Ipsilateral Hepatic Vein Embolization After Portal Vein Embolization

June 16, 2008 updated by: Asan Medical Center

Sequential Preoperative Ipsilateral Hepatic Vein Embolization After Portal Vein Embolization to Induce Further Liver Regeneration in Patients With Hepatobiliary Malignancy

Portal vein embolization (PVE) induces shrinkage of the embolized lobe and compensatory enlargement of the non-embolized lobe, but it does not always induce sufficient liver regeneration. There was no effective method to accelerate liver regeneration in addition to PVE yet.

This study intends to assess the effect of ipsilateral hepatic vein embolization (HVE) performed after Portal vein embolization (PVE) on liver regeneration. During a 1-year study period, preoperative HVE would be performed on 10 or more patients who had shown limited liver regeneration after PVE awaiting right hepatectomy. Sequential application of PVE and HVE may be safe and effective in facilitating contralateral liver regeneration by inducing more severe liver damage than PVE alone.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

To prospectively assess the effect of ipsilateral HVE after PVE on liver volume change, this study was designed to continue for 12 months, from March 2007 to February 2008.

This study protocol was approved by our institutional review board, under the condition that, for patient safety, more than one occurrence of accidental coil migration into the heart or lung would lead to study discontinuation. The clinical significance of this risk had not been fully assessed, although it might not be seriously harmful. In addition, informed consent and permission for each PVE and HVE were obtained separately from each patient and/or his/her family members.

The indications for right PVE are patients undergoing right hepatectomy or more extensive liver surgery for hepatobiliary malignancy, but having small FLRs, with mean values less than 40% of total liver volume. Patients with large liver masses are excluded because their parenchymal resection rates were much lower than 60%. For patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma, placement of multiple biliary drains was preferred to decompress the entire biliary system, and the timing of PVE was set to when serum total bilirubin level became lower than 5 mg/dL.

The right internal jugular vein was punctured with an 18-gauge needle and a 9-F long sheath (Cook; Bloomington, IN) was inserted. The right hepatic vein (RHV) was selected using a 5-F cobra catheter (Cook) and a 0.035-inch guide wire (Terumo; Tokyo, Japan). Insertion of the guide wire toward the dorsal side was checked with a right lateral view to confirm that it was correctly inserted into the RHV. A 9-F sheath was inserted at the proximal portion of the RHV, followed by placement of a Tulip filter (retrievable vena cava filter; Cook) or a Trap-Ease filter (Cordis; Miami, FL) to prevent migration of deployed coils during embolization of the RHV. The cobra catheter was then advanced into the RHV and the main RHV branches were embolized with coils 8 to 12 mm in diameter (nester embolization coils; Cook).

Multidetector dynamic CT scans were routinely performed before PVE to assess gross liver volume change and tumor progression, and CT scans were performed every week after PVE, HVE, and hepatectomy. All CT images were reconstructed as sections 3 mm thick. The CT images were stored in a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS; Petavision; Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea), enabling image processing and various measurements including volumetry. In patients undergoing combined caudate resection, the volume of the caudate lobe was not included in the FLR volume. TLV and FLR volume before PVE were used as the baseline liver volumes for liver size comparison.

To assess the histological changes in the livers, 1 cm-sized pieces of liver tissue were excised from the ventral margins of the right posterior section, right anterior section, and left lateral section just after laparotomy. These samples were immediately fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde phosphate solution.

Immunohistochemical stainings were performed using antibody against albumin to assess the synthetic function of the hepatocytes, antibody against proliferating cell nuclear antigen (anti-PCNA) to assess cell replication, and antibody against cleaved caspase-3 to assess apoptosis. Apoptosis was also assayed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Western blots using antibodies against the acute phase proteins TNF-α, caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2 were performed to assess the status of proinflammatory cytokine responses. PCNA-positive and caspase-3-positive events were counted in five randomly selected high-power fields on microphotographs.

Specimens for histological examination and histomorphometric analysis were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H-E). For hepatocyte counts, 10 different HPFs in the same slide were randomly selected.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

13

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 3

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

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

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 75 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients showing small future remnant liver < 40% of whole liver volume

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients showing small future remnant liver > 40% of whole liver volume
  • Inoperable tumor extent

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: NON_RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: HVE
Hepatic vein embolization after portal vein embolization
Embolization of the right hepatic vein
Other Names:
  • Sequential right hepatic vein embolization
NO_INTERVENTION: PVE
Only portal vein embolization, historical control group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Future remnant left liver volume on multidetector dynamic CT scans
Time Frame: 2 weeks after HVE
2 weeks after HVE

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Immunohistochemical stainings
Time Frame: during operation
during operation

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Shin Hwang, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, Asan medical center

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

March 1, 2007

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

February 1, 2008

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

April 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 16, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 16, 2008

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

June 17, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

June 17, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 16, 2008

Last Verified

June 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Preop_PVE_HVE

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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