View clinical trials related to Uterine Cervical Neoplasms.
Filter by:Patients with more advanced stages of cervix cancer are treated by radiotherapy. Overall, more than 50% are cured. Approximately half of those patients not cured have current cancer in the irradiated volume. Higher doses of radiation would be expected to cure more patients. To give high doses of radiation safely, the investigators need to know very precisely where the cancer is and then they can use new technology available at the Cross Cancer Institute (tomotherapy) to target the cancer precisely, giving higher doses to the cancerous tissues and lower doses to the non-cancerous tissues. This study of ten patients with cervical cancer will investigate the added value of MRI scanning on precise tumor definition to facilitate more accurate radiotherapy treatment planning. For this study, patients will be treated in the conventional way with conventional doses. The investigators hope that treatment for future patients will be planned with MRI data and that they will be treated to higher doses of tomotherapy.
Standard treatment for non-operable cervix cancer is radiation and chemotherapy. This treatment combination can result in significant radiation side-effects involving the bladder, small bowel and rectum. To improve results with radiation/chemotherapy, higher radiation doses have been tried for cervix cancer patients. Results from using higher radiation doses show that cervix tumours may be better controlled, but the radiation side-effects are worsened. Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and Tomotherapy are new radiation planning and delivery technologies which may allow for delivery of higher radiation doses with less damage to normal organs. The purpose of this project is to determine whether or not IMRT and/or Tomotherapy technology can produce radiation plans that deliver higher doses of radiation to the tumor and lower doses to normal organs when compared to standard radiation plans. The results from this project will provide the basis for possibly treating future cervix cancer patients with Tomotherapy and providing them with improved cure rates along with decreased rates of radiation side effects. No patients will be treated on this protocol, as the investigators plan to only compare radiation dose calculations from different treatment plans created for test cervix cancer cases. There will be absolutely no patient contact in this protocol.
The Cross Cancer Institute has recently acquired a tomotherapy radiotherapy treatment machine; the first of its kind in Canada. It has the potential to improve cancer treatment outcomes where radiotherapy is used. Cervix cancer is a disease where radiotherapy is a particularly important treatment modality. The researchers believe that by combining tomotherapy (which has the ability to give higher doses of radiation to areas of cancer while sparing normal tissues) with radiotherapy given from inside the uterus and vagina (brachytherapy) disease outcomes will be improved. For this to be possible the researchers will need to accurately map the doses of radiation given to the cervix, uterus and other pelvic organs from these two types of radiation treatment. As well as being used for treatment, the tomotherapy machine can also be used for taking medical images by using very much lower doses of radiation. This study will allow the researchers to develop the mapping process by using very low doses of radiation on the tomotherapy unit to take medical x-ray images of patients being treated by brachytherapy for cervix cancer. In this special circumstance the researchers expect the images to be of a higher quality than for conventional computed tomography (CT) scanning or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning.
The purpose of this trial is to study clinical effects of two/four high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy applications and teletherapy with or without weekly cisplatin in cervix cancer.
RATIONALE: Vaccines made from protein and DNA may help the body build an effective immune response to kill abnormal cells in the cervix. The use of vaccine therapy may prevent cervical cancer. PURPOSE: This phase I/II trial is studying the side effects and best dose of vaccine therapy and to see how well it works in preventing cervical cancer in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and human papillomavirus.
The primary goal of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility of using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging guidance in the Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT) unit at the Brigham and Women's Hospital during the implantation of brachytherapy applicators in patients with gynecologic malignancies. Patients with gynecologic malignancies requiring brachytherapy are currently treated under either fluoroscopic or CT visualization of the brachytherapy applicator. Magnetic resonance imaging has been shown in many studies to provide superior visualization of the cervix, vagina and uterus compared to CT. However no prior study has examined the feasibility of using real-time magnetic resonance imaging to assist in the guidance of gynecologic brachytherapy applicators
This phase II trial is studying how well EF5 works in finding oxygen in tumor cells of patients who are undergoing surgery or biopsy for cervical, endometrial, or ovarian epithelial cancer. Diagnostic procedures using the drug EF5 to find oxygen in tumor cells may help in planning cancer treatment
This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of cetuximab when given together with cisplatin and radiation therapy in treating patients with stage IB, stage II, stage III, or stage IVA cervical cancer. Monoclonal antibodies, such as cetuximab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, 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 and other types of radiation to kill tumor cells. Internal radiation therapy uses radioactive material placed directly into or near a tumor to kill tumor cells. Giving cetuximab together with cisplatin and radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.
RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies, such as cetuximab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Cetuximab may also help cisplatin work better by making tumor cells more sensitive to the drug. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving cetuximab together with cisplatin may be a better way to block tumor growth. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving cetuximab together with cisplatin works in treating patients with advanced, persistent, or recurrent cervical cancer.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as tirapazamine and cisplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Tirapazamine may help cisplatin kill more tumor cells by making tumor cells more sensitive to the drug. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Tirapazamine may also make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. Giving radiation therapy in different ways together with combination chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of tirapazamine when given together with cisplatin and radiation therapy in treating patients with stage IB, stage II, stage III, or stage IVA cervical cancer.