"I was delighted to take part in a clinical trial as it has the potential to really help others in the future.”
A trial looking at treatment for bowel cancer that has spread to the liver (CLOCC EORTC 40004)
Cancer type:
Bowel (colorectal) cancer
Cancer spread to the liver
Secondary cancers
Status:
Results
Phase:
Phase 2
This trial looked at chemotherapy with or without radiofrequency ablation for bowel cancer that has spread to the liver. This trial was supported by Cancer Research UK.
More about this trial
Doctors usually treat bowel cancer with surgery and chemotherapy. But sometimes these treatments don’t work very well and the cancer continues to grow.
If bowel cancer spreads to another part of the body, it most often spreads to the liver. This is called secondary liver cancer, or liver metastases. You may have chemotherapy to treat secondary liver cancer, or sometimes surgery. But it is often difficult to treat.
In this trial, doctors wanted to see if radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is useful for treating secondary liver cancer that cannot be removed with surgery. RFA uses direct heat to kill cancer cells.
Some people in this trial had chemotherapy alone, and some had chemotherapy and RFA.
The aim of this trial was to see if there is any benefit in having RFA as well as chemotherapy for bowel cancer that has spread to the liver.
Summary of results
The research team found that there was no clear benefit in having radiofrequency ablation as well as chemotherapy for bowel cancer that has spread to the liver.
This trial recruited 119 people. Of these, 59 had chemotherapy alone and 60 had chemotherapy and radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Everyone taking part had the chemotherapy drugs oxaliplatin and fluorouracil (5FU). And those who joined the trial after 2005 also had a biological therapy called bevacizumab (Avastin).
When the research team looked at the most common time for the cancer to start growing again after treatment, they found it was
- Nearly 10 months for the chemotherapy group
- Nearly 17 months for the chemotherapy and RFA group
But they also looked at how many people were living 30 months after treatment. They found that it was similar in each group,
- Just under 6 out of 10 people (58%) in the chemotherapy group
- Just over 6 out of 10 people (62%) in the chemotherapy and RFA group
The research team concluded that the benefit of RFA for secondary liver cancer is not clear from these results. And that they need to follow patients for longer to find out more.
We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (
) but may not have been published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves
Recruitment start:
Recruitment end:
How to join a clinical trial
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Please note - unless we state otherwise in the summary, you need to talk to your doctor about joining a trial.
Chief Investigator
Mr G Poston
Prof J Ledermann
Supported by
Cancer Research UK
NIHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer
Other information
This is Cancer Research UK trial number CRUK/03/002.
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Last review date
CRUK internal database number:
Oracle 299
Please note - unless we state otherwise in the summary, you need to talk to your doctor about joining a trial.
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