Microwave Ablation HCC China Study

A Single-Arm, Prospective, Multicenter Study to Evaluate the Safety and Effectiveness of the NeuWave Certus Microwave Ablation System in Chinese Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03783871
Acronym
NW
Enrollment
135
Registered
2018-12-21
Start date
2019-02-18
Completion date
2024-01-17
Last updated
2025-04-25

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Liver Tumor

Keywords

HCC

Brief summary

This is a single-arm, prospective, multicenter, study. Individuals who are assessed for microwave (MW) ablation of HCC in accordance with their institution's standard of care (SOC), who meet study entry criteria and sign the informed consent, will be enrolled. The patients will be treated with MW ablation and afterwards followed for up to 36 months after the original ablation procedure to assess efficacy and safety. In addition to the final analysis after all enrolled patients complete the 36-month observation period, a summary of selected endpoints will be provided after all enrolled patients have completed each of the 1-month and 12-month visits. To provide sites with an opportunity to get equal experience in the use of the Certus system, there will 3 patients treated as part of a run-in phase. These patients will only be included in the safety set.

Detailed description

Patients who have a single HCC tumor up to 5 cm or a maximum of 3 HCC tumors of up to 3 cm per tumor will receive the same procedure: microwave ablation using only the NeuWave Certus Microwave Ablation System. Patients in this study will come to their study site for the ablation procedure. After the ablation procedure, the patient will be observed, which in most cases is expected to be 2 to 3 hours, and afterwards may return home. If the Study Doctor decides it is warranted for patient safety, the patient will remain in the hospital longer. A minimum of one MRI of the liver must be taken at Baseline/Screening to ascertain tumor type, location, and size. (Tumor size will be measured in longest diameter and the diameter that is perpendicular to this longest diameter; tumor size must be measured with at least 2D imaging.) Physicians who are experienced with tumor ablation will do all ablations percutaneously using only the NeuWave Certus Ablation System. During the ablation, patients will be under an anesthesia method as per the institution's SOC. Ultrasound and/or CT scan will be used to guide the probe to the tumor and confirm accurate placement of the probe prior to emitting the microwaves. Within 7 days after ablation, contrast-enhanced MRI will be done to confirm the completion of the ablation procedure. According to the standard practice at each study site, ablation confirmation will be classified as: * complete tumor ablation with adequate margin (A0). * complete tumor ablation with insufficient margin (A1). * incomplete tumor ablation (A2). Over the course of 3 years, patients will return to their study site for post ablation follow-up visits, which will be carried out per the Schedule of Activities (see Table 1 at the end of the Synopsis). The follow-up schedule will be based on the original ablation procedure date. A re-ablation for any reason will not re-start or change the follow-up visit schedule. At every follow-up visit, every patient will be scanned with at least one MRI to see if there are any tumor foci at the edge of the ablation zone, which indicates tumor progression. Repeat microwave ablation (using the Certus Microwave Ablation System only) may be performed for recurrence of target tumor(s) or to achieve complete tumor ablation with adequate margin (A0) of the target tumor(s) if the initial ablation had an insufficient margin, if the treating physician deems appropriate and necessary. While repeat ablations for a recurrence may be conducted at any point during the study duration, repeat ablations to correct an ablative margin may only be performed within the first 30 days of the original ablation (by Visit 3).

Interventions

DEVICEMicrowave ablation

Subjects will be treated with microwave ablation.

Sponsors

Ethicon, Inc.
Lead SponsorINDUSTRY

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Diagnosed primary or recurrent HCC determined in accordance with the institution's SOC procedure, a single tumor size up to 5 cm or a maximum of 3 tumors up to 3 cm per tumor. Tumor size must be measured with at least 2-dimensional (2D) imaging. * Scheduled for microwave ablation of the liver. * Performance status 0-2 (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group classification). * Functional hepatic reserve based on the Child-Pugh score (Class A or B). * Give voluntary, written informed consent to participate in this study and willing to comply with study-related evaluation and procedure schedule. * At least 18 years of age.

Exclusion criteria

1. ASA score ≥ 4. 2. Active bacterial or fungal infections which are clinically significantly. 3. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy for HCC performed within 30 days prior to the study procedure. 4. Patient with implantable pacemakers or other electronic implants. 5. Planned/ scheduled liver surgery. 6. Platelet count ≤ 50 × 109/L. 7. Patients with uncorrectable coagulopathy at time of screening based on investigator judgement. Severe blood coagulation dysfunction (bleeding tendency, prothrombin time \[PT\] was greater than normal control for 3\ 5 seconds, platelet count \[PLT\] was less than 50x109/L, and the international normalized ratio \[INR\] was greater than 1.5). 8. Patient with renal failure and on renal dialysis. 9. Scheduled concurrent procedure other than MW ablation in the liver. 10. Pregnant or breast feeding. 11. Physical or psychological condition which would impair study participation. 12. Participation in any other interventional clinical study within 1 month before screening and concurrently during the study. 13. The patient is judged unsuitable for study participation by the investigator for any other reason.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Technical EfficacyDay 23 to Day 37Defined as a combination of A0 ablations (complete tumor ablation with a surrounding 5 mm margin) and A1 ablations ( complete tumor ablation with inadequate margins), based on contrast-enhanced MRI scans at 1 month (+/- 7 days) post-ablation.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Technical SuccessDay 0 to Day 7Defined as the combination of A0 ablations (complete tumor ablation with a surrounding 5 mm margin) and A1 ablations (complete tumor ablation with inadequate margins) based on contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) performed up to 7 days post-ablation.
Local Tumor Progression1 Month to 36 MonthsLocal Tumor Progression (LTP) was the appearance of tumor foci at the edge of the ablation zone, after at least one contrast-enhanced follow-up MRI scan had documented adequate ablation and an absence of viable tissue in the target tumor and surrounding ablation margin by using imaging.
Overall Survival36 monthsMeasured from the time of the initial ablation procedure to the time of death or last follow-up, if death has not occurred
Progression-Free Survival36 monthsThe length of time from the original ablation procedure until any type of disease progression (local, regional, or distant) or until death.

Countries

China

Participant flow

Recruitment details

143 participants signed the informed consent, 8 of whom were later screen failures as they did not meet all inclusion/exclusion criteria. These 8 participants were not treated with the NEUWAVE microwave ablation device.

Pre-assignment details

135 participants met all inclusion/exclusion criteria. All participants were treated with the NEUWAVE microwave ablation device. The first 3 participants at each of the 4 clinical sites (12 participants total) were part of the 'run-in' phase and the remaining 123 participants were part of the 'full-analysis set', used for statistical analysis.

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Microwave Ablation With NEUWAVE
Each participant underwent microwave ablation with NEUWAVE for the treatment of a single HCC tumor up to 5 cm or up to three HCC tumors, no more than 3 cm per tumor, in accordance with the study protocol.
123
Total123

Withdrawals & dropouts

PeriodReasonFG000
Overall StudyDeath13
Overall StudyLost to Follow-up2
Overall StudyWithdrawal by Subject15

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicMicrowave Ablation With NEUWAVE
Age, Continuous58.6 Years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.68
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
0 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
123 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
American Indian or Alaska Native
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Asian
123 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Black or African American
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
More than one race
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
White
0 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
29 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
94 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
13 / 135
other
Total, other adverse events
115 / 135
serious
Total, serious adverse events
42 / 135

Outcome results

Primary

Technical Efficacy

Defined as a combination of A0 ablations (complete tumor ablation with a surrounding 5 mm margin) and A1 ablations ( complete tumor ablation with inadequate margins), based on contrast-enhanced MRI scans at 1 month (+/- 7 days) post-ablation.

Time frame: Day 23 to Day 37

Population: Each participant underwent microwave ablation with NEUWAVE for the treatment of a single HCC tumor up to 5 cm or up to three HCC tumors, no more than 3 cm per tumor. This excludes the run-in participants.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Microwave Ablation With NEUWAVETechnical Efficacy107 Participants
Secondary

Local Tumor Progression

Local Tumor Progression (LTP) was the appearance of tumor foci at the edge of the ablation zone, after at least one contrast-enhanced follow-up MRI scan had documented adequate ablation and an absence of viable tissue in the target tumor and surrounding ablation margin by using imaging.

Time frame: 1 Month to 36 Months

Population: Each participant underwent microwave ablation with NEUWAVE for the treatment of a single HCC tumor up to 5 cm or up to three HCC tumors, no more than 3 cm per tumor, in accordance with the study protocol. This excludes the run-in participants.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Microwave Ablation With NEUWAVELocal Tumor Progression18 Participants
Secondary

Overall Survival

Measured from the time of the initial ablation procedure to the time of death or last follow-up, if death has not occurred

Time frame: 36 months

Population: Each participant underwent microwave ablation with NEUWAVE for the treatment of a single HCC tumor up to 5 cm or up to three HCC tumors, no more than 3 cm per tumor, in accordance with the study protocol. As this is a safety endpoint, it includes the run-in participants.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Microwave Ablation With NEUWAVEOverall Survival13 Participants
Secondary

Progression-Free Survival

The length of time from the original ablation procedure until any type of disease progression (local, regional, or distant) or until death.

Time frame: 36 months

Population: Each participant underwent microwave ablation with NEUWAVE for the treatment of a single HCC tumor up to 5 cm or up to three HCC tumors, no more than 3 cm per tumor, in accordance with the study protocol. This excludes the run-in participants.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Microwave Ablation With NEUWAVEProgression-Free Survival81 Participants
Secondary

Technical Success

Defined as the combination of A0 ablations (complete tumor ablation with a surrounding 5 mm margin) and A1 ablations (complete tumor ablation with inadequate margins) based on contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) performed up to 7 days post-ablation.

Time frame: Day 0 to Day 7

Population: Each participant underwent microwave ablation with NEUWAVE for the treatment of a single HCC tumor up to 5 cm or up to three HCC tumors, no more than 3 cm per tumor, in accordance with the study protocol. This excludes the run-in participants.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Microwave Ablation With NEUWAVETechnical Success112 Participants

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026