Active clinical trials for "Lung Neoplasms"

The CareSTEPS intervention fills an important service gap by providing education, skills training, and support to the caregivers of advanced lung cancer patients on active treatment. The home-based delivery format will facilitate future dissemination and outreach. By empowering families with the skills they need to provide care and meet the challenges of lung cancer, this intervention holds great promise for improving caregiver quality of life (QOL), patient QOL, and the quality of palliative and supportive care services offered to patients with advanced cancer and their families.

This research study is evaluating a behavioral intervention designed to help people with advanced lung cancer manage dyspnea (i.e., breathlessness or shortness-of-breath).

This pilot trial studies a video-based intervention in reducing anxiety in patients undergoing lung cancer screening. Giving a video-based intervention to patients prior to lung cancer screening may reduce anxiety and improve the well-being and quality of life.

The chest cavity contains a small amount of fluid (pleural effusion). In normal circumstances this fluid is kept in balance. When surgery is performed on the lung, there can be accumulation of more fluid due to many causes. In order to drain this additional amount of pleural fluid, chest tube(s) are left in the thoracic cage after a lung resection procedure. The investigators are attempting to reduce the amount of pleural fluid production and formation by using a more balanced thoracic drainage system, which adjusts the amount of suction depending on the needs of the patient. That way, the amount of inflammation in the thoracic cage might be smaller, and hence less fluid will be formed. By this, the investigators are hoping that the chest tubes can be removed earlier, and the patients can be discharged faster and will potentially have a lower rate of re-admission to the hospital after surgery due to problems related to the fluid in the thoracic cage.

Background: The primary investigation of lung cancer (LC) is for 85% of the cases conducted through General Practice, sadly it tends to take a relatively long time from first time the patient is seen by their General Practitioner and until they are diagnosed. LC symptoms are common, but usual because of benign diseases. Only 33% of LC patients presenting with alarm symptoms. On average a General Practitioner in Denmark sees only one patient with newly diagnosed lung cancer a year and the doctor will therefore get the clinical experience that when they refer a patient, test often come out negative and they therefore fail to refer and delay will increase - with a poorer prognosis as a result. Centrally in the diagnosis is conventional chest X-ray, which unfortunately is inefficient in many cases, while CT scanning has proven effective even for small tumors. Hypothesis and aims: The project has three main hypotheses to be tested 1) the GP's use of cancer fast-track and detection of suspected lung cancer can be optimized in relation to interpretation of symptoms and subsequent referral practices and radiological investigation. 2) General Practitioners with special training can change the referral routines and 3) direct access to fast CT scanning leads to earlier diagnosis of lung cancer. Methods: The first part of the study is a register-based study of lung cancer patients' road to diagnosis, based on a database of newly diagnosed cancer patients in a year. Second part of the study is a clinical, randomized study of the effect of referral directly to fast chest CT scan. Primary endpoint is delay, secondary endpoints are referral pattern (use of fast-track packet), primary use of CT and 1-year mortality. Furthermore side effects, including patient groups with increased delay. The study will contribute new knowledge to the way GP's interpret symptoms, the way they refer their patients when they suspect cancer, their use of diagnostic imaging and cancer fast-track pathways. It will then provide a unique opportunity to create the necessary knowledge about the effects of direct referral to fast CT scan and it might be a decision aid whether to open for direct CT scan in General Practice for a group of patients.

In the course of their disease patients with Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) often experience impaired psychological and physical functioning resulting in a reduced quality of life (QoL). The aim of the study is to explore the feasibility and the effects of an eight weeks combined muscle strength and endurance training on physical capacity and QoL.

Computed tomography (CT) images, used for radiotherapy planning, are often caught out in lung target volumes delineation because of their inability to differentiate between neoplasia, inflammation and atelectasia. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a new functional imaging modality and is currently used in the diagnosis and the staging of lung cancers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of 4D 18F-FDG-PET-CT on radiotherapy planning for lung cancers.

RATIONALE: Continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis has important health consequences beyond the risks associated with smoking in the general population. Smoking reduces the efficacy of cancer treatments including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Despite the negative consequences, it is estimated that between 15-75% of patients with cancer continue to smoke after their cancer diagnosis. Lung, breast, prostate, colorectal, bladder, head & neck, and cervical cancer patients were chosen because there is evidence of potential clinical benefit associated with quitting smoking in all of these populations and they represent a mix of both smoking and non-smoking related cancers.

This clinical trial studies 4-dimensional (4-D) image-guided radiation therapy treatment planning in patients with stage I-IV non-small cell lung cancer. Computed tomography (CT) scans and treatment-planning systems may help in planning radiation therapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer. This is not a therapy study. Therefore no direct benefit from participating is expected. However, at the discretion of the treating physician, the information gained from the additional imaging will be used to improve treatment accuracy. No patient outcome data are gathered or analyzed by this study. This study is not a:Phase I, II, or III trial, trial with "blinded" treatment arm, gene or a vaccine trial, or a multi-institutional trial.

Primary Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of an interactive voice response (IVR) telephone triage/feedback system versus an interactive voice response telephone system with assessment only in monitoring and managing symptoms in patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To compare differences in mood and quality of life variables of patients using the IVR triage/feedback system versus IVR assessment only. To compare the healthcare utilization (emergency visits, admissions, length of stay for hospitalizations for uncontrolled symptoms) of patients using the IVR triage/feedback system versus IVR assessment only.