Active clinical trials for "Head and Neck Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about cancer. It may also help doctors predict how well patients will respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This research study is looking at proteins in blood samples to predict treatment benefit in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell head and neck cancer.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare tumor among Caucasians which occurs with high incidence among individuals of Chinese descent. The disease is believed to have a multifactorial etiology with genetic, viral, and other environmental factors being involved. Little is known, however, about the genetic component of this disease. We have recently completed subject recruitment for a case-control study of NPC in Taiwan. Using information obtained from the NPC cases recruited into this NCI-sponsored case-control study as well as from a parallel cross-sectional study conducted by our Taiwanese collaborators, we have been able to identify 120-150 families with multiple family members affected with NPC. The purpose of the study described herein is to determine the role of inherited genetic factors in the etiology of NPC and to examine the effect of these genetic susceptibility factors on risk associated with environmental exposures. Families will initially be contacted via the proband who previously participated in our case-control and cross-sectional studies. Subsequently, informative family members will be asked to visit the study clinic to participate in the study. A family history questionnaire will be administered to the proband from each of the families selected for study. In addition, a risk factor questionnaire will be administered to all participating family members, and 30-40 ml of blood and an oral sample will be obtained from each study participant. Additional study components include medical record review to verify the diagnosis of NPC, retrieval of tumor tissue blocks as a source of DNA for study, and clinical exams on a sample of unaffected individuals to exclude the possibility of prevalent, undetected disease among family members. Oral and laryngeal cancer families will also be recruited in a manner similar to that described for NPC families, in an attempt to elucidate genetic factors linked to the development of these two cancers....

It is important for patients treated with anti-EGFR therapies to get access to cosmetic options to preserve their skin condition during treatment. Anti-EGFR therapies are known to fragilize epidermis and to provoke rashes; which often lead to treatment discontinuation. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the Onco-Rash cream is able to preserve skin condition without side effects. Decreasing skin toxicity is expected to improve patients' life and facilitate treatment follow-up.

This is a single-arm prospective trial of an intra- and postoperative topical antiseptic bundle. The study will recruit patients undergoing an open surgical resection of the upper aerodigestive tract requiring a planed vascularized reconstruction, which may be either pedicled and/or free flap. The objectives are to evaluate antimicrobial effects of a perioperative topical antiseptic bundle and to identify the source of surgical site infection as well as the rate of 30-day adverse events in head and neck cancer.

Multispectral photoacoustic imaging enables the measurement of the optical absorption of various tissue components or exogenous contrast agents in vivo. The dominant, near infrared absorbing chromophores in human tissue are oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin followed by collagen, melanin and lipids. The multispectral measurement of the absorption of hemoglobin shows changes in blood oxygen saturation and blood volume. The high resolution of photoacoustic imaging also enables the vascular structure to be displayed. The aim of this exploratory study is to generate hypotheses by applying photoacoustic imaging to the field of head and neck tumor therapy. The next step is to investigate whether and how photoacoustic imaging can help improve diagnostics and better planning of treatments in the future. In particular, the differences between normal and tumor tissue and the changes in the tissue due to radiation therapy using photoacoustic imaging are examined. In the quantitative analysis of the images, measured chromophores, primarily oxygen saturation, blood volume and collagen concentrations at different measuring points are used in the course of the therapy.

This protocol describes a randomized, double-arm, parallel-group, open-label controlled study that aims to evaluate the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine on head and neck cancer patients with oral mucositis toxicities and quality of life during radiotherapy.

Non-interventional study in Japan of participants with HNC recurring or that has spread and who are treated with nivolumab

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood and tissue 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 will respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is looking at biomarkers in samples from patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer treated on ECOG-E1302 trial.

Oral mucositis is a debilitating side effect for oncology patients and there is a clear need for new therapeutic options. The lozenges containing Lactobacillus brevis CD2 proved a potential new alternative for the prevention of grade III and IV mucositis. The main endpoint of this study is to verify if these lozenges taken 6 times a day may reduce the incidence of grade III and IV mucositis as well as increase the percentage of patients who will complete the radio-chemotherapy treatment.

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most frequent cancer worldwide, excluding lymphomas and skin cancer. If 18FDG PET is considered today as a standard tool in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) not only for tumoral or nodal staging but also for assessment of distant metastases and synchronous second primary malignancies, hypoxia is one of the most important prognostic factors in radiotherapy of this type of tumors. The only gold standard method for direct determination of oxygen tension is based on using oxygen electrodes showing a good relation with clinical outcome but complex in its realisation. So, PET using 18F-FMISO has been described to be useful for the non invasive assessment of hypoxia in cancer. Especially in France, the use of this radiotracer is very limited and there is no standardised methodology to acquire and quantify 18F-FMISO signal. So there is a need for a rigorous evaluation of this PET tracer. In another way, it could be a very useful tool for evaluation of new therapies and modification of volumes in radiotherapy.