Abstract: Objective In order to provide reference for the design and implementation of clinical trials in the future, this article collates the registration status of clinical studies on liver cancer combined with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) in the database of the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), summarizes the current research results and analyzes the existing problems. Methods Using “portal vein tumor thrombus” as the search term, all clinical studies related to PVTT in the ChiCTR from 2005 to June 30, 2025 were searched. Results A total of 51 clinical studies on liver cancer combined with PVTT were included, covering 15 provincial administrative regions across the country. The total sample size of the clinical studies was 6 094 cases. 49 of them had clear sources of funding. There were two types of studies, among which 42 were interventional studies, accounting for the highest proportion (82.35%), and observational studies accounted for 17.65%. Seven types of research protocols were involved. Randomized parallel controlled trials were the most numerous, with a total of 25 trials (49.02%). Six studies explicitly stated that they were open-label trials, while the remaining 45 did not explicitly mention blinding. Conclusion Currently, there are many treatment options for clinical trials related to liver cancer combined with PVTT, and the research results are relatively concentrated. However, there are problems such as a small number of registrations, uneven geographical distribution, a large proportion of financial support, and a lack of innovative non-invasive diagnostic tests.

Key words: Portal vein tumor thrombus, Clinical research, Clinical trial registration, Analysis of current situation