OE MRI to Predict Treatment Response After TACE in HCC Patients (HERO)

May 28, 2026 updated by: Audrey Fohlen, Université de Montréal

Dynamic Oxygen-Enhanced (OE) MRI to Predict Treatment Response After Transarterial Chemoembolization in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients

To predict response of HCC to TACE using dynamic oxygen-enhanced (dOE)-MRI for assessment of the level of tumor hypoxia before and after treatment.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This will be a single-center, prospective, study to evaluate dOE-MRI in patients undergoing TACE for HCC according to the clinical standard of care. This protocol has already been approved by the local research ethics committee. Adult patients with HCC >25mm undergoing TACE are enrolled. Imaging will be performed on a 3T whole-body MRI, dOE-MRI will be acquired with a free-breathing T1-weighted dynamic acquisition with respiratory motion-resolved compressed sensing reconstruction (XD-GRASP). Tumor hypoxia will be assessed by measuring changes in the longitudinal relaxation rate (∆R1) from baseline (21% O2) and during a hyperoxic respiratory challenge (FiO2 100%). Tumor response will be assessed by mRECIST and LI-RADS Treatment Response Assessment v2024. Descriptive statistics for the level of ∆R1 pre- and post- treatment will be presented using means and standard deviations. Progression-free survival and overall survival will be evaluated by using the Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier method. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis at one year will be performed and the optimal cutoff threshold of ∆R1 will be calculated using Youden's index.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

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
    • Quebec
      • Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2X0A9
        • CRCHUM

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

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • no pulmonary disease
  • able to stay 2 hours in MRI

Exclusion Criteria:

  • contraindication for MRI
  • contraindication for contrast injection
  • claustrophobia

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: HCC patients
a diagnostic test (MRI)
Diagnostic test: MRI contrast-enhancing agents
MRI before and after treatment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hypoxic levels of hepatocellular carcinoma according to R1 variations during an oxygen challenge on MRI scans before treatment.
Time Frame: Oxygen-enhanced MRI will be performed 4-6 weeks before treatment. Patients will be followed up 2 years after treatment.
T1 mapping is performed on an MRI during an oxygen challenge. The mean R1 value (equal to 1/T1) is calculated under ambient air conditions and after 15 minutes of inhaling 100% oxygen. The mean delta R1 values (i.e. the changes during the oxygen challenge, such as the difference in R1 values when exposed to 21% and 100% oxygen) are reported for each tumour measuring over 25 mm in each patient. The correlation between the delta R1 values and tumour response will be analysed.
Oxygen-enhanced MRI will be performed 4-6 weeks before treatment. Patients will be followed up 2 years after treatment.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hypoxic level of HCC according to R1 variations during an oxygen challenge on MRI scans after treatment
Time Frame: Oxygen-enhanced MRI is performed 4-6 weeks after treatment. Patients are followed up 2 years after treatment.
After treatment, T1 mapping is performed on an MRI during an oxygen challenge. The mean R1 value (equal to 1/T1) is calculated under ambient air conditions and after 15 minutes of inhaling 100% oxygen. The mean delta R1 values (i.e., the changes during the oxygen challenge, such as the difference in R1 values between exposures to 21% and 100% oxygen) are reported for each targeted tumour in each patient. The correlation between the delta R1 values after treatment and tumour response will be analysed.
Oxygen-enhanced MRI is performed 4-6 weeks after treatment. Patients are followed up 2 years after treatment.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Université de Montréal

Collaborators

Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal
Laboratory ISTCT UMR6030 CNRS of Caen (France)

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)

November 27, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 20, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 20, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 16, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 28, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 1, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 28, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2024-11608,23.284

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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