A number of clinical trials in noncolorectal gastrointestinal cancers have opened in recent months. Maybe one of your patients could benefit from being enrolled?
Locally advanced or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Adult patients with biopsy-proven advanced hepatocellular cancer who have failed on two systemic therapies are sought for a phase 2 trial testing an electromagnetic treatment device called TheraBionic. Participants will have a 1-hour session with the device at the cancer center, then will take the device home and self-administer three 1-hour treatments a day for up to 2 years, with clinic visits every 6 weeks.
Those randomly assigned to the control group will use a device that does not emit therapeutic frequencies. The study started recruiting in November and hopes to enrol 166 participants. US trial centers are in Arizona, Illinois, and North Carolina. Overall survival (OS) and quality of life (QoL) are the primary outcome measures. More details at clinicaltrials.gov
Mark Lewis, MD, director of GI oncology at Intermountain Healthcare in Murray, Utah, and a regular Medscape contributor, was approached for comment on this study. "Later-line therapies for HCC are often limited in their clinical eligibility," he said, "so this study's inclusion of up to Child's Pugh Class B9 and its testing of a nonpharmacologic intervention are appealing."
