Using Machine Learning to Identify Responders to TACE or HAIC for uHCC

January 16, 2026 updated by: Wenzhe Fan, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University

Radiomics-based Unsupervised Machine Learning Model to Identify Responders to Transarterial Chemoembolization Versus Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy in Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma: a Retrospective Cohort Study

The goal of this observational study is to learn about the efficacy of Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE) versus Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy (HAIC) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The main questions it aims to answer are:

Can distinct imaging phenotype subtypes be identified in unresectable HCC patients using radiomics and unsupervised clustering?

Do these different imaging subtypes show significant differences in treatment efficacy (such as objective response rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival) after receiving TACE or HAIC?

Can this method objectively identify which imaging subtype of patients is more suitable for TACE and which may benefit more from HAIC?

Participants in this study are adult patients diagnosed with unresectable HCC (BCLC stage B or C) who have already undergone complete TACE or HAIC treatment as part of their regular medical care between January 2015 and December 2024. Researchers will retrospectively analyze their existing clinical data and pre-treatment medical images to compare outcomes.

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.

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.
Observational

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.
3000

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

  • China
    • Guangdong
      • Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, 510080
        • The First Affiiated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with unresectable HCC who TACE or HAIC

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on clinical or pathological criteria;
  2. Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B or C, assessed as unresectable by surgical evaluation;
  3. Received either TACE or HAIC as the sole interventional treatment modality throughout the treatment course (no crossover between the two modalities allowed);
  4. Liver function classified as Child-Pugh Class A or B, or achieved this standard after medical treatment;
  5. Performance status (PS) score of 0 or 1.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with an unclear diagnosis or those with concurrent other malignant tumors;
  2. Liver function classified as Child-Pugh Class C or worse, which cannot be improved after hepatoprotective treatment;
  3. Patients with severe infections, such as respiratory, biliary tract, or abdominal infections;
  4. Patients with severe underlying diseases, particularly immune-related disorders.
  5. Patients with severely incomplete or missing baseline or outcome data.

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
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.
TACE group
Patients with unresectable HCC treated with transarterial chemoembolization
Procedure: Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE)
1
HAIC group
Patients with unresectable HCC treated with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy
Procedure: hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC)
1

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
Overall survival
Time Frame: From date of initial treatment until the date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months
Time interval from date of initial treatment until the date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months
From date of initial treatment until the date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Progression free survival
Time Frame: From date of initial treatment until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months
Time interval from date of initial treatment until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months
From date of initial treatment until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months
Tumor response
Time Frame: From date of initial treatment until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months
Defined as the proportion of patients achieving complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD) or progressive disease (PD) according to mRECIST criteria.
From date of initial treatment until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 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.
First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University

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.
January 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.
December 31, 2025

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.
December 31, 2025

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).
January 16, 2026

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.
January 16, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

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.
January 26, 2026

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.
January 26, 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.
January 16, 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.
January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

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.
  • [2026]023

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

This study utilizes existing clinical and imaging data collected as part of routine medical care. The dataset contains detailed and potentially re-identifiable patient information, including medical images, clinical records, and treatment outcomes. Due to institutional data privacy policies, ethical restrictions related to patient confidentiality, and the lack of broad consent from participants for data sharing beyond the scope of this specific research, we are unable to publicly share individual participant data. All data will be stored securely within the hospital's internal research database, and access will be restricted to the study investigators for analysis purposes only. Requests for aggregated or de-identified results may be considered upon reasonable inquiry to the corresponding author, subject to institutional review and compliance with applicable regulations.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

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Locations

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