View clinical trials related to Brain Tumors.
Filter by:The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if lapatinib when given in combination with temozolomide can help to control ependymoma that has come back after treatment. The safety of this combination will also be studied.
The standard treatment approach for patients with high-grade primary brain tumors includes maximum feasible surgical resection, followed by 6 weeks of concurrent cranial irradiation and daily low-dose temozolomide chemotherapy, followed by 12 cycles of high-dose temozolomide administered for 5 consecutive days every 4 weeks [Stupp 2005]. Contrast-enhanced MRI is the current standard for evaluating the success of therapy and monitoring for tumor recurrence. MRI is typically obtained prior to initial surgery, within 24 hours after surgery, at the conclusions of cranial irradiation, and then every 8 weeks during temozolomide chemotherapy until evidence of recurrence. Despite this careful clinical and radiographic surveillance, and despite decades of research into the histologic and molecular classification of primary brain tumors, our ability to predict tumor behavior remains very limited. Some gliomas will result in overall survival times of only months, whereas other histologically-identical gliomas may yield survivals of years to decades [Carson 2007, Curran 1993, Lamborn 2004]. Current assessment of tumor response to therapy is also poor. Patients with complete radiographic response after cranial irradiation often progress rapidly post-irradiation. In contrast, some patients with enhancing masses at the end of chemoradiotherapy may respond dramatically to further chemotherapy alone, or the masses may even disappear in the absence of further therapy (so called "tumor pseudoprogression") [Chamberlain 2007]. This confounding situation demonstrates a need for better assessment of tumor response.
Aromatherapy has anecdotally been reported to decrease nausea and vomiting, decrease anxiety and increase quality of life in cancer patients. Therefore, the proposed study aims to assess the effectiveness of aromatherapy versus placebo on nausea, vomiting, anxiety and quality of life among pediatric oncology patients receiving emetogenic chemotherapy.
The purpose of this study is to determine if functional MRI is precise enough to provide information about the location of brain functions in patients who have brain tumors. This might allow physicians to use a non-invasive procedure to assist with brain mapping prior to surgery
The purpose of this study is to determine if new MRI methods that measure various information and chemical makeup in the brain, will give early information regarding response to treatment in patients with brain tumors.
Despite significant advances in the understanding of brain tumor biology and genetics as well as improvements in surgical techniques, radiotherapy administration, and chemotherapy methods, many primary brain tumors remain incurable. Most primary brain tumors are highly infiltrative neoplasms, and are therefore unlikely to be cured by local treatments such as surgery, focal radiotherapy, radiosurgery or brachytherapy. A particularly problematic aspect of the management of patients with brain tumors is the eventual development of enhancing lesions on MRI after radiation therapy. The treating physician is then left with the dilemma of what this enhancing lesion may represent (radiation necrosis versus recurrent tumor). The differential diagnosis is between recurrent tumor or radiation necrosis however the amount of each contributing to the enhancing mass on MRI is difficult if not impossible to assess. This particular problem is very common and most patients develop some degree of radiation necrosis after therapy with radiation. Differentiation of necrosis from recurrence is particularly challenging. MRI is typically unable to make this important distinction as there is simply an enhancing mass, the etiology of which could be either necrosis or recurrence. Other imaging methods such as FDG-PET have been used but this technique is also complicated in that the normal brain has FDG uptake and it is often difficult to differentiate recurrence from necrosis. [F-18]FLT may prove to be the most reliable method in making this important differentiation (necrosis versus recurrence) as normal brain and necrotic brain do not have proliferative activity and thus no [F-18]FLT uptake whereas tumor will have proliferative activity and thus [F-18]FLT uptake.
Children treated with radiation therapy for brain tumors are at risk for cognitive problems. These problems have typically been demonstrated on global cognitive measures including measures of intellectual functioning (IQ). Identification of specific areas of impairment can assist in isolating vulnerable brain areas and developing targeted interventions. In this study, we assess brain tumor survivors, solid tumor controls and healthy sibling controls using measures of working memory (online maintenance and manipulation of information) in order to identify a specific cognitive process that may underlie the observed decline in IQ. We are also exploring relationships among working memory performance with IQ, clinical characteristics and a specific genetic factor of interest.
Tumors of the central nervous system are potentially curable. For tumors of comparable histology and grade, resectability is the most important prognostic factor affecting survival particularly in children. However, the infiltrative nature of the malignant cells produces indistinct borders between normal and malignant tissues, and the lack of easily identifiable tumor margins confounds attempts toward total resection. The investigators propose to identify the borders of tumors intraoperatively using protoporphyrin fluorescence of the malignant cells and thereby provide more complete tumor resection.
Children surviving some types of cancer have a higher risk of developing learning problems after cancer treatment than do children who have not had cancer or its treatment. Cancer treatment may cause problems with learning, attention, and memory. The purpose of this study is to identify brain changes that may underlie learning problems in cancer survivors and investigate whether methylphenidate (a stimulant medication) may reduce these problems. Subjects who have had treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or a brain tumor will be asked to take part in this research study. Siblings of some subjects will also be asked to take part, so that their results can be compared with those of children who have had cancer treatment. We hypothesize that children receiving more aggressive therapy will have lower white matter brain volumes and these volumes will be significantly lower than age-matched siblings. We also hypothesize that children who take methylphenidate will show improvements on teacher and parent report measures of attention and social skills.
Patients with recent diagnosis and treatment of a brain tumor will complete a short questionnaire concerning the patient's quality of life and emotional state since receiving treatment. Caregivers will complete a one-page questionnaire concerning the patient's quality of life and emotional state since receiving treatment.