32 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Background: Cancers of the nasal cavity or skull base are rare. They often are not diagnosed until they are at an advanced stage, and they often spread to other parts of the body. These cancers may have mutations in a gene called IDH2. Researchers want to find out if a drug (enasidenib) that targets the IDH2 mutation can help people with these cancers. Objective: To test enasidenib in people with cancers of the nasal cavity or skull base. Eligibility: People aged 18 years and older with rare cancers of the nasal cavity or the base of the skull. Their cancer must have an IDH2 gene mutation, and it must have recurred locally or spread to other parts of the body. These cancers can include sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma; olfactory neuroblastoma; sinonasal large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma; poorly differentiated sinonasal adenocarcinoma; or chondrosarcoma. Design: Participants will be screened. They will have a physical exam with blood and urine tests and tests of their heart function. They will have imaging scans of their brain, skull base, neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. A sample of tumor tissue will be collected. Enasidenib is a tablet taken by mouth with a glass of water. Participants will take the drug once a day, every day, in 28-day cycles. They will not have resting periods between cycles. Participants will visit the clinic on the first day of each cycle to receive the tablets they will need to take at home until the beginning of the next cycle. They will keep a diary to record the time of each dose they take. Participants may remain in the study as long as the drug is helping them....
The investigators hypothesize that patients undergoing endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery experience clinically meaningful and modifiable disruptions in postoperative chemosensory function and quality of life, and the investigators further hypothesize that olfactory training in the postoperative period may significantly hasten normalization of patients' chemosensory perturbations. This tailored prospective study seeks to fulfill a significant gap in the understanding of the characteristics, implications, and treatment options for postoperative olfactory and gustatory impairment following endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery.
The purpose of this study is to specifically evaluate the effectiveness of PuraGel, a RADA16 polypeptide hydrogel, in expediting post-operative healing and re-mucosalization of the nasoseptal flap harvest site during endoscopic skull base surgery and the impact on patient and sinonasal morbidity.
To learn about the symptoms and changes our patients experience while receiving treatment for sinonasal or nasopharyngeal cancer
The purpose of this prospectively enrolling trial is to assess long-term cognitive outcomes of patients undergoing surgery for resection of a meningioma associated with the frontal and temporal lobes.
This phase IV trial studies how well serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after radiation therapy works in predicting radiation-induced changes in the normal tissue of patients with oral cavity or skull base tumors. Performing MRIs after radiation therapy for patients with oral cavity or skull base tumors may help to predict osteoradionecrosis (a change in non-cancerous tissue).
This is a prospective, observational clinical trial investigating the morphological and volumetric changes in the brain following cranial Radiation Therapy in pediatric patients with brain or skull base tumors.
The purpose of the study is to analyze biological samples and genetic material for basic science research investigating the molecular and cellular characterization of skull base tumors.
The overall purpose of this study was to assess the necessity of lumbar drain placement after endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) surgery in reducing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak postoperatively and promote a standardization of its use.
The purpose of this study is to compare a subject's sense of smell before and after endoscopic endonasal surgery to remove a skull base abnormality (i.e. tumor, inflammatory process, fracture, defect, etc.) and use the information collected to validate approaches to surgery that will minimize side effects to the sense of smell function. Data will be collected using a smell identification test along with two questionnaires. In addition, demographic, medical history, treatment, outcome, and follow-up information will be collected.
This study is designed to measure forces applied using standard surgical instruments at the skull base during resection of skull base lesions. This data will be useful for optimizing an active canula robot for assisting in skull base surgery. We hypothesize that through measurement of forces generated during routine endoscopic skull base surgery we will be able to optimize the canulas of an active canula robot for skull base surgery.
Current standard of care for complex head, neck and skull base surgery require navigation systems that allow instruments to be tracked optically or electromagnetically while registered to a patient's pre-operative X-ray computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance image (MRI). However, conventionally, the CT/MRI data is not registered with video endoscopy. Augmentation of endoscopic video by preoperative data can facilitate navigation around critical structures and robust target resection. The work presented here describes evaluation of a high definition (HD) video-overlay system for endonasal endoscopic skull base surgery. We adopt a modular design that can be extended for other video augmentation applications. The system supports fast automatic camera calibration, comparable in re-projection errors to standard camera calibration tools, while performing within appropriate run time for clinical use. Phantom studies have shown the registration accuracy of the system to be equivalent to that of conventional optical tracking. With this system we are proposing a clinical pilot study in a small number of patients at Johns Hopkins Hospital to evaluate basic feasibility and to gather qualitative assessment of the video augmentation system.
The purpose of this study is to: * estimate the degree of memory loss, if any following radiotherapy to the base of skull or brain as measured by standard neurocognitive battery testing. * describe radiotherapy dose-related changes in vascular perfusion, in spectroscopic parameters of neuronal injury and changes in the degree and directionality of tissue water diffusivity (diffusion tensor imaging) as a measure of white axonal injury. * to relate these imaging characteristics to the degree of memory loss.
This study is being done to demonstrate the feasibility of using a nasal endoscope to perform intraoperative angiography of surgical field, with the goals to evaluate anatomical landmarks and tumor characteristics during skull base surgery and publish a technical note.
This is a feasibility study in which indocyanine green (ICG) will be administered during routine expanded endonasal approach (EEA) for cranial base pathologies in which a nasoseptal flap harvest will be necessary. The research entails administering ICG, which is already widely used during open neurosurgical procedures, to identify the blood supply at two distinct stages of endonasal cranial base surgery: during nasoseptal flap harvest and after final positioning of the nasoseptal flap to ensure its viability before ending the case.
Endonasal endoscopic approaches are an established treatment for suprasellar lesions compromising the optic nerves (ON). Surgery often involves dissecting tumors from the optic nerves and its blood supply, which can result in nerve damage and visual loss after surgery. To date, there are no reliable methods to monitor the optic nerve function during surgery and thus, post-surgical visual outcomes is unknown until the patients are fully awake after surgery for a visual exam. This delay in diagnosis prevents early therapeutic measures and can result in further harm to the ON. We have recently recognized that when ICG is routinely injected during these cases to check for patency of the big arteries the sub millimetric superior hypophyseal arteries supplying (SHA) the ON are also visible and that lack of visualization of these vessels is associated with worse visual deficits after surgery. Thus, ICG may be a tool to intraoperative predict visual outcomes after endonasal approach for suprasellar lesions and fill the nondiagnostic gap. This study will assess whether endoscopic ICG angiography before and after resection of suprasellar lesions can predict post-operative visual deficits. Successful completion will provide surgeons a novel tool to assess visual function during surgery. The ICG endoscopic angiograms suggested in this study are noninvasive and currently routinely performed at the end of surgery to check for patency of big brain arteries.
Assessing the function of the optic nerve is paramount during various neurosurgical procedures. Effective optic nerve monitoring has remained elusive as Visual Evoked Potentials (the current existing tool) provides only diffuse and delayed assessment of nerve function. Here, the investigators propose a prospective study involving adult patients (aged 18 years and older) undergoing endonasal or open cranial approaches around the optic nerves, who will receive pre- and post-operative visual evaluations. During surgery, the optic nerve and chiasm will be stimulated, and the response will be recorded in both eyes and the occipital cortex via skin electrodes. The investigators aim to utilize anterograde optic nerve microstimulation to assess the nerve's integrity during open and endoscopic cranial approaches. Electrophysiological readings will be acquired, as is routine in the operating room, by our team of experts, and intraoperative findings will be correlated with post- surgical clinical outcomes. Our objective is to utilize existing technology in the operating room to safely and effectively monitor optic nerve function during surgery.
In this study the investigators will study the effects of neoadjuvant radiation therapy (RT), in the form of either proton therapy or stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), on the Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), radiographic changes and radiomics, and the validity of these findings will be compared using the current gold standard- pathologic findings. The purpose of this work is to explore whether the biomarkers may be used diagnostically to better understand radiographic changes following RT. The investigators hypothesize that ctDNA levels in combination with imaging biomarkers identified through radiomics will be a sensitive and specific tool for predicting histopathologic response to RT.
This study allows head and neck cancer surgeons to specifically visualize cancerous cells apart from normal healthy tissue. 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) is a safe and effective FDA-approved agent successfully used by neurosurgeons for FGS of different brain tumors is given to the patients preoperatively. Using specific wavelengths of light as well as specialized magnified lenses the surgeons use this technique to assist in tumor resection.
This trial gathers information from patients with primary central nervous system or base of skull tumors that receive proton beam therapy and see if certain imaging techniques can help detect radiation-related changes over time. This study may help providers learn more about proton beam radiotherapy and how to improve the way it is delivered.
The Auditory Nerve Test System (ANTS) is a novel device that stimulates the auditory nerve much like a cochlear implant. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate feasibility of the ANTS during translabyrinthine surgery for vestibular schwannoma resection. If the auditory nerve is kept intact, then the patients will also receive a cochlear implant at the same time potentially alleviating the morbidities caused by a vestibular schwannoma and asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss.
The investigational part of this study is using a mobile PET/CT scanner to take images of the participants tumor immediately after they are treated with proton radiation. This allows the participant to be treated and imaged on the same bed. The information obtained may improve the accuracy of treatment and may help to minimize the dose delivered unnecessarily to healthy tissue.
We propose a randomized, single-blinded, prospective trial in order to evaluate the efficacy of the Cook Biodesign ENT Repair graft in improving outcomes after the Draf III or Endoscopic Modified Lothrop procedure. The Cook Biodesign ENT Repair graft is a porcine intestinal submucosal xenograft which has been FDA approved for use as an adjunct to natural healing process in the sinonasal cavity. The Draf III or Endoscopic Modified Lothrop involved creating a large unified drainage pathway for refractory frontal sinusitis. After the procedure is completed, there is exposed bone along the frontal beak region which can become a nidus for inflammation, crusting and eventual scarring, leading to stenosis or even complete blockage of the frontal sinuses. The Cook Biodesign will be used to cover this exposed bone in order to potentially reduce the inflammation, crusting and scarring and possibly improve outcomes.
The purpose of this study is to collect and organize data into a repository to gather relevant information for future research from patients diagnosed with a rare malignant sinonasal cancer called esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB) and are scheduled to undergo endonasal skull base surgery. Data being collected includes surgical data, demographics, disease presentation, MRI, CT, PET imaging, and post-operative assessments including pathology tests. After surgery, the investigators will collect chemotherapy and radiation data. Participants will also complete quality of life questionnaires at their follow-up visits.
This is a prospective, multi-center observational study designed to address patient-reported nasal outcomes in adults undergoing endoscopic and microscopic surgical removal of pituitary tumors. The primary objective of this study is to determine the difference in nasal outcomes by using the Anterior Skull Base (ASK) Nasal survey between patients treated with endoscopic surgical technique and those treated with microscopic surgical technique. Patients will be given the ASK Nasal survey to assess their nasal functioning and overall health before their surgery, and at post-operative visits 1-2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months.
Removing a tumor from your brain is hard to do because, very often, brain tumors do not have boundaries that are easy for your surgeon to find. In many cases, the surgeon can't tell exactly where the tumor begins or ends. The surgeon usually can remove most of your tumor by looking at the MRI images that were taken of your brain before surgery. However, the surgeon does not have any good way to tell if the entire tumor has been removed or not. Removing the entire tumor is very important because leaving tumor behind may allow it to grow back which could decrease your chances of survival. It is possible to detect tumor cells by making them glow with a specific color of light (a process called fluorescence). This can be done by having you take the drug, ALA, before your surgery. ALA is a molecule that already exists in the cells of your body. Once enough of it is in your body, it gets converted into another molecule named PpIX. If blue light is shined on a tumor that has enough PpIX, it will glow with red light (fluorescence) that can be detected with a special camera. In this study, we want to determine how the fluorescence (red light) is related to the tumor which appears in the images that are normally taken of your brain (which the surgeon uses to guide the removal of your tumor) and the tumor tissue that will be removed during your surgery. Removing the entire tumor is very important because leaving tumor behind may allow it to grow back which could decrease your chances of survival.
The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if proton beam therapy, with or without photon beam radiation therapy, is effective in the treatment of skull base chondrosarcoma. The safety of this treatment will also be studied.
The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if proton beam therapy, with or without photon beam radiation therapy, is effective in the treatment of skull base chordoma. The safety of this treatment will also be studied.
The purpose of this study is to measure the potential effects of surgical drilling noise and/or vibration exposure on the hearing in the ear contralateral to the surgical site during skull-based surgeries
There are two types of external radiation treatments; proton beam and photon beam radiation. What type of therapy participants will receive will depend upon the location of their tumor. Standard treatment would involve receiving either proton or photon radiation delivered by a three dimensional (3-D) conformal radiation technique. 3-D conformal radiation therapy is a technique where the beams of radiation used in the treatment are shaped to match the tumor in order to avoid damaging the healthy surrounding tissue. Standard treatment also may include photon radiation delivered by intensity modulated (IMRT) technique. In this research study we are using an investigational technique to deliver proton radiation therapy called intensity modulated proton radiation treatment (IMPT) which is used to target cancer while sparing healthy tissue. With IMPT (and standard IMRT), radiation intensity can be turned down during the treatment. This control over the intensity of the radiation dose has the potential to provide accuracy and allows us to more safely increase the amount of radiation delivered to the tumor. This accuracy may potentially reduce side effects that patients would normally experience with 3-D proton radiation therapy. Surgery is often an important component of the treatment for these tumors and may be integrated with the IMPT.