View clinical trials related to Head and Neck Cancer.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of palifermin (recombinant human keratinocyte growth factor, rHuKGF) in reducing the incidence of severe oral mucositis in subjects with locally advanced head and neck cancer receiving radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment for their disease.
Dry mouth occurs very often in patients who receive radiation treatment. Amifostine is a drug approved to reduce the short and long-term occurrence of dry mouth when patients receive radiation treatment for head and neck cancer. Some studies have shown that Amifostine reduces the side effects of radiation treatment for lung cancer. The use of Amifostine is still being investigated in lung malignancies. Amifostine is found to be a protectant from radiation side effects of such normal tissues as bone marrow, skin, oral mucosal, esophagus, kidney and testes. Patients that receive radiation treatments for lung cancer may experience side effects involving the esophagus. It is hoped that patients will benefit from the protection of their esophagus and avoid delays in radiation treatment due to side effects of the radiation.
The purpose of this trial is to investigate the efficacy of cetuximab in combination with chemotherapy in comparison to chemotherapy alone in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer. Overall survival will be taken as the primary measure of efficacy.
This study will examine, for the first time, the independent contribution of a patient's own genetic makeup to the development of post-radiation complications, permitting the future development of predictive tests to avoid radiation injury. To do this, the investigators will examine gene markers in a series of breast, prostate, brain and lung cancer survivors who have received conformal radiotherapy between 1996 and 2003 at the Cross Cancer Institute and Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
This trial compares the use of 6 fractions versus the standard 5 fractions of radiotherapy used in the treatment of head and neck cancer.
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is an experimental radiation therapy technique which is based on the principle of irradiating boron atoms with neutrons. When neutrons have relatively low energy, boron atoms that have been targeted to cancerous tissue using a suitable boron carrier (an amino acid derivative called BPA, boronophenylalanine) will capture the neutrons. As a result from the neutron capture the boron atoms will split into two, producing helium and lithium ions. The helium and lithium ions, in turn, have only a short pathlength in tissue (about 5 micrometers) and will deposit their cell damaging effect mainly within the tumor provided that the boron carrier (BPA) has accumulated in the tumor. In practice, the study participants will receive BPA as an approximately 2-hour intravenous infusion, following which the tumor is irradiated with low energy (epithermal) neutrons obtained from a nuclear reactor at the BNCT facility. BNCT requires careful radiation dose planning, but neutron irradiation will last approximately only for one hour. In this study BNCT will be repeated, and the 2 treatments will be given 3 to 5 weeks apart. The study hypothesis is that head and neck cancers that have recurred following conventional radiotherapy might accumulate the boron carrier compound, and might respond to BNCT.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as carboplatin and capecitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Giving chemotherapy together with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of capecitabine when given together with carboplatin followed by radiation therapy in treating patients with stage III or stage IV head and neck cancer.
RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Cisplatin and paclitaxel may make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) and giving them with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known whether giving radiation therapy together with combination chemotherapy is more effective than giving combination chemotherapy alone in treating head and neck cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying radiation therapy and combination chemotherapy to see how well they work compared to combination chemotherapy alone in treating patients with recurrent head and neck cancer that cannot be removed by surgery.
The goal of this clinical research study is to find the highest safe dose of the drugs OSI-774 and docetaxel that can be given together along with radiation treatment for advanced head and neck cancer.
The goals of this clinical research study are to see how individuals with advanced head and neck cancer respond to treatment with the new drug thrombospondin (ABT-510) and to learn how effective it is in destroying cancer cells. The safety of ABT-510 and the effect ABT-510 has on cells in the body will also be studied.