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UNITy-BasED MR-Linac Adaptive Simultaneous Integrated Hypofractionated Boost Trial for High Grade Glioma in the Elderly
The usual standard of care for patients over 65 diagnosed with glioblastoma ("GBM") or Grade 4 astrocytoma, IDH-mutant is a 3-week course of radiotherapy, with concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ). This radiation dose and length of treatment are less than what would be given for younger patients, primarily due to unclear survival benefits from randomized trials. However, survival remains dismal, and may be partially due to the reduced radiation dose. Recent studies investigating this have found that increased radiation dose (to the equivalent of what is normally given over 6 weeks in younger patients) over 3 weeks is well-tolerated and has improved survival...
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UNIty-Based MR-Linac Guided Adaptive RadioThErapy for High GraDe Glioma-3 (UNITED-3)
The goal of this study is to test whether an adaptive radiation therapy (RT), two-phase approach in participants with glioblastoma impacts local control compared to standard non-adaptive RT approach. The main questions of the study are to see how this adaptive, two-phase RT approach compares to standard RT in terms of: - Local control - Overall and progression-free survival - Patterns of failure - Toxicity, Neurological Function, and Quality of Life
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Use of 68Ga-dotatate PET Scan in Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the GI Tract
The purpose of the study is to understand the extent and degree of somatostatin receptor expression in poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas . This may help to make a determination if a radiolabeled somatostatin analog therapy, also referred to as peptide receptor radiotherapy (PRRT), can be a potential alternative in the future. At this time, radiolabeled somatostatin analogs have not been tested in patients with poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas, and their efficacy in this disease is not well known Understanding the extent and degree of somatostatin receptor expression is important in order to evaluate the potential of radiolabeled somatostatin analog...
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Use of 68Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT-enterography for Detection of the Primary Lesion in Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Small Bowel
The neuroendocrine neoplasms of the small intestine (Si-NENs) is a relatively rare malignancy. Surgical resection is the only curative treatment for the early-stage. It remains controversial its application for advanced metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NETs). The identification of metastatic disease and tumor grade are the most important prognostic factors in advanced GEPNETs. Therefore, precise staging and evaluation of disease burden with a reliable imaging method is crucial for determining the correct stage of the disease and consequently the correct treatment. A unique feature of NeuroEndocrinal Tumors (NETs) is the expression of...
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Use of CEST (Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer) Imaging in PET/MRI
Standard Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is based on the excitation of hydrogen nuclei that are presents in water molecules, which abundance in human body allows for obtention of superior contrast. However, assessing the presence of other molecules than water in tissues is also of great clinical interest to probe metabolites related to physiological body function and pathological conditions. Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) allow to overcome some limitations of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) by exploiting chemical properties of the targeted molecule through a continuous process of re-saturation and exchange, and thus detecting it with increased...
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Use of DTT to Define Facial Nerve Position in Vestibular Schwannomas
Vestibular schwannomas (VS) arise from the vestibulocochlear (hearing and balance) nerve, located at the base of the brain. Although benign, VS can enlarge over time, resulting in debilitating symptoms; therefore, surgical removal is frequently offered. One significant risk of surgery is inadvertent injury to the facial nerve, which lies adjacent to the vestibulocochlear nerve. Currently, the nerve's course is only revealed during surgical dissection and injury can cause permanent facial weakness. It would therefore be useful for the surgeon to know the course of the nerve before operating. To this end, a new MRI technique known as probabilistic diffusion tensor tractography (DTT)...
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Use of Pulsed Low-dose Rate Re-irradiation for Recurrent Glioma (PULSAR)
Re-irradiation in gliomas is a therapeutic option at recurrence before of 2nd-line chemotherapy. The dose of re-irradiation with conventional fractionation is unfortunately limited by the risk of symptomatic radionecrosis that is significant for cumulative doses above 100 Gy. The use of unconventional low dose rate pulsed radiotherapy (pLDRT) can reduce the risk of radiotoxicity while taking advantage of the cellular hyper-radiosensitivity that occurs at low dose-rates. The present study therefore aims at evaluating whether the use of pLDRT in the re-irradiation of recurrences of gliomas allows maintaining a low risk of symptomatic radionecrosis even for cumulative doses greater...
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Use of Virtual Reality for Surgical Planning in Neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma is one of the most common extracranial solid tumors in children. It originates from cells of the neural crest, and can be located at the adrenal level, or in the sympathetic chains from the neck to the pelvis. Surgery still remains a mainstay part of the treatment and this is particularly challenging when IDRF are present. Adequate surgical planning, based on images such as CT Scans, MRI and/or nuclear medicine is crucial. This project seeks to compare; surgical time, GTR percentage and complications between standard surgical planning with biplanar 2D images vs the use of virtual reality as a planning tool, through the segmentation and post-processing of medical...
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Using Biomarkers to Help Guide Safe Immunotherapy Discontinuation in Patients With Unresectable Stage IIIB-IV Melanoma, The PET-Stop Trial
This phase II trial investigates how well biomarkers on PET/CT imaging drive early discontinuation of anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with stage IIIB-IV melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery (unresectable). Anti-PD-1 therapy has become a standard therapy option for patients with unresectable melanoma. This trial is being done to determine if doctors can safely shorten the use of standard of care anti-PD1 therapy for melanoma by using biomarkers seen on PET/CT imaging and tumor biopsy.
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Using Nivolumab Alone or With Cabozantinib to Prevent Mucosal Melanoma Return After Surgery
This phase II trial tests whether nivolumab in combination with cabozantinib works in patients with mucosal melanoma. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Cabozantinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. It works by blocking the action of an abnormal protein that signals tumor cells to multiply. This helps stop the spread of tumor cells. Giving nivolumab in combination with cabozantinib could prevent cancer from returning.
