Active clinical trials for "Carcinoma"

This clinical trial studies positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in diagnosing patients with liver cancer undergoing surgical resection. Diagnostic procedures, such as fluorine-18 fluoromethylcholine PET/CT, may help find and diagnose liver cancer.

This study aims to compare the role of peginterferon α-2b (50 μg/week) vs. control (no treatment) in the prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma, in adult patients with cirrhosis and initial signs of portal hypertension who did not respond to previous combined therapy with interferon alfa + ribavirin or peginterferon alfa + ribavirin or to interferon alfa monotherapy and with a high proliferation rate before entering the study. The duration of treatment will be 3 years, and the follow-up period will be 2 years.

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in Taiwan. Recently, there are more treatment methods available which result in increased patient survival. Although adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma were both categorized as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the recent advancement of target therapy implied that these two histologies behave differently (Shah NT, et al. 2005; Sandler A, et al. 2006). Radiation therapy is an important method for locally advanced non-resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Computed tomography (CT) is the mainstay for evaluating lung cancer. The advance of multi-row detector CT (MDCT) provides volumetric acquisition within a breath hold, and enables detailed evaluation of tissue and organ perfusion with excellent resolution. Using this new technique with image post processing, excellent spatial resolution and functional perfusion information can be obtained simultaneously. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore not only the longitudinal change of lung cancer eligible for radiation therapy (including concurrent, sequential chemoradiotherapy and high-dose radiation therapy) but also comparison of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell lung cancers using perfusion MDCT. Total twenty patients with histopathologically proved adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma will be enrolled in this study and receive longitudinal study for perfusion MDCT evaluation before, during radiation therapy and in early and late phases after complete radiation therapy. Dynamic perfusion will be used for processing the image data, and quantitative parameters such as tumor blood volume and permeability etc will be derived. From this study, we expect to understand the change of tumor vascularity after radiation therapy and characters of treatment response of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma in addition to the change of tumor size.

This will be a study where all patients will undergo a two-step procedure: Step 1 - Physicians examine the problem area of skin ONLY and record result. Step 2 - Physicians perform TBSE and record result. Eventual lesions suggestive of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers will be recorded after step 1 or step 2 examination and will be finally biopsied and histopathologically diagnosed. Exceptions to biopsy may include patients with multiple non-melanoma skin cancers (e.g. actinic keratoses or basal cell carcinomas). Each center will be provided with an electronic data sheet for patients record, or alternatively, with a paper record form. Endpoints of the study are new parameters concerning the standard of care for skin cancer screening. We expect to conclude that TBSE enables clinicians discovering an increased number of skin cancers thus resulting in earlier detection.

This study is an equivalency study designed as a randomized clinical trial. Patients with a biopsy proven nodular periocular basal cell carcinoma (BCC) who have agreed to have surgical excision will be eligible. Study patients will undergo surgical excision of the lesion and then be randomized to having frozen section or permanent section pathological control. For those patients randomized to permanent section control the sample will be sent to pathology and surgical reconstruction will be performed. Patients randomized to frozen section will have additional margins re-excised before reconstruction depending on the pathologic results. Tumor clearance rates after surgical excision will be compared between the two techniques as a primary study question. Patients will be followed long-term to determine recurrence rates in the two groups. The study is designed to determine if the two techniques are equivalent within a given margin of error with respect to outcome measures.

The study population will exist of patients with a histological diagnosis of NSCLC, stage T1, T2 or T3NO who are not fit for or who refuse surgery. A prospective data analysis will be performed on tumor response, potential acute and late toxicity and survival. A radiotherapy dose of 4x15Gy or 3x 20Gy will be given over 2 weeks with dynamic 3D-conformal arc therapy (Novalis TM)

The serum albumin ascites gradient (SAAG) is a recommended tool for ascites diagnosis since values ≥1.1 g/dl are found in nearly 97% of patients with portal hypertension. However, it mislabels chronic liver disease and heart failure as the cause of ascites. Because type-B Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) is increased in several body fluids of patients with both systolic and diastolic dysfunction, it was found to be a useful marker for diagnosing heart failure and pleural effusion due to heart failure. Nevertheless, to date, the performance of BNP testing for assessing the etiology of ascites has not been examined. The current prospective study is aimed at comparing the following strategies for diagnosing heart failure as the cause of ascites: 1) SAAG plus total protein concentration in ascitic fluid (gold standard); 2) SAAG plus BNP concentration in ascitic fluid; 3) SAAG plus BNP concentration in serum; 4) serum BNP concentrations. SAAG, ascitic fluid protein concentration, serum and ascites type-B Natriuretic Peptide and echocardiography will be performed in all patients. The final diagnosis of the cause of ascites will be adjudicated by independent physicians, blinded for the results of ascitic fluid biochemistry and BNP. Patients will be divided into four groups: Heart failure, Liver cirrhosis, concurrent heart failure and liver cirrhosis (mixed) and other causes of ascites.

Patients with an incidentally discovered small renal masses (SRM) < 4 cm in diameter are included. All patients will undergo biopsy for tissue diagnosis. Most patients will be followed by imaging. Study intervention includes low MI US to be performed following both bolus and infusion injection of Definity contrast. Presence and absence of vascularity, pattern of vascularity, and TIC values will be correlated with the final pathology to find features differentiating benign from malignant masses.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether BRAF V600E mutation in our patients with papillary thyroid cancer has an association with poor prognosis.

This is a randomized phase III trial comparing cisplatin with or without gemcitabine in patients with carcinoma of unknown primary and a predicted favorable prognosis. The purpose of this trial is to compare the overall survival rates of patients with carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) and a predicted favorable prognosis according to the French classification treated with cisplatin with or without gemcitabine.