Active clinical trials for "Head and Neck Neoplasms"

The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of hypofractionated radiation therapy and concomitant chemotherapy with cisplatin for locally advanced head and neck cancer in a high volume brazilian center.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy given before radiotherapy) using cisplatin and docetaxel, followed by carboplatin given at the same time as radiotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical value of serial quantitative [F-18] FLT as a PET imaging tool in head and neck cancer patients clinically scheduled with radiation or radiation-chemotherapy combination in terms of safety and efficacy. Standard [F-18] FDG PET will be the active comparator.

Patients with head and neck cancer frequently develop synchronous or metachronous esophageal malignancies. Previous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of endoscopic screening for esophageal cancer in head and neck cancer patients. The Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) system, an optical technology that enhances the visualization of superficial vascular network, may be superior to the conventional white light endoscopy for the detection of neoplastic lesions. However, whether the application of NBI improves the detection results have not been critically evaluated. This study aims to investigate the diagnostic value of the NBI system in the endoscopic screening for esophageal neoplastic lesions in patients with head and neck cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. It is not yet known if surgery plus radiation therapy is more effective with or without chemotherapy for treating mouth cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of surgery and radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy in treating patients with stage II, stage III, or stage IV mouth cancer.

RATIONALE: Inserting the gene for p53 into a person's tumor may improve the body's ability to fight cancer or make the cancer more sensitive to chemotherapy. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of gene therapy in treating patients who have recurrent head and neck cancer.

This study observes the clinical efficacy of combining proton SBRT with PD-1 blockade immunotherapy in both the locoregionally recurrent and metastatic settings.

The prognoses of recurrent/metastatic head and neck epithelial tumors after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy is poor. The efficacy of second-line chemotherapy for those patients that cannot be re-irradiated or re-operated is limited according to NCCN guideline and other published data. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of endostatin combined with second-line chemotherapy for patients of recurrent/metastatic head and neck epithelial tumors that cannot be re-irradiated or re-operated after fist-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

Oral mucositis (OM) is an acute side effect of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer (HNC). OM associated pain affects oral functions and nutrition of the patient that may result in discontinuity of treatment.The purpose of this clinical study is to evaluate the therapeutic effects of Compound Kushen Injection (CKI) on oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy of head and neck cancer.

It has been well established that malignant tumors tend to have low levels of oxygen and that tumors with very low levels of oxygen are more resistant to radiotherapy and other treatments, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Previous attempts to improve response to therapy by increasing the oxygen level of tissues have had disappointing results and collectively have not led to changing clinical practice. Without a method to measure oxygen levels in tumors or the ability to monitor over time whether tumors are responding to methods to increase oxygen during therapy, clinician's reluctance to use oxygen therapy in usual practice is not surprising. The hypothesis underlying this research is that repeated measurements of tissue oxygen levels can be used to optimize cancer therapy, including combined therapy, and to minimize normal tissue side effects or complications. Because studies have found that tumors vary both in their initial levels of oxygen and exhibit changing patterns during growth and treatment, we propose to monitor oxygen levels in tumors and their responsiveness to hyperoxygenation procedures. Such knowledge about oxygen levels in tumor tissues and their responsiveness to hyper-oxygenation could potentially be used to select subjects for particular types of treatment, or otherwise to adjust routine care for patients known to have hypoxic but unresponsive tumors in order to improve their outcomes. The overall objectives of this study are to establish the clinical feasibility and efficacy of using in vivo electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oximetry-a technique related to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-to obtain direct and repeated measurements of clinically useful information about tumor tissue oxygenation in specific groups of subjects with the same types of tumors, and to establish the clinical feasibility and efficacy of using inhalation of enriched oxygen to gain additional clinically useful information about responsiveness of tumors to hyper-oxygenation. Two devices are used: a paramagnetic charcoal suspension (Carlo Erba India ink) and in vivo EPR oximetry to assess oxygen levels. The ink is injected and becomes permanent in the tissue at the site of injection unless removed; thereafter, the in vivo oximetry measurements are noninvasive and can be repeated indefinitely.