Endoscopic Biliary Radiofrequency Ablation of Malignant Distal Common Bile Duct Strictures

January 24, 2018 updated by: Anthony Teoh, Chinese University of Hong Kong

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Endoscopic Biliary Radiofrequency Ablation of Malignant Distal Common Bile Duct Strictures.

Malignant bile duct obstruction is a common sequela of pancreatic cancers or distal bile duct cancers, and its development can hinder the use of chemotherapy, decrease patient quality of life, and decrease survival. To relieve obstructive jaundice as a result of the obstruction, endoscopic stent placement is usually required. The use self-expandable metal stents (SEMSs) have been shown to result in a longer patency times as compared with plastic stents. However, despite improvements in materials and stent design, stent obstruction still occurs in 13% to 44% of the patients. Tumor in-growth is the most common mechanism of stent obstruction.

Recently, the use of endoscopic biliary radiofrequency ablation (EBRFA) have been described in patients suffering from inoperable malignant distal common bile duct (CBD) obstruction. The procedure uses heat energy to cause local tumour tissue death, resulting in re-opening of the bile duct lumen. The procedure has the potential of reducing the rate of stent obstruction after SEMS and also prolonging survival. The safety profile appears to be comparable that of placement of SEMS alone without added complications (<10%). The aim of the current study is to compare the efficacy of EBRFA with the addition of SEMS to SEMS alone in a randomized controlled trial.We hypothesize that the application of EBRFA can reduce recurrent biliary obstruction after SEMS.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

42

Phase

  • 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

      • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
        • Prince of Wales Hospital, Chinese University of Hong Kong

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

18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Age ≥ 18 years old with informed consent
  2. Histologically (preferred) or radiologically confirmed distal malignant bile duct tumors
  3. Inoperability by staging, comorbidities or patient wishes
  4. Distal tumors 2cm away from the portal hilum
  5. Bilirubin > 50umol/L at diagnosis

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Periampullary tumours
  2. Multiple hepatic metastases with significant blockage of one or more liver segments (if no segment blockage, metastasis is not an exclusion criteria)
  3. Presence of main portal vein thrombosis
  4. Prior SEMS placement
  5. Prior Billroth II or roux-en Y reconstruction
  6. History of bleeding disorder or use of anticoagulation
  7. Child's B/C cirrhosis
  8. Pregnancy
  9. Performance status ECOG ≥3 (confined to bed / chair > 50% waking hours)
  10. Presence of other malignancy
  11. Presence of gastric outlet obstruction
  12. Life expectancy < 3months

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: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: SEMS only
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) would be performed under standard operating conditions to confirm the length of the biliary stricture, diameter, and position. An uncovered self expanding metallic stent (SEMS) would be inserted to bypass the site of narrowing (Niti-S biliary uncovered metallic stent; Taewoong Medical, Gimpo City, Korea)
The SEMS (Niti-S biliary uncovered metallic stent; Taewoong Medical, Korea) would be placed.
Active Comparator: EBRFA and SEMS
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) would be performed under standard operating conditions to confirm the length of the biliary stricture, diameter, and position. The radiofrequency ablation (EBRFA) catheter would be placed under fluoroscopic guidance across the biliary stricture. The Habib EndoHPB (EMcision UK, London, United Kingdom) radiofrequency ablation catheter with energy delivered by an RFA generator would be used to apply RFA to the entire length of the stricture, sequential applications would be applied to complete treatment throughout the length of the stricture without significant overlap of treated areas. Patients would undergo 2 sessions of EBRFA 2 weeks apart. A plastic stent would be inserted in between the 2 sessions. An uncovered SEMSs (Niti-S biliary uncovered metallic stent; Taewoong Medical, Gimpo City, Korea) would be placed after the second EBRFA.
The radiofrequency ablation (RFA) catheter would be placed under fluoroscopic guidance across the biliary stricture. The Habib EndoHPB (EMcision UK, London, United Kingdom) radiofrequency ablation catheter is a bipolar RFA probe that is 8F (2.6 mm), 1.8 m long, compatible with standard (3.2-mm working channel) side-viewing endoscopes, and passes over 0.035-inch guidewires. The catheter has 2 ring electrodes 8 mm apart with the distal electrode 5 mm from the leading edge, providing local coagulative necrosis over a 2.5-cm length. Depending on the length of the stricture, sequential applications would be applied to complete treatment throughout the length of the stricture without significant overlap of treated areas. An uncovered SEMSs (Niti-S biliary uncovered metallic stent; Taewoong Medical, Gimpo City, Korea) would be placed after 2 sessions of EBRFA.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Stent patency rate
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Overall survival
Time Frame: 3 years
3 years
Serious adverse events
Time Frame: 30 day
30 day
Unscheduled readmission rates
Time Frame: 1 year
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

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

November 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 31, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 1, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

November 4, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 26, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 24, 2018

Last Verified

January 1, 2018

More Information

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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