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NCT07811453Not yet recruiting

Liver Transplantation for Non-Resectable Colorectal Liver Metastases Without Local Treatment Options

German Transplant Oncology Study 001: Liver Transplantation for Patients With Colorectal Liver Metastases Without Local Treatment Options:

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 10 Sept 2026

Brief summary (registry, in English)

Patients whose colorectal cancer has spread to the liver, and whose liver metastases cannot be removed by surgery or destroyed by ablation, currently receive palliative chemotherapy in Germany. Fewer than one in ten of these patients survive five years. International studies have shown that replacing the whole liver by transplantation can achieve much longer survival in carefully selected patients, because removing the entire liver removes all of the tumour when the disease is confined to it. The TransMet trial reported five-year survival of 57% with transplantation plus chemotherapy, compared with 13% for chemotherapy alone. This approach is not yet available in German routine care, where liver transplantation for this indication is permitted only within a clinical study. GTO-001 will enrol approximately 260 adults aged 18 to 65 years with colorectal liver metastases that are confined to the liver, that cannot be removed or ablated, and that have remained stable or improved for at least six months on chemotherapy. Every participant is assessed by a newly established National Tumor Board for Transplant Oncology, which meets monthly, reviews the imaging and case independently of the local centre, and decides whether the patient may be listed for transplantation. Patients who are approved are listed with a study-specific priority status, continue their chemotherapy while they wait, and undergo a surgical inspection of the abdomen at the start of the transplant operation to confirm that the cancer has not spread outside the liver. Participants who are not listed, or in whom transplantation is not performed, remain in the study and are followed in the same way. The main question is how many patients are alive five years after transplantation. The study also measures how many of the patients assessed are eventually listed and transplanted, how many leave the waiting list because their disease progresses or becomes operable, survival after each of the treatments patients actually receive, how well the transplanted livers function, and complications after surgery. Because the study follows everyone who is assessed, it will also establish for the first time how many patients in Germany genuinely qualify for this treatment. Participants are followed for five years after transplantation; the study runs until 2036.

Status (registry)
Not yet recruiting
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
260 (estimated)
First submitted
3 Sept 2026
Start date
1 Apr 2027
Primary completion date
31 Mar 2036
Lead sponsor
Charite University, Berlin, Germany
NCT number
NCT07811453

What you commit to

  • Study type: Interventional
  • Planned participants: 260
  • From 1 Apr 2027 to the primary completion date, 31 Mar 2036
  • 1 site in 1 country
  • Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them

Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.

Who cannot take part

Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.

Prior treatment

  • General contraindications to liver transplantation
  • Listing for multi-organ transplantation
  • Prior solid organ or bone marrow transplantation

Other illness

  • Extrahepatic disease, including lymph node involvement

Other

  • Inability to give informed consent
  • Large-vessel infiltration
  • BRAF V600E mutation in the molecular pathology of the colorectal primary
  • MSI-H/dMMR status in the molecular pathology of the colorectal primary
  • Breastfeeding
  • Institutionalisation by order of a court or public authority
  • Dependence on the overall study lead, the investigator or the study site
  • Participation in another clinical study with an investigational medicinal product or medical device

Who the study is looking for

  • Age 18 to 65 years at enrolment
  • ECOG performance status 0 or 1
  • Written informed consent before any study-related procedure
  • Colorectal liver metastases stable for at least 6 months under active chemotherapy of no more than 2 lines
  • Colorectal liver metastases not amenable to curative local treatment by resection or ablation because of insufficient liver capacity or future liver remnant, as judged by the local interdisciplinary tumour board
  • For metachronous colorectal liver metastases: a colorectal primary resected in the past with T4a or lower and local R0 status
  • For synchronous colorectal liver metastases: a potentially curatively resectable primary
  • No evidence of peritoneal disease, as documented by a surgical report within the preceding 36 months
  • Suitability for liver transplantation according to local centre criteria
  • Participants of childbearing potential: negative highly sensitive pregnancy test before inclusion, and use of a contraceptive method with a failure rate below 1%, or confirmed post-menopausal status

Age in the registry: 18 years to 65 years · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers

Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov

Sites (1)

Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.

SiteCityCountrySite status
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Department of Surgery, Campus Charité Mitte | Campus Virchow-Klinikum
Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status
BerlinGermanyUnknown status

This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.