Hepatoblastoma Chemotherapy Protocol (PHITT)
Hepatoblastoma Chemotherapy Protocol:
What is the Pediatric Hepatic International Tumor Trial (PHITT)?
PHITT is the single largest trial specifically available for Hepatoblastoma patients. It recently opened and is expecting over 1,500 patients world-wide. This effort is exciting because it hopes to accomplish the following things:
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Standardize a “global risk stratification” determining the optimum treatment for individuals
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Reduce chemotherapy to avoid toxicity for low risk patients to achieve the same or better survival rate
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Compare different treatment regimes for those at intermediate risk
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Dose-intensify treatment for patients at high risk for relapse
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Collect samples from around the globe for biological and toxicity studies
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Help resection and transplant surgeons with decision making tools
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The trial is also open to patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
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As parents, we recommend you consider entry into this trial in order to provide the best advantage for your child as well as those in the future who will benefit from the shared knowledge.
What professionals are saying about PHITT
Rebecca Meyers, MD
Past Chair of Children's Oncology Group (COG) liver committee & Children's Hepatic Tumor International Collaboration (CHIC)
The Pediatric Hepatic International Tumor Trial (PHITT) represents over a decade of preparatory work in international collaboration in the treatment of this rare pediatric tumor. Although great strides have been made in improving outcomes for children with hepatoblastoma by the participating individual multicenter trial groups -- Children's Oncology Group/COG, International Childhood Liver Tumor Strategy Group/ SIOPEL, Japanese Children's Cancer Group / JCCG -- because hepatoblastoma is such a rare tumor, low patient numbers in these prior individual studies means that many important scientific questions remain unanswered. Our Children's Hepatic tumor International Collaboration (CHIC) effort to bring these groups together in a collaborative way showed what might be accomplished with larger numbers of patients. Through international collaboration and the enthusiastic engagement of hundreds of pediatric oncology specialists in medical, surgical, radiology, pathology, and biology from around the world, the PHITT trial is able for the first time to ask, and hopefully to answer, many important treatment and biology questions that will help lead to a cure of this tumor.
Bruce Morland, Professor
Chief Investigator and Chairman of SIOPEL (Principle Investigator for PHITT)
The PHITT trial is an exciting collaboration between doctors in Europe, USA and Japan and will be the largest study ever undertaken in such a rare tumor population. The main aims are to continue to reduce therapy and side effects for patients with an already excellent outcome and to develop new strategies for managing patients at high risk of relapse. We are collecting important new information on the molecular genetics of the tumors and this will help us decide the best treatments needed for future patients and gives us the opportunity to research new, novel targeted therapies in future trials.
Sanjeev Vasudevan, MD, FACS
Director, Pediatric Surgical Oncology Laboratory at Texas Children's Hospital
It is critical that all newly diagnosed patients with hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma enroll in the AHEP1531/PHITT clinical trial. This the first international clinical trial dedicated to pediatric liver cancer. With the combined numbers of countries all over the world, we will surely learn more than we have in the past about these diseases and be able to make strides and advances in treating them more effectively. This trial combines the best therapeutic regimens used to date against these cancers and asks critical questions related to surgery, radiology, oncology, and biology. By enrolling in the trial, you will ensure that in addition to getting the best treatment for your child, your experience will help the outcomes of other children affected by liver cancer in the future.