Active clinical trials for "Sarcoma"

The purpose of this study is to compare the drug gemcitabine to two drugs, gemcitabine and docetaxel, to find out which treatment is better for people with sarcomas.

The prognosis for patients with metastatic Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors (ESF), rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), and neuroblastoma (NBL) remains dismal, with less than 25% long-term disease-free survival. Though less grave, the prognosis for cure for other high-risk patients is approximately 50%. New treatment strategies, including the identification of highly active new agents, maximizing the dose intensity of the most active standard drugs, and the development of improved methods of consolidation to eradicate microscopic residual disease, are clearly needed to improve the outcome of these patients. This protocol will address these issues by commencing with a Phase II window, for the highest risk patients, to evaluate a series of promising drugs with novel mechanisms of action. All patients will then receive 5 cycles of dose-intensive "best standard therapy" with doxorubicin (adriamycin), vincristine, and cyclophosphamide (VAdriaC). Patients at high risk of relapse will continue onto a phase I consolidation regimen consisting of three cycles of dose-escalated Melphalan, Ifosfamide, Mesna, and Etoposide (MIME). Peripheral blood stem cell transfusions (PBSCT) and recombinant human G-CSF will be used as supportive care measures to allow maximal dose-escalation of this combination regimen.

Patients with Grade II and III soft tissue sarcomas of the extremity will be randomized to either receive or not receive radiation therapy following surgery for the removal of the local tumor. All patients in this protocol will receive adjuvant chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study is to define the dose-limiting toxicities and maximum tolerated dose of the poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitor niraparib and escalating doses of temozolomide and/or irinotecan in patients with pre-treated incurable Ewing sarcoma.

This treatment study for relapsed high-risk neuroblastoma, Ewings sarcoma, osteogenic sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma or synovial sarcoma involves an autologous cancer testis (CT) antigen specific dendritic cell (DC) vaccine preceded by decitabine as a demethylating chemotherapy.

Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and at other institutions study normal and cancer cells. To study these cells we need to have human tissue, body fluids, and blood. The patient will be having or have had a procedure to remove tissue. The doctors would like to use some of this tissue. The doctors will use it for laboratory studies on the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sarcoma, gastrointestinal or other intra-abdominal cancers. They will only use extra tissue left over after all needed testing has been done. They would also like to study components of the immune blood cells and blood serum (the liquid portion of the blood). In some patients they will take a blood sample before the tissue or body fluid is removed, usually at the same time that other routine pre-procedure blood tests are drawn. If thet need more blood, it will be drawn when the patient is seeing the doctor anyway. We will not draw more than 50cc (4-5 tablespoons) at any one time. With the patient's permission, thet may also send a small portion of the blood and/or a sample of the tissue to a repository at the National Cancer Institute. This will be used to identify special proteins in the blood or tissue that may be useful for diagnosing cancer. Information about the treatment and the response to treatment may be linked to the tissue specimens obtained. This information may be important for the research studies that will be done on the tissue, body fluid and blood specimens. All of this information will be kept in strictest confidence; they will use it only for biomedical research. The patient's name will not be used in any report.

The aim of this study (*) is to evaluate the progression free survival rate at 6 months, response rate, overall disease control rate, overall survival of BAY-43-9006 in soft tissue sarcoma patients. (*) as per Protocol Amendment No. 1 of 16 April 2007 approved by local IEC on 24 July 2007

MTC-DOX is Doxorubicin or DOX, a chemotherapy drug, that is adsorbed, or made to "stick", to magnetic beads (MTCs). MTCs are tiny, microscopic particles of iron and carbon. When DOX is added to MTCs, DOX attaches to the carbon part of the MTCs. MTC-DOX is directed to and deposited in the area of a tumor, where it is thought that it then "leaks" through the blood vessel walls. Once in the surrounding tissues, it is thought that Doxorubicin becomes "free from" the magnetic beads and will then be able to act against the tumor cells. The iron component of the particle has magnetic properties, making it possible to direct MTC-DOX to specific tumor sites in the liver by placing a magnet on the body surface. It is hoped that MTC-DOX used with the magnet may target the chemotherapy drug directly to liver tumors and provide a treatment to patients with cancers that have spread to the liver.

Hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion with melphalan alone is administered as a double perfusion schedule. These two isolates limb perfusions with melphalan are treated 3-6 weeks apart. After perfusion is established, the leak rate has been determined to be acceptable, and tissue temperatures are 38 degrees Celsius, then the melphalan is administered by slow injection into an arterial line over approximately 5 minutes. The perfusion with melphalan will then continue for 60 minutes, after which the extremity is flushed out with a total of 3 liters of fluid consisting initially of a saline solution. The dose of melphalan for the second perfusion will be increased. An attempt to resect the residual lesion between 6-12 weeks after the second interval perfusion may be made.

Patients with Grade I soft tissue sarcomas or benign, non-metastasizing invasive soft tissue tumors will receive wide local excision and be prospectively randomized as to either receive or not receive radiation therapy.