Active clinical trials for "Neoplasms"

Several studies have indicated that [124I]-PET/CT or [18F]-FDG-PET/CT may be useful to locate recurrent differentiated thyroid carcinoma lesions in patients with elevated thyroglobulin levels but who do not show pathological lesions when conventional imaging modalities are used. Thus, the investigators evaluated the effectiveness of PET/CT using both [124I] and [18F]-FDG in such patients.

Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a new attractive non-invasive field in medical diagnostics. These VOCs can be detected via the exhaled breath. Together with Prof Haick group at the Technion Inst (Israel), the investigators data shows that there is a relation between the VOCs patterns of NSCLC and control cell lines and equivalent states in exhaled breath. The investigators demonstrated that there is a clear discrimination between the lung cancer and the healthy clusters . The investigators also analyzed the headspace of NSCLC and SCLC cell lines and the investigators could discriminate significantly between SCLC versus NSCLC based on their VOCs patterns. This analysis allowed us to identify the specific VOCs consumed or omitted by cancerous cells. Therefore, a non-invasive and highly sensitive test would be extremely valuable for the classification and early screening of lung cancer and for targeted therapy. In this study, the investigators will monitor the VOC pattern of patients with lung cancer as well as high risk cohort and patients under risk/evaluation for lung cancer. Likewise the investigators will monitor pts under and after therapy. In addition, the investigators will compare teh breath signature to other biomarkers of lung cancer, like circulating tumor cells and others.

This clinical trial studies the quality of life and care needs of patients with persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or peritoneal cancer. Studying quality of life in patients with cancer may help determine the effects of gynecologic cancer and may help improve the quality of life for future cancer survivors.

The aim of this study is to investigate mutational changes occurring in colorectal tumors, from benign polyps, malignant cancer and metastatic tumors. The investigators also plan to establish the clinical correlation, emphasizing on aspects such as the diagnosis and prognosis of disease and the specific treatment outcome. For the purpose, the investigators plan to obtain specimens from patients with colorectal tumors to extract DNA material. The specimens include tissues from either primary (mostly endoscopic biopsies specimens) or metastatic tumors (obtained from sonogram or other imaging modalities guided biopsy), as well as other humors including blood (for serum), malignant ascites, pleural effusions or other body fluids that could be related to CRCs. These patients would receive detailed explanations with regard to the investigations before signing IRB consent. At the initial stage, Wanfang Medical Center would be the only medical institution where endoscopic specimens would be collected. The project would eventually be extended to the Taipei Medical University Hospital and Shuan-Ho Hospital.

Bone marrow failure syndromes (BMFS) are rare disorders characterized by dysfunctional hematopoietic stem cells, which give rise to all red and white blood cells. The deficiency of blood cells, or cytopenia, caused by this malfunction leads to an assortment of diseases and disorders, all of which are characterized as BMFS. Because these diseases are rare, conducting research on them is difficult, and standards of treatment for most BMFS have yet to be developed. This study will collect clinical and laboratory data from people with BMFS to identify the characteristics and biological markers associated with these diseases over time. This information will assist doctors and researchers to develop better therapies and diagnostic tests that will help improve the management of BMFS and cytopenias.

Blood is collected from patients and cultured in a CimTube (a test tube with stimulation media) for several days. Following the culture step, the supernatant fluid is tested for the presence of CAAb on experimental test kits. Null Hypothesis: There is no relationship between the presence or absence of ovarian cancer (OC) and the CAAb i.e. d=0. Alternative Hypothesis: The expectation of the CAAb in the cancer population differs from that of the control population, i.e. m1 is not equal to m2. Since the sign of the difference is not important, the test will be two-sided.

RATIONALE: Questionnaires that measure quality of life may improve the ability to plan treatment for patients with primitive neuroectodermal tumors. PURPOSE: This phase III trial is studying quality of life in patients who have undergone previous treatment for primitive neuroectodermal tumors.

To investigate whether the use of airways stents (metal tubes to open and keep open narrowed airways) together with the standard treatment increases the proportion of patients who can complete a 6min walking distance (6MWD) test at 2 weeks +/- 2days in patients with breathlessness due to lung cancer, when compared to standard treatment alone.

RATIONALE: Collecting samples of tissue from patients with cancer to study in the laboratory may help doctors predict how well patients will respond to treatment with certain chemotherapy drugs and plan the best treatment. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is looking at tumor tissue samples to predict response to chemotherapy in patients with ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or primary peritoneal cancer.

RATIONALE: Studying tissue and blood samples from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help doctors predict how patients respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is evaluating DNA to see how well it predicts response to treatment in patients with stage I, stage II, stage III, or stage IV ovarian epithelial cancer.