View clinical trials related to Head and Neck Cancers.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to see if a new way of imaging called the Cerenkov luminescence or effect that is used with a standard clinical PET/CT and/or investigation scans can be done in order to capture tumor sizes. The investigators believe endoscopies and surgical procedures could benefit from this type of imaging in the future. The Cerenkov imaging could be used as a guide for surgical resections. The purpose of this study is to use the Cerenkov light from FDG, Iodine-131 tracer sand/or other investigational tracers to image tumors and its sizes in the head, neck, breast, axillary and pelvic regions with a highly sensitive camera. The investigators will be trying to see if we can get another picture of the tumor using the Cerenkov light as part of the standard clinical scan or therapy.
The purpose of this study is to study the effect of the drug DCA (dichloroacetate) on recurrent head and neck cancers. Part of this study will also use EF5 PET scan to study tumor hypoxia.
Cetuximab, erlotinib, and panitumumab are all recently FDA approved epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors that treat a wide variety of tumor types, such as colon, lung, and head and neck. Blockade of the EGFR results in inhibition of multiple downstream pathways, leading to slowed tumor growth. In addition, these inhibitors may enhance anti-tumor immune responses through uncharacterized mechanisms. While producing significant responses in many settings, EGFR inhibitors also result in significant skin toxicity (rash) in a high percentage of patients. Multiple studies have correlated the presence and severity of rash with clinical response. Unfortunately, severe rash can often lead to dose delays, reductions, or even discontinuation of EGFR inhibitors, thus limiting their efficacy. The mechanism of both the rash and its correlation with tumor response is poorly understood. Skin biopsies display a robust leukocyte infiltrate, but a systematic analysis of the type of infiltrating leukocytes, activation state, or homing receptor expression has not been performed. Chemokines and chemokine receptors control leukocyte trafficking to the skin and other tissue sites, and defined receptor profiles for skin-, gut-, and lung-homing leukocytes are well established. In this study, the investigators propose to evaluate the homing phenotype of leukocytes from peripheral blood and skin biopsies of patients receiving EGFR inhibitors. The investigators will use RNA microarrays to evaluate the expression of chemokines and other key genes regulated in skin during treatment. The investigators will utilize in vitro methods to investigate effects of EGFR inhibitors on imprinting of T cell tissue-specific homing receptors. The investigators will examine correlations among the pathologic data, clinical findings, and tumor response. If validated, peripheral blood evaluation could potentially be used as a predictive indicator for patients receiving EGFR inhibitors. This study may also identify novel targets for limiting skin toxicity while receiving EGFR inhibitors, thus allowing maximal dosing and clinical response from these agents.
We hope to determine the importance of different genes (including B receptors) in anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy. This has important benefits to patients exposed to anthracyclines, as this could help determine whether certain individuals have increased susceptibility to cardiac injury.
The purpose of this study is to better understand the biology of the body's immune response to monoclonal antibody therapy for cancer. Your health information will be used to identify your tissues. The tissue we obtain may be useful for research or education, resulting in new drugs, therapies or diagnostic procedures.
To determine if high resolution MRI can detect early invasion of cartilage by laryngeal carcinoma, and to determine if high resolution MRI may be superior to conventional MRI imaging or CT imaging to detect cartilage invasion.
To assess the use of the da Vinci® Robotic Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA) in transoral surgeries in patients with benign and malignant lesions of the oral cavity and laryngopharynx.
To see if a limited sampling of tumor tissue from human subjects is a feasible way to gather adequate tissue for cancer stem cell quantification.
This is a protocol to collect tissues, blood, and other specimens from patients with malignant or nonmalignant diseases of the head and neck. Collected specimens will be used in laboratory studies to investigate the growth, development, and transformation of normal and abnormal cells in the future.
The purpose of this study is to identify and confirm new blood and tissue markers for prognosis and tumor hypoxia. Tumor hypoxia, or the condition of low oxygen in the tumor, has been shown to increase the risk of tumor spread and enhance tumor resistance to the standard treatment of radiation and chemotherapy in head and neck and lung cancers. We have recently identified several proteins or markers in the blood and in tumors (including osteopontin, lysyl oxidase, macrophage inhibiting factor and proteomic technology) in the laboratory that may be able to identify tumors with low oxygen levels or more aggressive behaving tumors.