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NCT Number: NCT04701645

Microdevice In Ovarian, Fallopian Tube, And Peritoneal Cancer

This pilot study will assess the feasibility of using an implantable microdevice to measure local intratumor response to chemotherapy and other clinically relevant drugs in ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer.

The name of the study intervention involved in this study is:

-implantable microdevice

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Key information

About this study

This research study will assess the feasibility of using an implantable microdevice to measure local intratumor response to chemotherapy and other clinically relevant drugs in ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer.

Participants with suspected or confirmed ovarian cancer whose treatment plan includes surgery as a component of standard-of-care treatment will be identified.

-The research study procedures include screening for eligibility and study treatment including evaluations and follow-up.

The name of the study intervention involved in this study is: implantable microdevice

  • Participant will undergo percutaneous placement of several microdevices in a selected tumor deposit prior to surgery. The microdevices will dwell in the tumor tissue for approximately 24 +/- 8 hours to allow time for tissue effects of the drugs in the microdevice reservoirs. Microdevices will then be removed by resection of the tumor mass during a previously planned, and clinically indicated, surgical procedure.
  • It is expected that about 20 people will take part in this research study.

This research study is a Pilot Study, which is the first time investigators are examining this microdevice. The FDA (the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) has not approved the microdevice as a tool to identify which cancer treatment is best for any disease.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Participants must have suspected or confirmed clinically advanced stage (III-IV, defined as disease outside of the pelvis) ovarian, fallopian tube, or peritoneal cancer. If a patient has suspected ovarian cancer but final histologic analysis does not show evidence of ovarian cancer, the patient will be removed from the study and replaced.
  • Participants must meet one of the following clinical categories:
  • Cohort 1: Patients with a new or suspected diagnosis of ovarian cancer who are deemed surgical candidates for primary cytoreductive surgery (as per their surgical gynecologic oncologist) and who have not yet undergone surgery.
  • Cohort 2: Patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancers who are being considered for either primary surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy by their surgical gynecologic oncologist, and who require a laparoscopic procedure to determine their candidacy for surgery.
  • Cohort 3: Patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who are candidates for secondary cytoreduction, e.g. to confirm diagnosis of recurrent ovarian cancer and/or remove oligometastatic lesions.
  • Cohort 4: Patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancers who have undergone neoadjuvant chemotherapy and are deemed surgical candidates for interval debulking surgery (as per their surgical gynecologic oncologist) and who have not yet undergone surgery.
  • Participants must be 18 years of age or older.
  • Patients must be deemed medically stable to undergo both percutaneous procedures and standard-of-care surgical procedures by their treating gynecologic oncologist and medical oncologist.
  • Participants will undergo laboratory testing within 14 days* prior to the microdevice placement.
  • Patients must have absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mcL
  • Platelets ≥ 75,000/mcL
  • PT (INR) < 1.5
  • PTT < 1.5x control
  • Women of childbearing potential must have negative pregnancy test (urine or serum) **Cohort 4 patients should undergo laboratory testing within 7 days prior to the microdevice placement
  • Participants must be evaluated by a surgical gynecologic oncologist who will determine the clinically appropriate treatment strategy (primary surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy) based on clinical history and extent of disease. The patient's surgical and/or medical gynecologic oncologist must also confirm the patient's medical fitness to undergo an additional biopsy procedure and the indicated surgical procedure. The patient must have a plan to undergo surgery for clinical purposes.
  • The following criteria must be met:
  • Participants must have undergone an abdominal/pelvic CT scan that both assesses the extent of disease and identifies an area of tumor amenable to safe microdevice placement. CT scans with both oral and IV contrast media are preferred but not required.

CT scans performed at outside institutions are acceptable providing that the images are considered adequate to assess the stage of the disease and to assess the safety and feasibility of the placement of the microdevices and their retrieval during standard-of care surgery. CT scan must be completed within 4 weeks prior to the microdevice placement.

  • Patient has sufficient volume of disease as measured by CT scan to allow implantation of the microdevice.
  • Patient has sufficient volume of disease that removal of the lesion where the microdevice is placed will not potentially affect adequate tissue for diagnosis.
  • A lesion can be selected where the microdevice is to be implanted that is
  • Amenable to percutaneous placement
  • Amenable to removal at the time of surgery or laparoscopy. If patient is undergoing laparoscopy, the lesion must be able to be removed using a laparoscopic approach in a manner that would not significantly alter the procedure or affect patient safety, per opinion of the surgical oncologist.
  • Patients must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.
  • Patients must be willing to undergo research-related genetic sequencing (somatic and germline) and data management, including the deposition of de-identified genetic sequencing data in NIH central data repositories.

Exclusion criteria

  • Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit the safety of a biopsy and/or surgery.
  • Pregnant women are excluded from this study because of the possible increased dose of radiation from imaging associated with the microdevice placement and the potential risk to the pregnancy of the biopsy/device placement in an abdominal lesion.
  • Uncorrectable bleeding or coagulation disorder known to cause increased risk with surgical or percutaneous biopsy procedures.
  • Significant risk factors (including, but not limited to, high risk of venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, stroke or myocardial infarction) precluding the safe cessation of anticoagulation medication as per SIR guidelines. (Patients taking low-dose aspirin only do not need to be excluded.)

Treatment and study plan

Microdevice

Combination Product

Placement of 1 to 6 implantable microdevices with multiple miniature drug reservoirs into a tumor mass 24 +/- 8 hours prior to surgery. Drugs will be released over 24 (+/- 8) hours while the microdevice is in the tumor prior to retrieval. The local tissue is retrieved along with the microdevice and no residual drug will remain.

  • Each microdevice will harbor up to 20 drugs and drug combinations relevant to the treatment of ovarian cancer.
  • Each drug or drug combination will be released from a single, separate reservoir. At least two reservoirs will harbor a drug vehicle only.
  • Drugs will include all or a subset of the following: Cisplatin, Carboplatin, Paclitaxel, Doxorubicin or pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD), Cyclophosphamide, Etoposide, Gemcitabine, Ifosfamide, Pemetrexed, Topotecan, Vinorelbine, Olaparib, Niraparib, Rucaparib, Carboplatin + paclitaxel (combination), Carboplatin + doxorubicin (combination),Carboplatin + gemcitabine (combination)

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with adverse events as defined in the CTCAE v5.0

    Time frame: Up to 2 months

    Descriptive statistics will be used to evaluate the safety of microdevice placement and removal, including reporting the maximum grade AE by type and organ class with 95% binomial confidence intervals.

  2. Number of implanted microdevices successfully retrieved

    Time frame: Up to 32 hours

    Defined as the ability to retrieve the microdevice with sufficient tissue, of sufficient quality, for downstream histopathology analysis and interpretation of at least 50% of the microdevice reservoirs. For purposes of this endpoint, feasibility will be assessed on a per-device basis rather than a per-patient basis, with each microdevice considered to be relatively independent in terms of placement, retrieval, and analysis.

Other outcomes

  1. Measure local intratumor response to different agents

    Time frame: Up to 32 hours

    Response assessed via apoptotic index measured by immunohistochemistry.

    Inferences will use two-sided alpha = 0.05 and report 95% confidence intervals with any point estimates.

  2. Correlate extent of tumor response with platinum response category

    Time frame: Up to 3 years

    Platinum response category is defined as follows for both initial and secondary platinum exposure: platinum refractory (progression within 2 months of platinum-based chemotherapy), platinum resistant (progression within 2-6 months of platinum-based chemotherapy), and platinum sensitive (progression within 6-12 months of platinum based chemotherapy).

    For dichotomous/categorical tumor features and patient outcomes, we will use Fisher's exact test. For continuous variables we will use a two-sided t-test if the data is approximately normally distributed, and Wilcoxon rank sum test if otherwise.

  3. Correlate extent of tumor response with platinum-free interval

    Time frame: Up to 3 years

    Platinum-free interval is defined as the interval between the date of the last platinum dose and the date of relapse detection.

    For dichotomous/categorical tumor features and patient outcomes, we will use Fisher's exact test. For continuous variables we will use a two-sided t-test if the data is approximately normally distributed, and Wilcoxon rank sum test if otherwise.

  4. Correlate extent of tumor response with progression-free survival

    Time frame: Up to 3 years

    Progression defined using RECIST 1.1 criteria; progression-free survival measured in months.

    For dichotomous/categorical tumor features and patient outcomes, we will use Fisher's exact test. For continuous variables we will use a two-sided t-test if the data is approximately normally distributed, and Wilcoxon rank sum test if otherwise.

  5. Correlate extent of tumor response with exploratory biomarkers of drug response

    Time frame: Up to 32 hours

    Candidate biomarkers for chemotherapy and PARP inhibitor response in ovarian cancer include RAD51 focus formation, markers of DNA damage (e.g. gamma-H2AX), and immune infiltrates. Each biomarker will be evaluated by immunohistochemistry to generate a quantitative score for the number of marker-positive cells per number of cells analyzed. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize the results for each biomarker across multiple microdevices and drugs.

  6. Compare extent of tumor response to drug among multiple microdevices implanted within a single tumor

    Time frame: Up to 32 hours

    Response will be assessed via apoptotic index measured by immunohistochemistry and will be compared among multiple microdevices implanted within a single tumor.

  7. Correlate extent of tumor response with genetic features of the tumor tissue

    Time frame: Up to 32 hours

    Genetic alterations will be catalogued in terms of single nucleotide variants, insertions/deletions, and copy number changes in individual genes in the tumor tissue. Each alteration will be scored as "present" or "absent" in a tumor. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize the frequency of each genomic event across multiple microdevices and drugs.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Elizabeth Stover, MD, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

(617) 632-5269

Madeline Polak, BS

CONTACT

[email protected]

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Other

Collaborators

  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
  • National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Registry information

Official study title

Pilot Study of an Implantable Microdevice for Evaluating Drug Responses in Situ in Ovarian, Fallopian Tube, and Peritoneal Cancer

Important dates

Study start
2022
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Jan 8, 2021
Registry last updated
May 18, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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