Active clinical trials for "Thyroid Cancer, Papillary"

This phase II trial is studying how well tanespimycin works in treating patients with inoperable locoregionally advanced or metastatic thyroid cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as tanespimycin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing.

This phase I trial is studying the side effects of gefitinib in treating patients with metastatic or unresectable head and neck cancer or non-small cell lung cancer. Gefitinib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for their growth

Almost 50 % of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients have central lymph node metastases (CLNM), which are associated with a high risk of persistent or recurrent disease. However, the practice of performing a prophylactic central lymph node dissection (PCLND) routinely remains controversial. The proponents argue that without a PCLND, PTC patients with positive lymph nodes have an increased risk of local recurrence, and postponed node dissection leads to with 5-6 fold higher risk of morbidity. If performed, PCLND in clinical node negative patients increases staging to pN1 in more than 50% of the cases without increasing survival. The complication rate in PCLND is lower when compared to a technically challenging re-exploration in recurrent disease, with reported incidences of 0.6% and 7.3-20%, respectively. Opponents of routine PCLND point out the lack of randomized clinical trials and object to treatment-induced hypo-parathyroidism and recurrent nerve damage for the N0 patients. Currently, no diagnostic tool is available which reliably identifies these patient categories. Therefore, there is a clear need for novel diagnostic imaging modalities that overcome this issue. Molecular Fluorescence Guided Surgery (MFGS) is potentially such a diagnostic tool. The administration of NIR fluorescent tracers can increase detection accuracy of cancer and nodal metastatic tissue using macroscopic MFGS. Therefore, we aimed to identify a GMP-produced near infrared (NIR) tracer that potentially has a high target-to-background ratio in PTC compared to normal thyroid tissue. Tyrosine-protein kinase Met (c-Met) is significantly upregulated at the protein level in PTC compared to normal thyroid tissue. The investigators therefore hypothesize that the GMP-produced NIR-fluorescent tracer EMI-137 (targeting c-Met, peak emission at 675 nm range) might be useful for intraoperative imaging of PTC and nodal metastases. The investigators' aim is to investigate if the administration of EMI-137 is a feasible approach to detect PTC nodal metastases. Ultimately, this method might be useful to improve patient selection for CLND. Eventually, we might also be able to visualize multifocality, more selective lateral neck dissections and asses residual tissue after thyroidectomy. Ultimately, all of these strategies may reduce overtreatment, morbidity, and costs while maintaining the same or better effectiveness with a lower recurrence rate and improved quality of life.

The purpose of this research study is to see if a specific kind of MRI can identify small and otherwise undetected abnormal lymph nodes in patients with thyroid cancer who are undergoing surgery. The MRI is called Ultra-Small Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Magnetic Resonance Imaging (USPIO MRI), and uses an experimental contrast agent (ferumoxytol), to try to identify these lymph nodes. The MRI uses magnetic waves to take images (pictures) of the body and is commonly used in medical testing. Ferumoxytol is FDA approved as an iron replacement product for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in adult patients with chronic kidney disease. In this research study, the investigators want to see if Ferumoxytol will help to identify very small metastases that are not usually seen on standard MRI scans. If the use of USPIO MRI with the experimental agent ferumoxytol identifies very small metastases in lymph nodes, your surgeon may decide to remove them. After the surgery, the nodes will be stored and then analyzed to assess the ability of USPIO MRI and ferumoxytol to detect cancer in very small metastases in the lymph nodes.

Localized thyroid cancer is potentially curable. Before thyroid surgery, an ultrasound test is done to see if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the neck. Excellent for evaluation of the thyroid gland, this test has limitations in evaluating larger anatomic areas, like all groups of lymph nodes in the neck. It has a limited area of coverage making it difficult to define an area of interest, depends on the skill level of the person performing it, and is difficult to exactly reproduce on follow-up. For these reasons, CT is often performed in these patients but without intravenous (IV) contrast since iodine-based contrast agents may saturate the thyroid, limiting the usefulness of other iodine-based diagnostic and treatment options. However, contrast-CT can give more detailed information about tumor spread including spread to lymph nodes. We aim to determine if use of IV contrast agent during CT leads to earlier and more accurate detection of lymph node disease from thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer is a common head and neck malignancy. It is the most common endocrine tumor in the body accounting for 1% of all cancers worldwide. The incidence of thyroid cancer varies worldwide. Most countries have reported an upward trend in its incidence. Thyroid cancer encompass the most common well-differentiated papillary carcinoma (80% of all thyroid cancers) and follicular carcinoma (15%), as well as poorly differentiated carcinoma (< 1%) and anaplastic carcinoma (< 2%). Papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) are the most commonly encountered thyroid malignancies. The diagnosis of PTC is based on the special nuclear features such as overlapping of nuclei, intranuclear inclusions, optical clearing, anisonucleosis and nuclear grooves. However, it is often difficult to differentiate PTC from benign papillary thyroid hyperplasia . As differentiation between benign or malignant thyroid lesions has clinical, therapeutic, and prognostic significance, it is necessary to make accurate diagnosis by using biomarkers. Recently, a large number of immunohistochemical (IHC) markers have been studied to assist in differentiating non-neoplastic lesions from malignant thyroid lesions. CK19, galectin-3, TG, Ki67, BRAF, calcitonin, HBME-1, TTF-1, and RET are some of the examples of these IHC markers. Galectin-3 is a 31-kDa β-galactoside binding lectin. It has been shown to be expressed by several types of non-neoplastic and neoplastic cells, and it is involved in cell-cell adhesion and in cell-matrix interactions.

In this study, we will test, using a randomized controlled trial design, whether the use of a computer-based decision aid (DA) may improve general knowledge and reduce personal decisional conflict in patients with early stage papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), when compared to usual care. Patients with early stage PTC will be required to have surgical pathologic criteria for which adjuvant RAI treatment may be considered optional.

This study recruit the patients with unilateral papillary thyroid cancer before operation,the patients agree to enter the test,and divided into experimental and control group.experimental group patients receive the surgery including unilateral thyroid lobectomy and bilateral central lymph node dissection.and control group receive the surgery including unilateral thyroid lobectomy and unilateral central lymph node dissection.last the investigators compare numbers of patient with tumor recurrence and metastasis rate of 5 years,numbers of metastatic lymph node,and numbers of participants with adverse events related to treatment between two groups in order to evaluate the significance of bilateral lymph node dissection.

Comparison of endoscopic thyroidectomy, robotic thyroidectomy and conventional open surgery, the safety of the operation, the timing of the operation and the complications.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether BRAF V600E mutation in our patients with papillary thyroid cancer has an association with poor prognosis.