Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Diagnosing Patients With Kidney Tumors

May 29, 2026 updated by: David Foran, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Pilot Study of Renal Neoplasms With Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

This pilot clinical trial studies perfusion magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing patients with kidney tumors. Diagnostic procedures, such as perfusion magnetic resonance imaging, may help find and diagnose kidney tumors and predict and monitor a patient's response to treatment.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To investigate the utility of perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI) as a diagnostic biomarker for the prediction of malignant vs. benign organ confined renal masses.

II. To investigate the utility of pMRI as a therapeutic biomarker for monitoring tumor progression in patients undergoing treatment (ablation, surgery, specific systemic treatments such as interleukin 2 (IL-2) or vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF]/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor [VEGFR]/mechanistic target of rapamycin [mTOR] targeted therapies) or active surveillance for organ confined or metastatic renal tumors.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To investigate the utility of pMRI to predict tumor grade and histologic subtype of organ confined kidney cancers.

OUTLINE:

Patients undergo dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE), dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC), or arterial spin labeled (ASL) pMRI within 30 days of biopsy or surgery. Patients with organ confined tumors selected for active surveillance or surgery and patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma undergo follow up pMRI at 1-6 months.

After completion of study, patients are followed up within 48 hours.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
75

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New Jersey
      • New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, 08903
        • Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients must be able to read, understand, and voluntarily sign an informed consent document
  • For patients with organ confined renal tumors to be enrolled, the renal mass must be >= 1 cm in diameter on computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and can be any clinical stage T1a-T4 (non-metastatic); a histologic diagnosis is not required for enrollment; the primary imaging site would be kidney
  • For patients with metastatic renal tumors to be enrolled, a histologic diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma must exist and any burden of disease >= 1 cm by CT or MRI is acceptable; the metastatic sites may be kidney, intra-abdominal (such as liver), brain, bone, or lymph nodes; lung lesions are NOT eligible because of the motion artifact caused by respiration
  • Patients with metastatic disease may have received prior nephrectomy and/or prior systemic therapy (no limit on number); their baseline pMRI would be performed prior to starting a new treatment
  • Negative pregnancy test if female of child-bearing age
  • Able to undergo contrast enhanced MRI

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Severe concurrent disease, infection, or medical co-morbidity that, in the judgment of the investigator, would make the patient inappropriate for enrollment
  • Severe renal function impairment (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] < 45 mL/min/1.73 m^2) would make the patient inappropriate for enrollment due to the increased risk of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) with higher dose of IV gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCA) administration
  • Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
  • Subjects who are unable to tolerate or are not eligible for MR imaging (claustrophobia, metal implantable devices such as pacemaker, aneurysm clips, etc)
  • Subjects with established allergy to IV GBCA

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Diagnostic (pMRI)
Patients undergo DCE, DSC, or ASL pMRI within 30 days of biopsy or surgery. Patients with organ confined tumors selected for active surveillance or surgery and patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma undergo follow up pMRI at 1-6 months.
Procedure: Arterial Spin Labeling Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Undergo arterial spin labeled perfusion magnetic resonance imaging
Other Names:
  • ARTERIAL SPIN LABELING FUNCTIONAL MRI
  • Arterial Spin Labeling MRI
  • ASL
  • ASL fMRI
Procedure: Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Undergo dynamic contrast-enhanced perfusion magnetic resonance imaging
Other Names:
  • DCE-MRI
  • DCE MRI
  • DYNAMIC CONTRAST ENHANCED MRI
Procedure: Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Undergo dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion magnetic resonance imaging
Other Names:
  • Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast-Enhanced MRI
Procedure: Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Undergo perfusion magnetic resonance imaging
Other Names:
  • magnetic resonance perfusion imaging

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Perfusion MRI outputs
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
Univariate and multivariate analyses will be performed to look for associations between pMRI outputs and tumor histopathology. The utilization of perfusion MRI as a diagnostic biomarker for tumor grade and histological subtype will be assessed by correlative comparison to histological evaluation by pathology.
Up to 6 months
Progression free survival
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
Kaplan-Meier survival curves will be performed to compare groups of patients to assess progression-free survival.
Up to 6 months
Sensitivity of pMRI
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
If possible, receiver operating characteristic curves will be created from pMRI data.
Up to 6 months
Specificity of pMRI
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
If possible, receiver operating characteristic curves will be created from pMRI data.
Up to 6 months
Tumor histopathology
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
Univariate and multivariate analyses will be performed to look for associations between pMRI outputs and tumor histopathology. The utilization of perfusion MRI as a diagnostic biomarker for tumor grade and histological subtype will be assessed by correlative comparison to histological evaluation by pathology.
Up to 6 months
Progression free survival and/or radiographic tumor evaluation
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
The utility of pMRI as a therapeutic biomarker for monitoring or predicting treatment response will be assessed by correlative comparison to progression free survival and/or radiographic tumor evaluation by standard of care radiologic imaging modality, such as Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors.
Up to 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: David Foran, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
September 1, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
September 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 7, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 14, 2015

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 18, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
June 2, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 29, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 081407 (Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey)
  • P30CA072720 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • Pro2013003918 (Other Identifier: Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey)
  • NCI-2015-00848 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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