Clinical Trials

The overall goal of this trial is to identify a less toxic approach to the delivery of conformal radiation therapy for patients with cancers of the oropharynx.

For patients with this type of cancer, the standard of care is treatment with chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is typically not used. This is because radiation to the entire lining of the lung has many side effects that are often severe including damage to the lung (pneumonitis). There is a new radiation technique using Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) that has been shown to reduce many of the side effects of standard radiation therapy. This type of radiation therapy specifically targets the lining of the lung, where you have your cancer, and reduces the risk of damaging the lung itself. The ...

The purpose of this study is to determine if GC4419, administered prior to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), reduces the severity of radiation-induced oral mucositis in patients who have been diagnosed with locally advanced, non-metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

This randomized phase II clinical trial studies the side effects and how well proton beam or intensity-modulated radiation therapy works in preserving brain function in patients with IDH mutant grade II or III glioma. Proton beam radiation therapy uses tiny charged particles to deliver radiation directly to the tumor and may cause less damage to normal tissue. Intensity-modulated or photon beam radiation therapy uses high-energy x-ray beams shaped to treat the tumor and may also cause less damage to normal tissue. Patients will be more likely to be randomized to proton beam radiation therapy. It is not yet known if ...

The purpose of this study is to observe adverse events and effectiveness of hypofractionated concurrent chemoradiotherapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

This phase I trial studies the side effects and best dose of pembrolizumab when given together with cisplatin and intensity-modulated radiation therapy, in treating patients with stage III-IV squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may block tumor growth in different ways by targeting certain cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Giving ...

The purpose of this study is to determine if intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or proton radiation therapy would result in improved local control rates and lowered toxicity compared to conventional radiotherapy. Data from retrospective studies suggest that IMRT and proton radiation therapy each resulted in promising outcomes for patients with sinonasal malignancy. No previous prospective study has been conducted to evaluate the outcome of sinonasal cancer treated with IMRT or proton radiation therapy.

The study would also assess if proton radiation therapy would result in equivalent or improved local control rate with similar or lower toxicity compared to IMRT.  It is not known if ...

This randomized phase II trial studies how well dose-escalated photon intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or proton beam radiation therapy works compared with standard-dose radiation therapy when given with temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays and other types of radiation to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Specialized radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Drugs, such as temozolomide, may make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. It is not yet known whether dose-escalated photon IMRT ...

We are studying whether men being treated for prostate cancer have the same amount of side effects from either one of two different external radiation treatments: IMRT or PBT. With IMRT, a number of x-ray beams are used to shape the radiation to the prostate. PBT is another type of external radiation treatment for prostate cancer that is used in a few centers in the United States. Protons are tiny particles with positive charge that can be controlled to travel a certain distance and stop. PBT is precise like IMRT, but it uses proton beams instead of x-ray beams. IMRT ...

The purpose of this study is to determine how well chemotherapy and radiation therapy work with or without atezolizumab in treating patients with localized muscle invasive bladder cancer.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether proton radiation therapy (proton RT) reduces acute gastrointestinal toxicities at the end of treatment compared to intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).

Compared to IMRT, PBRT is thought to give less radiation exposure to the surrounding healthy tissues. It is possible that side effect rates with PBRT will be lower or the same compared to IMRT, but this has not been well studied to date. Although both of these radiation therapies have been used in the past to treat head and neck cancer, this research study will compare the effects of these two different radiation treatment modalities with each other to see whether PBRT is better, the same or worse than IMRT.

This research study is a Phase I clinical trial. Phase I clinical trials test the safety of an investigational intervention. Phase I studies also try to define the appropriate dose of the investigational therapy to use for further studies. "Investigational" means that the intervention is still being studied and that research doctors are trying to find out more about it.

Retroperitoneal sarcomas are soft tissue tumors located at the far back of the abdomen. Typically, patients with retroperitoneal sarcomas either have surgery for the removal of their tumors alone, or have their tumors removed, followed by standard radiation therapy, ...

The purpose of this study is to assess late > grade 3 GI and/or GU toxicity of interest with the hypofractionated regimen with proton beam therapy or IMRT (late defined as 3 to 24 months after protocol RT).

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how well proton beam radiation therapy compared with intensity modulated photon radiotherapy works in treating patients with stage I-IVA esophageal cancer. Proton beam radiation therapy uses a beam of protons (rather than x-rays) to send radiation inside the body to the tumor without damaging much of the healthy tissue around it. Intensity modulated photon radiotherapy uses high-energy x-rays to deliver radiation directly to the tumor without damaging much of the healthy tissue around it. It is not yet known whether proton beam therapy or intensity modulated photon radiotherapy will work better in ...

The purpose of this study is to determine if prostate cancer patients treated with proton therapy as compared to IMRT experience improved QOL (validated EPIC instrument measuring bowel, urinary, and sexual QOL).