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Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Early Assessment of Microwave Ablation in HCC

NCT07598331 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 106

Last updated 2026-05-20

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common malignancy and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide \[1\]. Although surgical resection remains the reference curative therapy, ultrasound-guided microwave ablation (MWA) yields comparable oncologic outcomes \[2,3\] and is endorsed as a first-line option in several national and international guidelines. A sufficient ablative ablation margins (AM) is pivotal for preventing local tumour progression (LTP) \[4,5\].

According to current consensus, technical success is judged one month after ablation using contrast-enhanced CT (CE-CT) or MRI (CE-MRI) together with long-term follow-up \[6,7\]. Yet, inflammatory changes within the ablation zone peak during the first few days, delaying reliable evaluation, increasing patient anxiety, and often necessitating multiple imaging sessions.In recent years, various fusion imaging methods have been used to assess AM after ablation in HCC patients, including CT-CT image fusion \[8, 9\], MR-MR image fusion \[10, 11\], and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)-CT/MR image fusion \[12, 13\]. However, fusion imaging techniques require high-quality preoperative images, and post-operative liver displacement and deformation due to tumour removal can make image registration difficult.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is widely used in clinical practice due to its economic simplicity, lack of radiation, and ability to display lesion areas in real time \[14-16\]. Recently, fusion imaging based on 3D CEUS has been reported to show good accuracy in AM evaluation \[17-19\], but the assessment of AM for multiple ablations of multiple tumours remains uncertain.Therefore, the potential of CEUS for early assessment of AM should be further developed. Simultaneous-screen comparison contrast-enhanced ultrasound (SBS-CEUS) refers to the simultaneous comparison of arterial phase images before and after tumour ablation under the same settings of the ultrasound diagnostic instrument.Studies have shown \[20\] that SBS-CEUS has significant value in displaying liver lesions in difficult-to-visualise areas, but to date, no studies have systematically compared SBS-CEUS with CEUS in the assessment of AM.

This retrospective study therefore compared the diagnostic accuracy of SBS-CEUS versus CEUS for early (1-3 days) assessment of the AM after MWA in patients with HCC.

Conditions

  • Side-by-side Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound
  • Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Side-by-Side Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound

Side-by-Side Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound is performed 1-3 days after MWA surgery, with contrast-enhanced MRI or CT one month after microwave ablation as the reference standard. Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound is performed within 7 days before MWA surgery and 1-3 days after surgery, with contrast-enhanced MRI or CT one month after microwave ablation as the reference standard.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The First Hospital of Jilin University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
SCREENING
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-06-01
Primary Completion
2022-07-31
Completion
2025-06-30

Countries

  • China

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07598331 on ClinicalTrials.gov