FAZA PET/MRI Sarcoma

March 3, 2026 updated by: University Health Network, Toronto

A Prospective Study of Hypoxia Imaging in Patients With Soft Tissue Sarcoma Using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) With 18F-Fluoroazomycin Arabinoside (18F-FAZA) in Combination With MRI

This is a dual arm, single centre, investigator initiated study to investigate the use of FAZA-PET in combination with MRI. FAZA is an investigational radiotracer used in PET scans. FAZA PET/MRI will be used to measure hypoxia in sarcoma tissues and will occur for:

Arm A: before neo-adjuvant radiation/chemotherapy treatment; Arm B: before surgery (optional).

After the FAZA PET/MRI scan, patients will be followed up via telephone, 48 hours after the scan, to see if there are any side effects due to FAZA.

Up to 50 patients enrolled in Arm B will receive pimonidazole approximately 16-20 hours before surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Mutliple studies show that hypoxia in sarcoma has been consistently associated with poor treatment outcomes. Subsequently, there has been a study that shows inhibition of hypoxia-induced transcription factor (HIF-1 alpha), with radiation, was effective in disease treatment in pre-clinical models. This shows how important hypoxia was in playing a role in overall disease outcome and survival.

As a means of examining tumor features, such as hypoxia, hybrid PET/MR imaging combines the advantages of MRI's soft-tissue and contrast resolution with PET's functional metabolic capabilities. There have been few reports of using 18F-FDG in diagnostic PET/MRI. with the use of 18F-FAZA in this study, parameters such as diffusion, micro-perfusion, and contrast enhancement (as a surrogate marker for viable tumour tissue) can be simultaneously compared with the FAZA-derived pattern, in a single procedure.

The study is being conducted to measure the volume of hypoxic tumor in high-risk STS patients, using FAZA-PET/MRI, before and after neoadjuvant radiotherapy/chemotherapy.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

70

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

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, L4W4C2
        • University Health Network

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Age ≥ 18 years
  2. Patients with either: high-risk extremity STS (g2-3, > 10 cm largest dimension, and leiomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour, or undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma), or: high-risk RPS (g2-3, and leiomyosarcoma or dedifferentiated liposarcoma)
  3. Intention to treat using radiotherapy/chemotherapy/surgery according to the current treatment policies of the Sarcoma Site Group of PM
  4. A negative serum pregnancy test within the two-week interval immediately prior to PET-MR imaging, for women of child-bearing age
  5. Ability to provide written informed consent to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Previous radiotherapy to intended treatment volumes.
  2. Previous systemic therapy
  3. Active malignancy other than sarcoma
  4. Unable to remain supine for at least 60 minutes
  5. Pregnancy or breast feeding
  6. Age less than 18 years old
  7. Failure to provide written informed consent
  8. Contraindication for MR as per current institutional guidelines.

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: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Arm A
Participants will complete FAZA PET/MRI scan and radiation therapy before surgery.
Drug: 18F-FAZA
18F-FAZA is a radiotracer used for PET imaging (in combination with MRI) to detect hypoxia in tumours. This scan will be done before and after their radiation treatment.
Experimental: Arm B
Participants will receive pimonidazole prior to surgery. Participants in Arm B also have the option to complete a FAZA PET/MRI scan prior to surgery.
Drug: Pimonidazole
Pimonidazole is a drug that will attached to areas in the tumour that are low in oxygen. When this occurs, the areas of the tumour that are low in oxygen can be more easily found and studied after surgical removal.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Grade of FAZA uptake in the primary tumor
Time Frame: 2 years
Graded based on images from the 2-hour static scan: 0, uptake less than surrounding normal background tissues; 1, no regions of focal uptake higher than that of background; 2, focal uptake moderately higher than background; and 3, focal uptake markedly higher than background
2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

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)

March 27, 2018

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 26, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

February 1, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 6, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 17-6178

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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