Active clinical trials for "Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Minimally-invasive pancreatoduodenectomy (MIPD), either laparoscopic or robot-assisted, has been suggested as a valuable alternative to open pancreatoduodenectomy (OPD). The generalizability of the current literature is, however, unknown since randomized studies are lacking, and current data are published from few, very high volume centers and selection bias with a lack of case-matched series. International studies are lacking completely. OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes of MIPD versus open pancreatoduodenectomy (OPD), in high-volume European pancreas centers (>10 MIPDs per year, total >20 PDs per year). METHODS: A retrospective multicenter propensity-score matched cohort study including all consecutive patients who underwent MIPD (or MI total pancreatectomy) between January 2012 and December 2016, for pancreatic head, bile duct, or duodenal cancer or cysts except chronic pancreatitis. Predefined electronic case report forms will be disseminated amongst participating centers. Participants are responsible for their own data collection. Matching of MIPD cases (collected from participating centers) to OPD controls (extracted from Dutch and German national registries) will be based on propensity scores determined by logistic regression including preoperative variables: year of surgery, demographics, BMI, ASA, comorbidities, tumor size, tumor etiology (diagnosis), and multivisceral resection. Primary outcome is 90-day major morbidity(Clavien-Dindo ≥ 3a). Secondary outcomes are 90-day postoperative events including: pancreatic fistula, length of hospital stay, R0 (microscopically negative) resection margin, malignant lymph node ratio, days to adjuvant therapy and overall survival.

A staging system was defined based on morphological extent of disease (stage I to stage IV for primary disease, and stage R for recurrent disease). Specific surgical technique was used for each stage. Demographics, perioperative data, short-term and long-term outcomes were evaluated according to the disease stage.

The primary objective is to evaluate the concordance between human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status determined by the participating laboratory and by the centralized laboratory. HER2 status of samples was tested by the participating laboratories (investigator's choice of immunohistochemistry [IHC] and in situ hybridization [ISH] methods) and by the centralized laboratories (IHC using the 4B5 anti-HER antibody and Silver ISH). Positive HER2 status was defined as a score of IHC3+ or IHC2+/ISH+.

In this study, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) profiling in subjects diagnosed with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) is hypothesized to be useful in monitoring drug response and predict radiological response. To this end, glycosaminoglycan scores based on longitudinal samples of plasma and urine in prospectively enrolled patients will be correlated to radiological response to first-line therapy based on current standard-of-care. A positive correlation indicates that glycosaminoglycan scores can successfully detect patients that are not responding to treatment before the scheduled follow-up in which radiological imaging is performed. Data on the extent of metastasis (number of metastatic sites) will be collected to assess whether glycosaminoglycans correlate accordingly.

This study uses CT scans to assess airflow in the lung, the scan is quick, cheap and painless. The information from the scan may help doctors tell which patients are suitable to have surgery to cure early stage lung cancer. It may also help doctors tell which patients would benefit from surgery for emphysema and diagnose types of lung disease. The investigators will follow up patients who go through surgery to test how well the scan predicts the function of the lung after surgery. The investigators will follow patients being investigated for lung disease to test how accurate the scan is at the getting the diagnosis right.

A single-centre, industry sponsored, proof-of-concept pilot study to assess the feasibility of Electromagnetic Acoustic Imaging (EMA) as an imaging platform in the visualization of hepatic tumours.

In this study, the investigators seek to evaluate bone marrow and blood samples and treatment responses to see if Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) can be used as a predictive method of response to treatment in amyloidosis.

Considering the low expression rate of Melanoma-associated antigen 3 (MAGE-A3) in Asian especially Southeast Asian, it would be great interests to investigate the potential polymorphism of MAGE-A3 in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients in Taiwan. Meanwhile, it is also interesting to study the expression of Preferentially Expressed Antigen In Melanoma(PRAME) and Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status as well as to find out significant factors which may affect their expression such as smoking status, histological types, tumour size and stages in Taiwan.

Aim of the study is to verify wether it is possible to have a more sensitive diagnostic tool using pancytokeratin immunohistochemistry for desmoplastic squamous cell carcinoma compared to regular H&E staining. The investigators therefore plan to include 73 participants with a confirmed diagnosis of desmoplastic squamous cell carcinoma and do regular follow up.

The treatment of advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) has shifted since the arrival of targeted therapies. Imatinib is an active multikinase inhibitor that mainly targets C-kit tyrosine-kinase receptors and the platelet-derived growth factor receptor. Imatinib use has been validated for adjuvant and palliative therapy settings. Imatinib is generally well-tolerated and known to improve performance status but up to 16% grades 3-4 toxicities, leading to at least 40% withdrawals, have been reported. Recently, in oncology, sarcopenia was shown to be a predictor of severe toxicity patients included in phase 1 trials, suggesting that it should be considered an inclusion criterion for such studies. Sarcopenic patients had low performance status, shorter survival, more chemotherapy toxicities and post-operative infections, and longer post-operative hospitalization times. In addition, exposure to tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (e.g. sorafenib or sunitinib) has been associated with dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) in patients with renal cell or hepatocellular carcinomas. Computed tomography (CT) scans acquired during routine care have been validated as an accurate and robust imaging technique to evaluate sarcopenia in cancer patients.