Active clinical trials for "Oropharyngeal Neoplasms"

This randomized phase II trial studies how well transoral surgery followed by low-dose or standard-dose radiation therapy works in treating patients with human papilloma virus (HPV) positive stage III-IVA oropharyngeal cancer. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving radiation therapy with chemotherapy may kill any tumor cells that remain after surgery. It is not yet known how much extra treatment needs to be given after surgery.

This clinical trial will evaluate a new combination of treatments for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell cancers (OPSCC), and compare it to the current standard of care (concurrent, platinum-based chemoradiotherapy). Chemoradiotherapy is efficacious, but also associated with significant toxicities and is only suitable for patients with good performance status and without severe comorbidities. The purpose of this trial is to demonstrate equivalent oncologic outcome with fewer adverse effects and improved quality of life when compared to the standard of care.

Background: For some cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), standard treatments are not helpful. Researchers want to see if a vaccine for HPV combined with a drug called M7824 has a better effect on these cancers than when they work alone. Objective: To find a safe dose of HPV vaccine alone or combined with M7824. Also, to test if either HPV vaccine alone or combined with M7824 causes a better immune response. Eligibility: People ages 18 and older with locally advanced or metastatic HPV associated cancer (Phase I) or stage II or III p16-positive oropharyngeal cancer (Phase II) Design: Participants will be screened with: Medical history Physical exam Blood, urine, and heart tests Possible photos of skin lesions CT, MRI, or nuclear bone scan: Participants will lie in a machine that takes pictures of the body. For the CT scan, they may have a contrast agent injected into a vein. Participants may have up to 2 tumor biopsies. For participants in Phase II, this may be performed with a thin tube placed through the nose into the airway. Participants will receive the HPV vaccine alone or with M7824. For participants on the Phase II, they will receive two doses of HPV vaccine under the skin either alone or with M7824 as an infusion spaced two weeks apart. This will be done prior to their planned chemoradiation or surgery. For participants on the Phase I, they will get the HPV vaccine injected under the skin 2 to 3 times in the first month. Then they will have a booster every 4 weeks. They will receive M7824 as an infusion into a vein every 2 weeks. Treatment will last up to 1 year. After they stop treatment, participants will have a visit within 4 weeks. They will then be contacted for long-term follow-up every year, for the rest of their lives. ...

The purpose of this study is to establish the efficacy and toxicity of low dose chemoradiotherapy after induction chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced HPV+ oropharynx cancer and establish prognostic factors that would apply to help select patients for this treatment in the future.

This study is designed for patients with a cancer of the oropharynx (tonsils or base of tongue) caused by the HPV virus. Traditional treatment involves surgery followed by six weeks of daily radiation therapy. This study investigates a less intense radiation treatment following surgery that uses half the dose of radiation given over two weeks rather than six weeks. Patients will be randomly assigned to receive the less intense treatment versus the traditional treatment by coin flip. Patients are twice as likely to receive the less intense treatment during randomization.

Participants in this study have a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Their SCCHN has spread around the area where the cancer first started. This is called locally-advanced SCCHN. These participants are eligible for surgery. Previous research with a similar therapy regimen resulted in high rates of cancer shrinkage, high rates of avoiding radiation and its side effects, high cure rate and good quality of life. Radiation can be very toxic. The purpose on this study is to try to avoid radiation. If the participants are not on this study they would be receiving radiation as it is standard treatment of their cancer. In the last study with a similar regimen, about a third of cancers had a pathologic complete response with the first part of the study. This means that the chemotherapy had killed the cancer. The investigators are trying to improve the regimen further with a goal of increasing this rate of complete response to the first part of therapy. The investigators also hope that by improving results in the first part, that more people will be cured and that long term quality of life (especially speech and swallowing) will be improved, both compared to standard therapies and to the last study. Doctors do not know how this therapy will effect the participants. There is no guarantee that this study will benefit the participants. The prior study used a combination of chemotherapy consisting of carboplatin, paclitaxel and a third targeted anti-cancer drug. In this study the investigators are testing the combination of carboplatin, nano-albumin bound paclitaxel and durvalumab. Nano-albumin bound paclitaxel has been shown to be more active against other types of squamous cancers than regular paclitaxel. It is FDA approved for squamous lung cancer, but experimental for head and neck cancer. Durvalumab is an experimental drug that uses the body's own immune system to fight the cancer. Doctors hope that combining Durvalumab with 2 chemotherapy drugs will be effective in treating SCCHN. Durvalumab on its own has been studied in patients with SCCHN and initial results have shown that some subjects' cancer has responded to it. The purpose of this study is to test a combination of chemotherapy to hopefully both increase the number of subjects that respond to therapy while also decreasing the number of side effects that subjects experience.

The purpose of this research study is to learn about the effectiveness of using lower-intensity radiation and chemotherapy to treat human papillomavirus (HPV) associated low-risk oropharyngeal and/or unknown primary squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. The cure rate for this type of cancer is estimated to be high, > 90%. The standard treatment for this cancer is 7 weeks of radiation with 3 high doses of cisplatin. Sometimes surgery is performed afterwards. This standard regimen causes a lot of side effects and long term complications. This study is evaluating whether a lower dose of radiation and chemotherapy may provide a similar cure rate as the longer, more intensive standard regimen. Patients in this study will receive 1 less week of radiation and a lower weekly dose of chemotherapy.

The historical standard treatment for early-stage squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx is radiation therapy. Some patients require chemotherapy with the radiation, and some patients require surgery if the tumour or lymph nodes have not responded after radiation. This study will compare radiation therapy with a new surgical treatment called transoral robotic surgery (TORS). TORS is a new surgical approach using a robot to assist the surgeon in removing the tumour, potentially with fewer side effects than older surgical techniques.

This prospective study aims to utilize pre- and mid-treatment PET-CT to guide de-escalation of radiation therapy in HPV-related squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx.

This study investigates if head and neck squamous cell carcinoma can be tracked with cell-free tumor DNA, RNA or HPV-DNA, in blood samples from patients referred with suspicion of cancer, and if it can be used in detecting recurrence in patients already diagnosed and treated for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.