Simulation-Free Celiac Plexus Pain Ablation Using Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy in Patients With Cancer-Related Celiac Pain (Celiac SRS)

July 29, 2026 updated by: University Health Network, Toronto

A Prospective Pilot Clinical Trial of Simulation-Free Celiac Plexus Pain Ablation Using Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy in Patients With Cancer-Related Celiac Pain

This is a prospective, single-arm, pilot feasibility clinical trial designed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of a simulation-free adaptive radiotherapy workflow to enable single-session celiac plexus SBRT planning and delivery. In this trial, the treatment itself is non-investigational (standard-of-care celiac plexus SBRT) but the treatment workflow (simulation-free, using adaptive radiotherapy to compress treatment planning and delivery into a single session) is novel. Investigators hypothesize the successful completion of the simulation-free ART workflow through treatment delivery in the first on-table treatment attempt for at least 80% of patients.

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

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

A standard treatment for pain caused by cancer affecting the celiac plexus (a group of nerves in the upper abdomen behind the stomach and pancreas) is a type of radiation therapy called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). In the usual process for this type of radiation treatment, the patient would first have a special radiation planning scan called a computer tomography simulation (CTsim) to create a personalized treatment plan. The planning process usually takes 5 to 10 days, which means treatment may begin up to 2 weeks after the initial CTsim scan. Recent technology has allowed for treatment to be planned without a separate CTsim scan, called a CTsim-free workflow. In this study, investigators will use pre-existing scans (such as diagnostic imaging) to create the patient's treatment plan. On the day of treatment, the care team will use a technique called Adaptive Radiotherapy (ART) to adjust the plan based on the patient body's position and anatomy that day, allowing planning and treatment to happen in a single visit.

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 (Estimated)

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.
5

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 Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2M9
        • Recruiting
        • Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Michael Yan

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Subjects must have histologically or cytologically confirmed cancer that is metastatic or unresectable, and considered appropriate per the treating physician to receive celiac plexus SBRT.
  • Age >18 years. Because no data are currently available on the use of celiac axis SBRT in subjects ≤18 years of age, children are excluded from this study.
  • Performance status: ECOG Performance status ≤ 3
  • Severe retroperitoneal pain syndrome (radiates from the lower back to the upper abdomen, belt- like distribution), intensity of at least 5 on 11-point Brief Pain Inventory (BPI, average pain) scale.
  • Subjects must have anatomical involvement of the celiac plexus on the diagnostic CT, PET/CT, or MRI. This includes: Any pancreatic cancer, any other cancer that on imaging demonstrates either gross involvement of the celiac blood vessels or celiac plexus on imaging OR haziness around the celiac blood vessels that typically implies tumor engulfment.
  • Prior chemotherapy or biological treatment is allowed, but any active oncological treatment should be stopped at least 1 week prior to radiation therapy and renewed at least 1 week following radiation therapy.
  • Subjects must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.
  • Subjects must have a diagnostic CT of the abdomen and pelvis, with or without contrast, acquired < 28 days prior to the study consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • In ability to tolerate lying supine and still for at least 45 minutes.
  • Performance status: ECOG Performance status of 4.
  • Previous radiotherapy to the upper abdomen overlapping with the projected site of treatment.
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women are excluded from this study.
  • Subjects with conditions associated with increased risk of side effects from radiation such as inflammatory bowel disease and scleroderma.
  • Women of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test within 14 days of study entry. If pregnancy test is not clinically indicated as determined by treating physician or protocol principal investigator, documentation of this exception is sufficient in lieu of a pregnancy test.

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: Treatment
  • 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: Sim-free ART workflow
Other: Treatment plan
Simulation-free radiation treatment planning, in which pre-existing diagnostic images are used to generate a radiation treatment pre-plan (as opposed to acquiring planning-specific image sets). This will be paired with the use of online adaptive radiotherapy (ART) to refine the pre-plan to create a final plan that matches the on-table internal target and gastrointestinal anatomy observed with on-board imaging on the day of treatment. This enables single-session celiac plexus SBRT planning and delivery.

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
Successful treatment plan workflow of 80% of patients
Time Frame: 1 year

The feasibility and safety of the simulation-free adaptive radiotherapy workflow for celiac plexus SBRT for clinical use. Feasibility defined as the successful completion of the simulation-free ART workflow through treatment delivery in the first on-table treatment attempt for at least 80% of patients.

All of the following criteria must be met to be deemed feasible:

  • Meets all priority 1 OAR constraints
  • Meets a PTV_Opt_2500 and PTV_Opt_2000 priority 2 constraints
  • Patient specific QA pass as per institutional standards
  • Patient able to tolerate treatment position for CBCT and entirety of treatment process. If a break is required and the patient is repositioned, the ART process must repeat from CBCT acquisition
  • Complete delivery of all planned monitor units
1 year

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
Component time
Time Frame: 1 year
Average time required for each component of the simulation-free ART workflow, including but not limited to plan generation using diagnostic imaging, pre-treatment activities (e.g., on-table patient setup/imaging, dose prediction, segmentation of daily contours, plan optimization and evaluation), and treatment delivery.
1 year
Dosimetric comparison of radiation plans
Time Frame: 1 year
Dosimetric comparison of radiation plans created on traditional offline CBCT images with those created using the simulation-free ART workflow (i.e., comparison of target coverage, sparing of organs-at-risk).
1 year
Frequency of online re-adaptation
Time Frame: 1 Year
Frequency of online re-adaptation within the sim-free workflow. Readaptation defined as the need to regenerate a treatment plan after an initial plan had been generated that does not satisfy treatment parameters.
1 Year
Patient satisfaction
Time Frame: 1 year
Overall patient satisfaction with celiac plexus SBRT using a simulation-free, adaptive radiotherapy workflow. This will be assessed using the Radiotherapy Experience Questionnaire (RTEQ) which is a validated RT experience questionnaire that reports patient experiences with the overall treatment process by answering statements on a scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Given that this is a novel workflow/process, the results of the questionnaire will shed light on their overall experience.
1 year
TCAE Grade 3+ Toxicity
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Any CTCAE Grade 3+ Toxicity at 6 weeks related to the SBRT treatment.
6 weeks
Cost of workflow
Time Frame: 1 year
The overall cost of simulation free workflow compared to select retrospective cases treated on conventional workflow. Timepoints include simulation, planning, treatment, and follow up. Components include planning, therapist, clinician.
1 year
Mean difference between diagnostic and ETHOS plans (COM)
Time Frame: 1 year
Mean difference in location between diagnostic, planning, and hypersight scans at each time point for select organs at risk. These include liver, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, kidneys, small bowel, aorta, and large bowel. Rigid registration to spinal column as baseline (or aorta). Metrics will include center of mass (COM).
1 year
Mean difference between diagnostic and ETHOS plans (DTA)
Time Frame: 1 year
Mean difference in location between diagnostic, planning, and hypersight scans at each time point for select organs at risk. These include liver, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, kidneys, small bowel, aorta, and large bowel. Rigid registration to spinal column as baseline (or aorta). Metrics will include distance to agreement (DTA).
1 year
Mean difference between diagnostic and ETHOS plans (ASSD)
Time Frame: 1 year
Mean difference in location between diagnostic, planning, and hypersight scans at each time point for select organs at risk. These include liver, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, kidneys, small bowel, aorta, and large bowel. Rigid registration to spinal column as baseline (or aorta). Metrics will include average symmetric surface distance (ASSD).
1 year
Mean difference between diagnostic and ETHOS plans (DSC)
Time Frame: 1 Year
Mean difference in location between diagnostic, planning, and hypersight scans at each time point for select organs at risk. These include liver, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, kidneys, small bowel, aorta, and large bowel. Rigid registration to spinal column as baseline (or aorta). Metrics will include dice for volume overlap (DSC).
1 Year
Mean difference between diagnostic and ETHOS plans (DVF)
Time Frame: 1 Year
Mean difference in location between diagnostic, planning, and hypersight scans at each time point for select organs at risk. These include liver, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, kidneys, small bowel, aorta, and large bowel. Rigid registration to spinal column as baseline (or aorta). Metrics will include deformation vector field (DVF).
1 Year
Change in the Brief Pain Inventory pain scale
Time Frame: 6 Weeks
Change in Brief Pain Inventory pain scale, where on a scale 0 is "No Pain" and 10 is "Pain as bad as you can imagine", recorded in the pain diary at baseline/screening, day of SBRT prior to treatment, and 6 weeks after sim-free celiac plexus SBRT.
6 Weeks
Change in Amount of Pain Medication
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Change in the amount of pain medications (Morphine equivalents) recorded in the pain diary at baseline/screening, day of SBRT prior to treatment, and 6 weeks after sim-free celiac plexus SBRT. Patients will record number of medication units taken (unit of medication is a tablet or capsule, a millilitre (mL) of liquid, a suppository, or a patch).
6 weeks

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.
University Health Network, Toronto

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.
June 4, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

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.
June 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

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.
June 1, 2027

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).
May 26, 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.
June 3, 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.
June 9, 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.
July 30, 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.
July 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.
July 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.
  • 25-5377

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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