Active clinical trials for "Brain Neoplasms"

All patients will complete best standard of care radiation, temozolomide and bevacizumab (6 weeks). Within two weeks of completion of this initial treatment period, study patients will be fitted with the NovoTTF-100A System and treated continuously. They will be treated with TTFields for 12 months for an average of 18 hours per day. The patient may elect to take a treatment break for a total of 3 days per month, for each month and still be in compliance. This will consist of wearing four electrically insulated electrode arrays on the head. The patients will also continue with maintenance temozolomide/ bevacizumab.

This protocol is designed to generate and provide preliminary data to determine the safety and activity of combination therapy using tumor treating fields (TTFields; Optune(NovoTTF-100A); Novocure, Haifa, Israel), a novel FDA-approved therapy utilizing alternating electric fields to inhibit tumor cell growth, along with bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech, San Francisco, CA), a humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy, a highly-focal abbreviated course of brain irradiation, in the treatment of patients with bevacizumab-naive recurrent GBM. Each of these individual therapies, and also several combinations in doublets, has already demonstrated safety and efficacy but prospective clinical data for the concurrent combination of all three therapies are lacking.

The purpose of this study is to find out what effects, good and/or bad, stereotactic radiosurgery (Gamma knife) has on brain metastasis(es). Gamma knife radiosurgery is a way of giving radiation therapy to the brain in a very focused way, so that nearby parts of the brain receive very little exposure to radiation. No incisions are involved. Imaging technology is used to pinpoint the location of the tumor. In this study, the investigators are also trying to find out how the tumor and/or treatment affect brain function over time. The investigators will do this by performing a series of neurocognitive assessments, or tests of memory, reasoning, and higher brain function, before treatment and at regular intervals after treatment.

This pilot phase II trial studies how well Novocure's Tumor Treating Electric Fields (NovoTTF) therapy works in treating patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. NovoTTF therapy uses a low intensity electric current to kill tumor cells. NovoTTF therapy may be effective treatment for brain cancer.

This is a global, multi-centre, open-label, study of GSK2118436 conducted in up to 30 evaluable subjects with resectable, BRAF V600E or V600K mutation-positive metastatic melanoma to the brain. All subjects in this study are required to have accessible extracranial metastases and are agreeable to undergo repetitive biopsies. The first cohort of 15 subjects will receive dabrafenib orally 150mg twice daily (BID) for 7 to 14 days prior to surgery (Cohort A); the second cohort of 15 subjects will receive the combination of dabrafenib 150 mg BID and trametinib 2 mg once daily for 7 to 14 days prior to surgery (Cohort B). The primary purpose of this study is to determine levels and distribution of dabrafenib, its metabolites, and trametinib (Cohort B only) in parenchymal brain metastases, extracranial metastases, and peripheral blood (plasma) within two cohorts of subjects with BRAF V600E/K mutation-positive melanoma that has metastasized to the brain. All subjects will be followed for survival and new anti-cancer therapy for a total of two years or until death or the subject wishes to withdraw from further follow-up.

Patients have a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. Because most GBMs come back after standard therapy, patients are being asked to volunteer to take part in a research study using special immune cells. They may have already thought about being in this study. Some patients with GBM show evidence of infection with a virus called Cytomegalovirus before the time of their diagnosis. CMV is found in the cancer cells of some patients with GBM, suggesting that it may play a role in causing the disease. The cancer cells infected by CMV are able to hide from the body's immune system and escape destruction. We want to see if special white blood cells, called T cells, that have been trained to recognize and kill special parts of CMV infected cells can survive in the blood and affect the tumor. We have used this sort of therapy to treat different types of cancer that are positive for other viruses and have had variable results. Some patients have had responses others did not. It is not possible for us to predict if this treatment will work for GBM. The purpose of this study is to find the largest safe dose of CMV-T cells, to learn what the side effects are, and to see whether this therapy might help patients with GBM.

This study is being done to determine if an investigational cancer treatment called vorinostat combined with fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy (FSRT) is effective in treating recurrent high grade gliomas. The main goal of this research study is to determine the highest dose of vorinostat that can be given to patients with recurrent tumors. The study will also determine the potential side effects and safety of these treatment combinations. Vorinostat is a small molecule inhibitor of histone deacetylase (HDAC). HDAC inhibitors help unravel the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the cancer cells and make them more susceptible to the treatment with radiation.

RATIONALE: Radiosurgery can send x-rays directly to the tumor and cause less damage to normal tissue. Monoclonal antibodies, such as bevacizumab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Bevacizumab may also stop the growth of glioblastoma by blocking blood flow to the tumor. Drugs used in chemotherapy such as irinotecan hydrochloride work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving radiosurgery together with bevacizumab and irinotecan hydrochloride may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving radiosurgery together with bevacizumab and irinotecan hydrochloride works in treating patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

This is a research study of patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas. We hope to learn about the safety and efficacy of treating pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma patients with the EGFRvIII peptide vaccine after conventional radiation.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn about a new therapy device called the Visualase® Thermal Therapy System (a device that uses a laser to kill tumor cells and is guided using magnetic resonance thermal imaging [MRTI]). The Visualase® Thermal Therapy System is used to treat metastatic brain tumors. Researchers want to find out if it is possible to use this new device in patients with metastatic brain tumor(s), each measuring 3 centimeters (cm) or smaller. The safety of the device will also be studied.