View clinical trials related to Esophageal Cancer.
Filter by:There is a need for more effective therapy for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who developed disease progression after first line therapy. Currently, there is no standard second-line therapy for this disease. BKM-120 is a pan-PI3K inhibitor currently tested in clinical trials. In a cellular model of oral-esophageal carcinogenesis, it has shown that EGFR overexpression activated PI3/AKT pathway. Therfore, there is interest to see the efficacy and safety of BKM120 in this setting.
Background: A recent systematic review showed that patients undergoing esophagectomy for cancer had scores of physical function, vitality and performance of health in general significantly lower than those obtained from the reference population. The analysis of the quality of life at six months follow-up showed that the total score and physical function were better before surgery and symptoms-based scales indicated that the fatigue, dyspnoea and diarrhea were worse six months after esophagectomy. The objective of this study is therefore to assess the impact of esophageal resections for cancer on the quality of life of patients and to improve it through simple interventions of post operative care. The study is divided into two steps. This is step 2. At hospital discharge, patients will be randomized into 4 groups receiving respectively: nutritional and respirology counseling; nutritional counseling alone; respirology counseling alone; standard care. All the patients fill in the questionnaires QLQ C30, OES18, INPAT32 at 1 and 3 months after the surgical operation. Primary end-points are the items DY (dyspnoea), AP (appetite loss) and QL2 of QLQ C30. Secondary end point is the item EA (eating) of OES18.
Background: A recent systematic review showed that patients undergoing esophagectomy for cancer had scores of physical function, vitality and performance of health in general significantly lower than those obtained from the reference population. The analysis of the quality of life at six months follow-up showed that the total score and physical function were better before surgery and symptoms-based scales indicated that the fatigue, dyspnoea and diarrhea were worse six months after esophagectomy. The objective of this study is therefore to assess the impact of esophageal resections for cancer on the quality of life of patients and to improve it through simple interventions of post operative care. The study is divided into two steps. This is step 1. Patients will be randomized into four groups receiving respectively: psychological counseling for support plus appropriate measures to reduce sleep-wake rhythm disorders during ICU stay; psychological counseling alone; appropriate measures to reduce sleep-wake rhythm disorders during ICU stay alone; or standard care. The primary end point are the items SL (sleep disorder) and QL2 of the QLQ C30, and the secondary end point is the score of the PSQI.
Esophageal cancer is one of the common malignant disease, especially in China. The annual incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is 260,000 with the motility of 210,000. The prognosis of esophageal cancer is very poor. About 50% of patients have advanced disease at diagnosis and the natural course is only 6-8 months with a 5-year survival rate of 5-7%. Though some patients received surgical treatment, disease will recurrent and metastasis in nearly 90% of the patients. In past decades, there isn't much improvement of the outcome and survival of advanced esophageal cancer due to the lack of effective chemotherapy agents. The traditional chemotherapy drugs include 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin and the combination of them results in a 25-35% response rate in both first-line and palliative treatment. Paclitaxel plus cisplatin regiment is another promising treatment of esophageal cancer and have been proved effective in many studies. One of our previous study showed paclitaxel and cisplatin treatment resulted in encouraging response rate with manageable side-effects in 131 patients of advanced esophageal cancer. However, the toxicities of paclitaxel and cisplatin limit their combination in clinic. For example, the polyoxyethylene castor oil paclitaxel could induce acute hypersensitivity reactions and neurotoxicity. Cisplatin could result in dysfunction of kidney and neurotoxicity. In addition, most of esophageal cancer patients are age 65 to 70. Many of them have simultaneously other diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease which cause varying damages of renal function and limit the use of cisplatin in these patients. Therefore, it is urgent for doctors to seek an alternative of cisplatin in the combination chemotherapy treatment. Therefore, the investigators designed this randomized clinical trial in which a novel combination of S-1 with paclitaxel is used to treat advanced esophageal cancer patients in compare with paclitaxel/cisplatin and 5-FU/cisplatin treatment to explore its efficacy and toxicity. The investigators hope this study will provide some clues for the treatment of esophageal cancer patients.
Background: - Mithramycin is a drug that was first tested as a cancer therapy in the 1960s. It acted against some forms of cancer, but was never accepted as a treatment. Research suggests that it may be useful against some cancers of the chest, such as lung and esophageal cancer or mesothelioma. Researchers want to see if mithramycin can be used to treat these types of cancer. Objectives: - To see if mithramycin is safe and effective against different chest cancers. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age who have lung, esophagus, pleura, or mediastinum cancers. Design: - Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. Blood and urine samples will be collected. Imaging studies and tumor tissue samples will be used to monitor the cancer before treatment. - Participants will receive mithramycin every day for 7 days, followed by 7 days without treatment. Each 14-day round of treatment is called a cycle. - Treatment will be monitored with frequent blood tests and imaging studies. - Participants will continue to take the drug for as long as the side effects are not severe and the tumor responds to treatment.
This study consists of a prospective clinical trial which aims to evaluate the impact of stent insertion for palliation of malignant dysphagia. The main goal being to examine the number of days required following stenting in order to have significant improvement in dysphagia and the length of time that this baseline is maintained. Approximately 100 patients will be prospectively enrolled in this study. Patients with end stage inoperable esophageal cancer deemed candidates for intraluminal esophageal palliative stent insertion will be prospectively enrolled into the study. Patients with esophageal obstruction or stricture due to other benign causes, tumors obstructing the cervical esophagus, as well as patients with airway-esophageal fistulas will be excluded from the study. The investigators plan to evaluate the efficacy of intra-esophageal stent insertion to improve malignant dysphagia as a main factor affecting the quality of life in these patients.
Postoperative pneumonia is a major complication in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. It leads to considerable morbidity and contributes to perioperative morbidity. There is evidence in literature that supports the use of strategies for improved oral hygiene and specialized endotracheal tubes in preventing ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) in mechanically ventilated patients. This study aims at utilizing a combination of these interventions in the perioperative period in patients undergoing planned thoracic surgical procedures.
Background: - Gastrointestinal cancers are among the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United States. - There are currently no tests to predict how patients with gastrointestinal cancers will respond to radiation therapy or which patients may develop side effects from treatment. - Studies on tumor cells in the stool, urine, or blood from patients may provide valuable information that can be used to develop tests to determine which patients may need more or less aggressive therapy. - Studies of other substances in the stool, urine, or blood from patients may provide valuable information that can be used to develop tests to determine which patients are likely to develop side effects from radiation treatments. Objectives: - To collect blood, urine and stool specimens from patients with gastrointestinal cancers who will undergo radiation therapy. - To study hormone and protein changes in these blood, urine and stool specimens before, during and after radiation treatment in order to develop a way to predict how gastrointestinal cancers will respond to radiation therapy and if patients with these cancers will develop side effects from radiation treatment. Eligibility: -Patients 18 years of age and older with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract (esophagus, stomach, pancreas, rectum) who plan to receive radiotherapy to the site of the cancer on an National Cancer Institute (NCI) protocol Design: Participants undergo the following procedures: - Tumor biopsy: Before any treatment or at the time of surgery if it is the first treatment - Urine collection: Before, during, and after treatment and at follow-up visits. - Stool collection: Before, during, and after treatment and at follow-up visits. - Blood collection: Before, during, and after treatment and at follow-up visits. - Intestinal permeability assessment: Before any treatment, before radiation (if radiation is not the first treatment), 1 month after radiation is completed, and 3 months after radiation is completed. This test determines how the patients intestines are working to absorb sugar and may provide information about side effects from radiation treatments. Patients fast after midnight, then drink a small glass of sugars, and then do a 6-hour urine collection.
This is a Phase 2 Study of Paclitaxel with Cisplatin versus Fluoropyrimidine with a Platinum Agent for Neoadjuvant Therapy in Operable Esophageal Cancer Based on CHFR Methylation Status in Diagnostic Biopsies.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society there are approximately 1700 new cases of esophageal cancer per year in Canada. As most of these patients are diagnosed in advanced stages of the disease, 1800 deaths are estimated from this cancer annually . Progressive dysphagia is the most common presenting symptom and impacts not only the patient's quality of life but the ability to tolerate life prolonging treatments such as systemic chemotherapy. Although there are several therapeutic modalities to alleviate malignant dysphagia including laser, photodynamic therapy and cryotherapy , the use of stents and radiotherapy are the most commonly employed. However, the optimal approach to effective, timely treatment of malignant dysphagia remains a challenge. The investigators conducted a preliminary retrospective review to investigate such palliation procedures and found that a multi-modality approach may yield the most favourable results . Therefore, our clinical trial will examine the effectiveness of adding a single dose of brachytherapy to patients with severe dysphagia who have already been treated with a endoscopically placed self-expanding metallic stent.