Active clinical trials for "Brain Neoplasms"

The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility, efficacy and safety of intravenous and oral antiepileptic treatment with levetiracetam in patients with primary brain tumors and symptomatic epilepsy in the period of neurosurgical intervention.

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from a peptide may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells. Colony-stimulating factors, such as GM-CSF, increase the number of white blood cells and platelets found in bone marrow or peripheral blood. Giving vaccine therapy after surgery may kill any tumor cells that remain after surgery. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well vaccine therapy works in treating patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme.

Sorafenib™ has the potential to inhibit tumor growth, tumor angiogenesis , and enhance radiation response. This study will test the combination of Sorafenib™ and radiation therapy with or without temozolomide to determine tolerance of the combined treatments. Defining safe dosing of Sorafenib™ in this combination therapy will be achieved.

RATIONALE: Vaccines may help the body build an effective immune response to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as temozolomide, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving vaccine therapy together with radiation therapy and chemotherapy may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: This randomized phase I/II trial is studying how well vaccine therapy works in treating patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme recovering from lymphopenia caused by temozolomide.

Vorinostat in combination with radiation therapy can be administered safely and will be tolerated in patients with brain metastases, while providing an assessment of the anti-tumor activity of this combination. This is a multi-center, open-label, non-randomized Phase I study in patients with brain metastases. Patients will be administered oral Vorinostat and radiation therapy and will be treated for 3 weeks. Patients will be enrolled in cohorts and will be treated at sequentially rising dose levels of Vorinostat combined with radiation therapy. We will initially enter 3 subjects at each dose. If none of the three experiences a dose-limiting toxicity we will proceed to the next dose. If one of the three experiences that level of toxicity, we will accrue 3 more subjects at that dose. If at any time there are two or more dose-limiting toxicities (in the 3-6 subjects) on a given dose, we will drop down to a lower dose. Dose escalation will continue until the MTD of Vorinostat and radiation therapy is established. The MTD will then be one dose below the DLT occurring in at least 1 out of 3 subjects (2 out of 6 patients).

NSCLC patients often have cerebral metastasis : 10% at diagnosis and 40% during disease management. Neurosurgery is not indicated in the majority of cases because of presence of several lesions in the brain, failure of primary tumor control or presence of extra-cerebral metastasis. Cerebral metastasis lead to death in 30 to 50% of these cases. Management of these patients in this situation is based on supportive care and whole-brain radiotherapy. The place of chemotherapy for patients with good performance status was discussed for a long time and it is now admitted. However, the place of new drugs such as pemetrexed, which is currently used as a second line treatment for NSCLC, needs to be further studied. It is known that pemetrexed when added to cisplatin for treatment of NSCLC provides a similar effectiveness when compared to other drugs associations commonly used in this indication. In addition, Cisplatin with Pemetrexed probably present a better safety profile. The present study is based upon the hypothesis stipulating that the association cisplatin-pemetrexed will be at least as efficient as the others association currently used for treatment of NSCLC and will present a better safety profile. The primary objective of this study is overall response rate on brain metastasis according to RECIST criteria. Secondary judgment criterias are : Overall response rate, PFS after first-line CDDP plus pemetrexed, safety profile, quality of life, neurological symptoms, overall survival. The trial will enroll up to 45 patients in this single-arm two-stage sequential phase II study with the possibility of stopping the study early because of lack of efficacy.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the safety of giving Whole Brain Radiotherapy (WBRT) together with intrathecal liposomal cytarabine (DepoCyte®) for patients with leptomeningeal metastases. The study will compare the safety of giving DepoCyte at the same time as WBRT with giving the drug after WBRT is complete.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as bendamustine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Stereotactic radiation therapy may be able to send x-rays directly to the tumor and cause less damage to normal tissue. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of bendamustine when given together with radiation therapy in treating patients with brain metastases caused by solid tumors.

Primary objective: To use overall survival to assess the efficacy of the combination of radiation therapy, temozolomide and Avastin followed by Avastin, temozolomide, and irinotecan in the treatment of grade IV malignant glioma patients following surgical resection. Secondary objective: To determine the progression-free survival following the combination of radiation therapy, temozolomide and Avastin followed by Avastin, temozolomide, and irinotecan. Exploratory Objective: To explore the relationship between biomarkers and outcome (overall survival and progression-free survival) among patients with grade IV malignant glioma treated with radiation therapy, temozolomide and Avastin followed by Avastin, temozolomide, and irinotecan. To describe the toxicity of radiation therapy,temozolomide and Avastin followed by Avastin, temozolomide, and irinotecan.

This is a pilot study. The goal of this study is to test whether Bevacizumab is safe enough in patients with brain tumors so that a larger study can be conducted. This study will also give us some information about whether the combination of Bevacizumab and radiation has potential to become an effective treatment for regrowing brain tumors. Bevacizumab is an experimental drug that blocks a molecule called VEGF that is found in high amounts in malignant gliomas. VEGF promotes the growth of blood vessels that bring nutrients to tumor cells. In studies with laboratory animals, Bevacizumab slowed the growth of several different types of human cancer cells by blocking the effects of VEGF. There is also evidence that Bevacizumab enhances the effects of radiation on tumor cell