View clinical trials related to Brain Tumors.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to see if there are any differences in patient reported neurotoxicity between patients who receive Levetiracetam tablets for one week after surgery to remove a brain tumor versus those who receive Levetiracetam tablets for six weeks after surgery. Specifically, we will see if one group has less side effects than the other, and whether or not one group has more seizures than the other.
Removing a tumor from a patients brain is hard to do because, very often, brain tumors do not have boundaries that are easy for the patients surgeon to find. In many cases, the surgeon can't tell exactly where the tumor begins or ends. The surgeon usually can remove most of the patient's tumor by looking at the MRI images that were taken of the patient's brain before surgery. However, the surgeon does not have any good way to tell if the entire tumor has been removed or not. Removing the entire tumor is very important because leaving tumor behind may allow it to grow back which could decrease the chances of survival.
The study PNET 5 MB has been designed for children with medulloblastoma of standard risk (according to the risk-group definitions which have been used so far; e.g. in PNET 4). With the advent of biological parameters for stratification into clinical medulloblastoma trials, the ß-catenin status will be the only criterion according to which study patients will be assigned to either treatment arm PNET 5 MB - LR or to PNET 5 MB - SR, respectively. The initial diagnostic assessments (imaging, staging, histology, and tumor biology) required for study entry are the same for both treatment arms. With the amendment for version 12 of the protocol, patients who have a WNT-activated medulloblastoma with clinically high-risk features can be included in the PNET 5 MB WNT-HR study, and patients with a high-risk SHH medulloblastoma with TP53 mutation (both somatic or germline including mosaicism) can be included in the PNET5 MB SHH-TP53 study. Data on patients with pathogenic germline alteration or cancer predisposition syndrome, who cannot be included in any prospective trial due to unavailability or due to physician or family decision, can be documented within the observational PNET 5 MB registry.
There are preliminary studies that suggest that radiation therapy to areas of the brain containing cancer stem cells (in addition to the area where the tumor was surgically treated) may help patients with high-grade brain tumors live longer. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the addition of stem-cell radiation therapy to the standard chemoradiation will further improve the outcome. The investigators will collect information about the patient's clinical status, disease control, neurocognitive effects, and quality of life during follow-up in our department. The purpose of the study is to improve the overall survival patients with newly diagnosed malignant brain tumors treated with stem cell radiation therapy and chemotherapy. The investigators will also measure how patients treated with this novel method of radiation therapy do over time in terms of disease control, potential neurocognitive side effects, overall function, and quality of life.
Emergence hypertension is a common occurrence in patients emerging from general anesthesia. This elevation of arterial pressure is particularly concerning in patients undergoing craniotomy due to increased risk of morbidity and mortality in patients with altered intracranial elastance. Thus, identifying better methods to attenuate the hemodynamic changes associated with emergence from anesthesia can improve patient safety, especially in the neurosurgical patient. Study Hypothesis: Nicardipine is more effective than esmolol as a sole agent in maintaining blood pressure within goal range in the setting of emergence hypertension after craniotomy.
BACKGROUND: - Despite progress, some children and young adults with solid tumors still experience poor survival. - Activated NK cells potently kill autologous pediatric solid tumors, and clinical grade procedures are available to generate large numbers of activated NK cells for adoptive cell therapy. OBJECTIVES: - Primary objectives are: 1) to assess the feasibility of harvesting and expanding activated NK cells to meet escalating dose goals in Cohort A, 2) to assess the toxicity of infusing escalating doses of activated NK cells following lymphodepleting chemotherapy without rhIL15 (cohort A), and 3) to assess the toxicity of infusing NK activated cells with escalating doses of rhIL15 (cohort B) in pediatric patients with refractory malignant solid tumors. - Secondary objectives are: 1) to identify biologically active doses of activated autologous NK cells plus or minus rhIL15 by monitoring changes in NK cell number, phenotype and function, 2) to assess pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity of rhIL15 in a pediatric population, and 3) assess antitumor effects and changes in FDG-PET following administration of activated NK cells to lymphopenic hosts plus or minus rhIL15. 4) to evaluate saftey and efficacy of subsequent cycles of autologous NK cell infusions in patients in cohort A who received benefit from the first NK cell infusion. ELIGIBILITY: - Patients in Cohort A: 2-29 years with with refractory pediatric malignant solid tumors, Patients in Cohort B: 2-25 years with refractory pediatric malignant solid tumors. - Adequate performance status and organ function, recovered from toxic effects of prior therapy, no requirement for systemic corticosteroids and no history of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. DESIGN: - All patients receive pre-NK lymphodepleting chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide. - Cohort A receives escalating doses of activated autologous NK cells to identify feasibility of generating cells and tolerability, and potentially identify an MTD. - A1: 1x10(6) NK cells/kg - A2: 1 x 10(7) NK cells/kg - A3: 1 x 10(8) NK cells/kg - If feasibility and acceptable toxicity is demonstrated for all doses in Cohort A, patients enrolled on cohort B will receive activated autologous NK cells plus escalating doses of rhIL15 using the following schema: - B1: 1 x 10(7) NK cells/kg + rhIL15 0.25 mcg/kg/d IV x 10 - B2: 1 x 10(7) NK cells/kg + rhIL15 0.5 mcg/kg/d IV x 10 - B3: 1 x 10(7) NK cells/kg + rhIL15 1 mcg/kg/d IV x 10 - B4: 1 x 10(7) NK cells/kg + rhIL15 2 mcg/kg/d IV x 10 - Three patients will be enrolled at each dose level, with the dose level expanded to 6 if dose-limiting toxicity occurs. An expanded group of 12 patients will be treated at the highest tolerable dose level. DLT toxicity monitoring will continue for 21 days after the NK infusion, or 14 days after the last rhIL15 dose in Cohort B (whichever is later).
MicroRNAs (miRNA) are molecular biomarkers that post-transcriptionally control target genes. Deregulated miRNA expression has been observed in diverse cancers. In high grade gliomas, known as glioblastomas, the investigators have identified an oncogenic miRNA, miRNA-10b (mir-10b) that is expressed at higher levels in glioblastomas than in normal brain tissue. This study tests the hypothesis that in primary glioma samples mir-10b expression patterns will serve as a prognostic and diagnostic marker. This study will also characterize the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of glioma subclasses. Furthermore, considering the critical function of anti-mir-10b in blocking established glioblastoma growth, the investigators will test in vitro the sensitivity of individual primary tumors to anti-mir-10b treatment. Tumor, blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples will be obtained from patients diagnosed with gliomas over a period of two years. These samples will be examined for mir-10b expression levels. Patient survival, as well as tumor grade and genotypic variations will be correlated to mir-10b expression levels.
The goals of this study are to: 1. To improve upon and develop new innovative magnetic resonance imaging techniques that refine image quality and enhance performance. Improvements in these areas will have positive implications for medical diagnosis and treatment. 2. To correlate MRI images with underlying disease pathophysiology in order to ensure that imaging accurately reflects the disease process.
The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility (ability to be done) of experimental technologies to determine a tumor's molecular makeup (gene expression profile) and mutations. This technology called the "Pediatric Gene Analysis Platform" includes a genomic report (gene expression profile) and a DNA Mutation Panel Report that are being used to discover new ways to understand cancers and potentially predict the best treatments for patients with cancer in the future.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether Tranexamic Acid is effective or not in the reduction of intraoperative bleeding loss in brain tumors resections.