Active clinical trials for "Glioma"

Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) is an aggressive childhood brain tumor that, despite many past clinical trials, has never been shown to respond to chemotherapy. Radiation therapy (RT) is effective in extending life but is not curative; median overall survival is 11 months. It is still unclear why the hundreds of clinical trials involving chemotherapy of DIPG have failed to demonstrate any activity against the tumor. Given that many agents tried in clinical trials cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), it is possible that there are factors specific to DIPG and its location that prevent adequate drug penetration. Gemcitabine has been selected for this study because there is strong evidence of DIPG cell line inhibition in vitro and good BBB penetration. Furthermore, pediatric dosing and toxicity has been established in prior studies of children with relapsed solid tumors and leukemia. The primary aim of this study is to determine the presence of gemcitabine in childhood DIPG tissue after systemic treatment with the drug. The secondary aim is to quantify the intratumoral gemcitabine concentration after systemic treatment. Participants in this study will be given a one time IV dose of gemcitabine prior to having standard of care surgery. During surgery biopsies will be obtained for clinical and research purposes along with a blood sample. Because patients will be undergoing this biopsy as part of their standard of care therapy here at Children's Hospital Colorado, this is an optimal time to obtain a tumor biopsy for this study. The biopsy will serve to see if the study drug is penetrating the tumor. Patients will then enter a follow-up period for 30 days post surgery.

High-grade gliomas represent 60 to 70% of adult glial tumors and are highly aggressive with average survival from 12 to 15 months for glioblastomas (WHO grade IV gliomas) and from 2 to more than 5 years for WHO grade III gliomas. The treatment of initial stage high-grade gliomas is made with the most complete excision surgery possible followed by adjuvant radiochemotherapy or an exclusive radiochemotherapy if excision is impossible. Most often, these treatments are followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Treatment of recurrence is most often re-irradiation according to stereotaxic modalities. Determination of the volumes to be irradiated conditions effectiveness and tolerance in the planning of these treatments. The definition of Gross Tumor Volume (GTV) is based on enhancing - T1 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after gadolinium injection. A margin of 1-2 mm is applied to define the PTV (Planning Target Volume) or irradiated volume, approximately equal to the GTV-MRI. Amino acid PET-CT (Positon Emission Tomography with Computed Tomography) could be an interesting alternative to tumor delineation because its results, do not depend on the rupture of the blood-brain barrier. Several studies have used amino acid PET in the planning of radiotherapy treatment for high-grade gliomas, but without a well-conducted prospective study. In the recurrent high-grade glioma population, no studies have been performed with 18F-DOPA.( 6-fluoro-[18F]-L-dihydroxyphenylalanine) The question therefore relates to the interest of cerebral 18F-DOPA PET-CT to improve the delineation of the volumes to be re-irradiated, during the recurrence of high-grade gliomas, and on the optimal methodology for determining GTV- PET. To compare GTV-TEP and GTV-MRI volumes with each other, and the r-GTV, volume corresponding to the relapse objectified on the follow-up MRI, the analysis will be based on 3 parameters: DICE index, similarity index between 2 volumes, Contoured Common Volume (VCC), intersection of 2 volumes between them, Additional Contoured Volume (VSC), total volume delineated with imaging minus the common volume between 2 imageries. Thus, within the rGTV relapse volume, it's important to know whether VSC of 18F-DOPA PET-CT is significant compared to that of MRI and would thus allow better definition of the volumes to be irradiated.

This trial studies the feasibility of monitoring step count as a measure of physical activity in patients with newly diagnosed glioma undergoing radiation therapy. Physical activity measured by step count may help to improve the quality of life and symptoms for patients with newly diagnosed glioma.

Low grade glioma (LGG) is a slowly evolving, highly invasive intrinsic brain tumor displaying only subtle tissue differences with the normal surrounding brain, hampering the attempts to visually discriminate tumor from normal brain, especially at the border interface. This makes anatomical borders hard to define during early maximal resection, which is the initial treatment strategy. Therefore, innovative, robust and easy-to-use real-time strategies for intra-operative detection and discrimination of (residual) LGG tumor tissue would strongly influence on-site, surgical decision making, enabling a maximal extent of resection. To validate this approach hyperspectral imaging (HSI) - using a SnapScan HSI-Camera (IMEC), stably mounted on an OPMI Pentero 900 microscope (Zeiss) - will be used to generate spectral imaging data patterns that discriminate in vivo low grade glioma tissue from normal brain both on the cortical and subcortical level.

This Phase 0 surgical window of opportunity trial seeks to evaluate the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) properties of an FDA-approved proprotein convertase/ kexin type 9 serine protease inhibitor (PCSK9i) in patients with primary and recurrent World Health Organization (WHO) grade IV malignant glioma. The investigators intend to evaluate whether a clinically licensed PCSK9i called evolocumab (also known as Repatha) can be repurposed as a potential immunotherapeutic for high grade glioma by testing its ability to access the intracranial space. The primary objective is to evaluate whether evolocumab crosses the blood brain barrier (BBB) and is measurable in the resected tumor specimens of patients with primary and recurrent high grade glioma or glioblastoma.

This study will examine whether positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with fluciclovine can reliably differentiate true progression from pseudoprogression months earlier than the conventional MRI methods.

In this single arm, open label study, investigators will evaluate the feasibility of using the Cereset (formerly known as HIRREM - high-resolution relational, resonance-based electroencephalic mirroring) intervention for a stressed population confronting an acute burden on their lives - caregivers of newly diagnosed high-grade glioma patients. The Cereset intervention is a closed-loop acoustic stimulation intervention that has been studied in patients with PTSD, insomnia, postural orthostatic tachycardia, and military veterans.

This trial studies whether a customized video intervention can help to reduce anxiety in brain cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment and their caregivers. A customized neuro-imaging referenced symptom video that describes symptoms and side effects specific to the patients' tumor may result in an early and sustained reduction in anxiety and distress during and after radiation treatment, thereby improving quality of life.

G-SUMIT is a pilot, phase II,randomized controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility of performing a large-scale trial in patients undergoing surgery for first-time diagnosis of high grade glioma (HGG) in a surgically favorable anatomical location to answer the following: Does extending the margin of resection 1 cm beyond visible enhanced volume on MRI result in (a) an increase in overall survival? (b) result in a similar rate of "clinically-significant" neurological worsening during 30 days post surgery and quality of life at 6 and 12 months?

This research is being conducted to see if patients diagnosed with high grade gliomas can adhere to the supplemented High-Fat Low-Carbohydrate (sHFLC) + KetoPhyt diet, and to see how this diet might affect cancer cells in the bloodstream. This diet is experimental and is not routinely prescribed for patients with high-grade gliomas. The results of this study may be used to support larger studies investigating possible anti-tumor affects of the sHFLC + KetoPhyt diet.