Active clinical trials for "Thoracic Neoplasms"

The present single-center prospective exploratory study, conducted at Heidelberg University Hospital, assesses the feasibility of introducing a concept for additional patient care based on a mobile application for patients undergoing radiotherapy. Patients presenting themselves for the irradiation of thoracic or pelvic tumors will be surveyed regarding general performance, treatment-related Quality of Life (QoL) and symptoms and their need to personally consult a physician on a treatment-daily basis by means of a mobile application. The primary endpoint of feasibility will be reached when 80% of the patients have successfully answered 80% of their respective questions scheduled for each treatment day. Furthermore, treatment-related patient satisfaction and diagnosis-related QoL is assessed by PSQ-18 and EORTC questionnaires at the end of radiotherapy and at the first follow-up.

Radiotherapy (combined with chemotherapy) is increasingly applied in the curative treatment of tumours located in the thoracic region (esophageal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, and (non) Hodgkin lymphoma). Accurate radiotherapy planning and delivery is essential for the treatment to be effective. However, this accuracy is compromised by tumour and organ motion. Radiotherapy treatment planning is typically performed on a planning-CT scan recorded several days prior to commencement of radiotherapy. Inter-fraction set up variations and organ motion during treatment can lead to differences between the calculated dose distribution on the planning-CT and the radiation dose actually received by the tumour and normal organs. Accurate assessment of these effects is essential to determine optimal margins in order to irradiate the tumour adequately while minimizing the dose to the organs at risk (OARs). In the near future, patients with esophageal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer and (non) Hodgkin lymphoma are excellent candidates for proton beam therapy (PBT), which enables marked reductions of the radiation dose to the OARs and thus decreasing the risk of radiation induced cardiac and lung toxicity. However, for PBT using pencil beam scanning (PBS), knowledge of tumour and organ motion will be even more important. The potential major advantages of PBS for tumours in the thoracic region are challenged by the respiratory motion of the tumour, breast, esophagus, diaphragm, heart, stomach, and lungs. Setup errors and inter- and intra-fraction organ motion cause geometric displacement of the tumours and normal tissues, which can cause underdosage of the target volumes and overdosage of the organs at risk. Furthermore, it can result in changes in tissue densities in the beam path, which can alter the position of the Bragg peaks and lead to distorted dose distributions. If pencil beam scanning techniques are used to treat moving tumours, there is interplay between the dynamic pencil beam delivery and target motion. This phenomenon can cause additional deterioration of the delivered dose distribution, usually manifesting as significant local under and/or over dosage. It is therefore essential to incorporate motion-related uncertainties during treatment planning. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of inter-fraction tumour and organ motion - while taking into account intra-fraction movements appropriately - on photon and proton radiotherapy treatment planning in order to yield robust intensity modulated photon and/or proton treatment plans. Objective: To evaluate the impact of inter-fraction tumour and organ geometrical dislocation for moving tumours on photon and proton radiotherapy treatment plans in order to create robust intensity modulated photon- and/or proton treatment plans. Study design: Pilot-study (80 patients). Study population: Patients with esophageal cancer (EC), (non) small cell lung cancer ((N)SCLC) stage III, breast cancer, or (non) Hodgkin lymphoma who will be treated with radiotherapy (with or without chemotherapy) with curative intent. Intervention (if applicable): Not applicable. Main study parameters/endpoints: Robustness parameters (homogeneity index; coverage of clinical target volume), dose to organs at risk (OARs), such as the heart (mean heart dose, MHD) and the lungs (mean lung dose, MLD). Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation, benefit and group relatedness: During the radiotherapy treatment course, patients will undergo weekly repeat planning CT scans in treatment position without contrast agents in order to evaluate the impact of inter-fraction tumour and organ motion. Furthermore, additional CBCTs are collected after 10 radiotherapy fractions to assess the intra-fraction motion. The additional radiation dose of these 3-6 4D-CT's and 10 CBCTs is low (4-6 x 25-30mSv + 10 x 7mSv results in an effective dose < 250mSv) compared to the therapeutic radiation dose (40-60Gy). The risks are therefore negligible and the burden is low.

This is an external control, observational, retrospective study designed to compare clinical outcomes for pralsetinib compared with best available therapy for patients with RET-fusion positive advanced NSCLC.

Background: Chemoradiation is an important treatment strategy of locally advanced inoperable or unresectable disease. Radiation dose is an independent predictor of a pathological response. In addition, chemotherapy has further impact on the aspect of outcome. Improvements in local treatment delivery are needed to facilitate dose escalation and to minimize toxicity. There have been sequential improvements in tumor localization, radiation planning and delivery over the years. Helical tomotherapy nowadays provides the most precise data on radiotherapy (RT) dose delivered to thoracic malignancies, and allows greater sparing of the heart from doses associated with increased complications. However, heart disease shows a wide spectrum of pathologies, and multiple risk factors related. The damage of the myocytes may lead to not only myocardial perfusion defects, but also in functional deterioration, or even in biomarkers. Since the impact of radiation-induced heart injury in patients with thoracic malignancies (including esophageal cancer, lung cancer, et al) is poorly documented, we try to delineate of RT-related cardiac effects and clinical impacts. Objective: This study aims to investigate the correlation of post-tomotherapy cardiovascular effects with myocardial perfusion and cardiac functional studies. Methods: The study plans to enroll thoracic cancer patients who will undergo local RT after complete staging. Patients will receive global risk scoring assessment (Framingham Risk Score, FRS), blood sampling for basic biochemistry, inflammatory biomarker, and myocardial perfusion image (MPI) at the time points of before and after RT. The results of MPI will be analyzed in qualitative visual interpretation of perfusion patterns, and functional quantitative data for cardiac functional parameters as well. The patients will be regular followed-up in CV OPD, following clinical judgement and guideline. The association between baseline and follow-up MPI, biomarker and clinical presentation will be further investigated. Expected results: We will obtain myocardial perfusion visual qualitative data in patients who received locoregional RT, respectively. These results will help in the understanding of pathophysiology, clinical management and follow-up of suspected RT-related heart disease.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical, dosimetrical, functional, biological and genetic factors in predicting chemo-radiotherapy induced lung and esophagus injury.

Targeted next generation sequencing (NGS) provides a promising method for diagnostic purposes by enabling the simultaneous detection of multiple gene mutations. This study is to evaluate the feasibility and application value by using NGS into identifying genomic mutations in multiple or multifocal primary lung cancers in cell-tumor DNA (ctDNA) from surgical patients