View clinical trials related to Brain Neoplasm.
Filter by:This drug is being developed to treat a type of brain cancer, glioma. This study was designed to determine a safe and well tolerated dose. Patients must have had prior treatment for their glioma and be eligible for removal of their recurring tumor.
The main source of energy for the brain comes from a combination of oxygen and glucose (sugar). For brain cells to function normally they must receive a constant supply of these nutrients. As areas of the brain become more active blood flow into and out of these areas increase. In addition to oxygen and glucose, the brain uses chemical compounds known as phospholipids. These phospholipids make up the covering of nerve cells that assist in the transfer of information from cell to cell. Without phospholipids brain cell activity may become abnormal and cause problems in the nervous system. Certain diseases like Alzheimer's disease and brain tumors can affect blood flow to the brain and change the way the brain metabolizes phospholipids. In addition to diseases, changes in the brain occur with normal healthy aging. This study is designed to use PET scan to measure changes in blood flow and changes in phospholipid metabolism. Using this technique, researchers can improve their understanding of how certain diseases change the shape and function of the brain.
Brain tumors represent the most common solid tumor of childhood. Treatment generally entails surgery and radiation, but local recurrence is frequent. Chemotherapy is often used in an adjuvant setting, to delay radiation therapy or for resistant disease. Children with brain tumors are generally followed by imaging studies, such as CT or MRI. Difficulty arises in trying to distinguish tumor regrowth from treatment related edema, necrosis or radiation injury. Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic (NMRS) Imaging is a non-invasive method of detecting and measuring cellular metabolites in vivo. NMRS imaging complements routine MRI by giving chemical information in conjunction with spatial information obtained by MRI. This study will be conducted to determine NMRS imaging patterns before, during and after chemotherapy in pediatric patients with primary or metastatic brain tumors in an attempt to identify and characterize specific patterns of metabolites related to tumor regrowth, tumor response to therapy, edema or necrosis.
Malignant brain tumors are responsible for a significant amount of deaths in children and adults. Even with advances in surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, many patients diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor survive only months to weeks. In an attempt to improve the prognosis for these patients, researchers have developed a new approach to brain tumor therapy. This approach makes use of DNA technology to transfer genes sensitive to therapy into the cells of the tumor. Infections with the herpes simplex virus can cause cold sores in the area of the mouth. A drug called ganciclovir (Cytovene) can kill the virus. Ganciclovir is effective because the herpes virus contains a gene (Herpes-Thymidine Kinase TK gene) that is sensitive to the drug. Researchers have been able to separate this gene from the virus. Using DNA technology, researchers hope to transfer and implant the TK gene into tumor cells making them sensitive to ganciclovir. In theory, giving patients ganciclovir will kill all tumor cells that have the TK gene incorporated into them.
Presently, patients with primary malignant brain tumors have a life expectancy of 15 weeks following surgery unless they receive additional types of therapy (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and/or immunotherapy). Patients that receive additional therapy can increase life expectancy to 50 weeks. The statistics on the life expectancy and survival have increased efforts among researchers to develop new treatments for primary malignant brain tumors. This research project involves the growth and study of human brain tumor cells outside the body in the laboratory as part of an attempt to better understand these tumors and to develop more effective treatments for them.