Active clinical trials for "Carcinoma, Hepatocellular"

This pilot clinical trial studies how well contrast-enhanced ultrasound in diagnosing patients with liver cancer who are undergoing Yttrium-90 radioembolization. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound may provide detailed imaging of the tumor arteries after the injection of a contrast-agent consisting of microbubbles, and may predict how much Yttrium-90 will deposit in the tumor.

The purpose of this study is to determine if MRI imaging can detect genetic, proteomic, and metabolomic characteristics of liver tumors. The study also aims to determine if these imaging characteristics are correlated with clinical outcomes.

This study is being performed as part of the development process of the Liver EpiCheck test which includes the identification of different methylation profiles in HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) patients compare to cancer free control in blood samples

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth commonest cancer in the world with poor prognosis, as the annual mortality is almost equivalent to the incidence. This is mainly due to late diagnosis and co-morbid liver dysfunction. HCC is prevalent in our region than in the West due to prevalent Hepatitis B infection and carriers. At the time of diagnosis, only 10 - 20% of HCC patients are candidates for liver resection or transplantation. Almost 40-50% of patients have such poor liver function and co-morbid conditions that only supportive cares are offered. Thus the median survival time is 18-24 months for resectable disease, 6 months for unresectabe disease and 3 months for metastatic disease. Current screening methods for HCC in high risk patients depend on alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and ultrasound of the liver. Neither test is sensitive or specific enough for early detection. Therefore, early diagnosis with novel protein biomarkers is needed urgently and may provides hope to improve treatment outcome. Our preliminary study in 49 HCC patients have identified several proteins such as truncated complement C3a, albumin, B2 microglobulin, may be potentially helpful in early diagnosis. We have started a large prospective and longitudinal study in July 2006, with nearly 100 patients accrued. This application is to extend and expand our current study. We aim to (i) identify and validate novel protein biomarkers for early diagnosis of HCC (ii) conduct longitudinal proteomics with most up-to-date methods to discover new biomarker for early detection and prognostication of HCC (iii) set up gene and plasma depository and clinical database for HCC in collaboration with Singapore Tissue Network.

In this research study, the investigators are looking to see if MR imaging with Eovist performed 24 hours after the injection of Eovist helps improve the identification and characterization of focal liver tumors.

Adult liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The major risk factor for liver cancer is hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The purpose of the study is to sequence the HBV genome in patients with chronic HBV infection, and in patients with liver cancer resulting from chronic HBV infection. The goal is to identify mutations in the HBV genome that predisposes these high risk individuals to the development of liver cancer.

Number of shows: 20 patients Track: A month with three visiting Intervention: Nutritional assessment including anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance, biochemical tests, Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score and Critical Flicker Frequency.

This study aims at assessing the feasibility of Probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (pCLE) during laparoscopic hepatic masses resection for intra-operative characterisation of hepatic masses and surgical margins assessment.

Sorafenib is an oral multikinase inhibitor with antiproliferative and antiangiogenic effects used as systemic treatment in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Although sorafenib has demonstrated many clinical benefits in patients, its adverse cannot be ignores. This drug occasionally causes severe adverse events (AEs), which include hand-foot skin reaction (HFSR), hypertension, diarrhea, anorexia, fatigue, weight loss, and so on. Although most adverse events are reversible, they can significantly impact a patient's quality of life and occasionally result in dose reduction or discontinuation of therapy Patients are also more likely to remain on treatment if they are guided over the difficult initial 4~6wks of therapy during which time the development of adverse events following sorafenib treatment initiation are most likely to occur. Patient education, proactive management and establishing and maintaining open communication between patients and the nurse are crucial to the effective management of these adverse events. This study design is a randomized controlled trial and 64 patients will be randomized to one of 2 groups in a 1:1 ratio. 32 patients will be enrolled into the controlled group and the rest of 32 patients will be enrolled into the intervention group. The intervention group will be received the routine telephone calls of six times at intervals of once a week during 10~15 minutes (from a well-trained nurse) The purpose of this study is to confirm whether an effective intervention that telephone counseling and education by a nurse can increase drug compliance for patients with HCC who is taking Sorafenib and is to use for developing individual educational program as a fundamental data that can be applied for patients taking Sorafenib after investigating patient satisfaction by "The Satisfaction with information about Medicines Scale(SIMS)" tool.

The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the effect of early palliative care consultation on quality of life, use of hospital resources, end-of-life care and survival among Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) patients with advanced End Stage Live Disease not eligible for potentially curative or local area therapy. Half of patients will receive early palliative care at diagnosis of HCC and other half will receive palliative care when all standard therapy treatments have been exhausted.