Radiomics Subtyping to Guide Surgery vs. Maintenance Therapy After HCC Downstaging

May 12, 2026 updated by: Wenzhe Fan, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University

A Retrospective Radiomics-Based Subtyping Study to Guide Post-Downstaging Treatment Selection in Patients With Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma Following TACE Plus Lenvatinib and Anti PD-1

The goal of this observational study is to learn about the long-term treatment outcomes for patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who achieve successful downstaging with the combination therapy of TACE, lenvatinib, and a PD-1 inhibitor. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Can distinct disease subtypes be identified in successfully downstaged patients using radiomics and clinical data?

Do these different subtypes show significant differences in long-term outcomes, such as recurrence-free survival and overall survival, after undergoing either curative-intent surgical resection or continuing maintenance therapy?

Based on the identified subtypes, can the investigators objectively determine which patients are more suitable for surgical resection and which patients may benefit more from continued maintenance therapy after successful downstaging?

The study will include patients who have already undergone the combination therapy as part of their regular medical care, successfully achieved tumor downstaging (making the tumor technically resectable), and subsequently received either surgical resection or continued maintenance treatment. Researchers will retrospectively analyze their existing clinical and imaging data to compare long-term outcomes between these two treatment paths based on their identified disease subtype.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

500

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, 510280
        • Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University
      • 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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma who were treated with a combination therapy of TACE, lenvatinib, and a PD-1 inhibitor and subsequently achieved successful tumor downstaging.

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; Underwent treatment with TACE combined with lenvatinib and a PD-1 inhibitor, after which the tumor was re-evaluated and deemed resectable by surgical assessment;
  3. Following the achievement of surgical resectability criteria, patients subsequently underwent either R0 surgical resection or continued treatment with TACE combined with lenvatinib and a PD-1 inhibitor;
  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 unclear diagnoses or those with concurrent other malignancies.
  2. For patients in the downstaging surgery group: Those who underwent non-R0 resection or received additional anti-tumor therapies postoperatively.
  3. For patients in the maintenance treatment group: Those who received anti-tumor therapies other than TACE/lenvatinib/PD-1 inhibitors.
  4. Liver function classified as Child-Pugh Class C or above, unresponsive to hepatoprotective therapy.
  5. Patients with severe infections, such as respiratory, biliary tract, or abdominal infections.
  6. Patients with severe underlying diseases, particularly immune-related disorders.

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
Intervention / Treatment
Maintenance group
This group consists of patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who, after successful downstaging achieved through the combination therapy of Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE), lenvatinib, and a PD-1 inhibitor, continued with the same non-surgical, maintenance treatment regimen instead of undergoing surgical resection.
Procedure: TACE plus Lenvatinib and PD1 inhibiter
This intervention describes the non-surgical maintenance therapy for patients in the Maintenance Group after successful downstaging. It consists of continuing the same doses of lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitor that were administered during the downstaging phase, combined with on-demand TACE performed only upon imaging or biomarker evidence of intrahepatic progression.
Liver Resection group
This group consists of patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who, after achieving successful downstaging through the combination therapy of Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE), lenvatinib, and a PD-1 inhibitor, underwent curative-intent surgical resection (R0 resection) as their subsequent treatment.
Procedure: Liver resection
This intervention consists of curative-intent surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) performed after successful downstaging achieved through prior TACE combined with lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitor therapy. The procedure aims to remove all visible and radiologically responsive tumor tissue to achieve a pathologically confirmed R0 resection margin.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Recurrence free survival
Time Frame: From date of initial treatment until the date of first documented recurrence 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 recurrence 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 recurrence or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

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

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University

Collaborators

Zhujiang Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Wenzhe Fan, Dr., First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University
  • Principal Investigator: Shunjun Fu, Dr., Southern Medical University, China

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)

January 1, 2018

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 6, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 12, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 14, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 12, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-KY-180-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

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, the investigators are unable to publicly share individual participant data (IPD). 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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