Clinical Trials

The purpose of this study is to determine whether conventional or new (2D- speckle tracking echocardiography) parameters of left and right ventricular function are impaired during and at the end of proton beam or photon radiotherapy.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the high frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) technique and demonstrate tolerable and reproducible thoracic immobilization with less than 5 mm residual motion.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a moderate hypofractionation regimen of proton beam therapy with same time treatment of the prostate, seminal vesicles, and the regional pelvic nodes  for patients who have clinically localized, high risk or unfavorable intermediate risk prostate cancer.

The purpose of this research is to gather information on the safety and effectiveness of proton radiation therapy in reducing the number of VT episodes in people like you who continue to experience VT despite treatment with an ICD and undergoing a previous catheter ablation.

Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR), or stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), is a specialized form of radiotherapy used to treat prostate cancer with five treatments over two weeks, compared with a conventional eight-week or longer treatment course. The purpose of this trial is to investigate the effect that proton-based SABR has on quality-of-life in patients with localized prostate cancer. The evaluation and treatment will otherwise follow standard of care, and is not considered investigational.

Patients undergo evaluation and medical care in the same way that they would if they were not part of this trial. This may include standard of ...

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects (good and bad) on patients with prostate cancer by comparing the standard dose of radiation therapy (44 treatments over 8½-9 weeks) with a higher daily dose of radiation (5 treatments over 1-2 weeks) to see if the effects of the treatments are similar or better.

Currently, only a few international institutions use CIRT to treat pelvic bone sarcomas. Accordingly, data evaluating the potential differences in oncological outcomes, toxicities, and functional outcomes between CIRT and the more readily accessible local therapies of surgery and PT is scarce. For this reason, we propose conducting a prospective comparative effectiveness study evaluating functional outcomes, toxicities, and local control in patients with pelvic bone sarcomas treated with surgery, PT, and CIRT.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate LET-based modeling as an early and accurate predictor for white-matter changes as identified on MRI and DTI in pediatric patients with primary central nervous system and skull base malignancies following proton beam therapy

This study is being done to study which dose of proton beam therapy (PBT) for unresectable stage 2/3 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

The overall goal of this project is to survey parents of children who have undergone proton radiation for brain tumors and collect key information that will improve the feasibility of our proposed intervention.  The survey will include questions on experience with proton treatment and opinion regarding a proposed early intervention.

This study utilizes a shorter course of radiotherapy for patients who need radiation after surgery or without surgery for head and neck cancers. Radiation is typically given in 6-7 weeks for head and neck cancer using X-ray therapy, but this study will administer treatment in approximately 3 weeks. To achieve this shorter course, proton therapy is used. This study aims to determine cancer control at 2 years after study registration. It also aims to determine the rate and duration of grade 3 or higher acute (defined from treatment start to 30 days from radiation completion date) adverse events ...

The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of hippocampal-avoidance (HA) with proton therapy in suprasellar or midline low-grade gliomas (LGGs). 

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical outcomes of lower intensity (mucosal tissue sparing) proton beam therapy after the surgical removal of oropharyngeal tumors in cancer patients who have a favorable level of risk.

This randomized phase II clinical trial studies the side effects and how well proton beam or intensity-modulated radiation therapy works in preserving brain function in patients with IDH mutant grade II or III glioma. Proton beam radiation therapy uses tiny charged particles to deliver radiation directly to the tumor and may cause less damage to normal tissue. Intensity-modulated or photon beam radiation therapy uses high-energy x-ray beams shaped to treat the tumor and may also cause less damage to normal tissue. Patients will be more likely to be randomized to proton beam radiation therapy. It is not yet known if ...

The overall goal of this trial is to identify a less toxic approach to the delivery of conformal radiation therapy for patients with cancers of the oropharynx.

The purpose of this study is to develop and pilot a novel early intervention program for children undergoing proton radiation thereapy (PRT) for brain tumors.

Survivors of childhood brain cancers who undergo radiation therapy can have damage to normal brain tissue.  Activities such as attention training and physical exercise can improve mental function in children with brain injury that is caused by the radiation therapy.  Improvements in children’s ability to learn, behavior and fitness will lead to a better developmental outcome and quality of life in the longer term.

The purpose of this study is to determine if intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or proton radiation therapy would result in improved local control rates and lowered toxicity compared to conventional radiotherapy. Data from retrospective studies suggest that IMRT and proton radiation therapy each resulted in promising outcomes for patients with sinonasal malignancy. No previous prospective study has been conducted to evaluate the outcome of sinonasal cancer treated with IMRT or proton radiation therapy.

The study would also assess if proton radiation therapy would result in equivalent or improved local control rate with similar or lower toxicity compared to IMRT.  It is not known if ...

The purpose of this study is to utilize a novel approach of combining advanced radiation delivery with proton beam therapy with advanced tumor visualization with 18F-DOPA PET and MRI imaging. We will study the effectiveness and safety of this technique delivering the entire treatment over 1-2 weeks.

The aim of this study is to examine alterations in the skin microbiome that occur during radiation therapy. The study design will examine changes secondary to ionizing radiation, and correlate these changes with the development and severity of radiation dermatitis. The goal is to improve understanding of the mechanism of radiation dermatitis.

A pragmatic randomized clinical trial of patients with locally advanced breast cancer randomized to either proton or photon therapy and followed longitudinally for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, health-related quality of life, and cancer control outcomes. Quality of life is the outcome measure for the estimated primary completion date of November, 2020."

We are studying whether men being treated for prostate cancer have the same amount of side effects from either one of two different external radiation treatments: IMRT or PBT. With IMRT, a number of x-ray beams are used to shape the radiation to the prostate. PBT is another type of external radiation treatment for prostate cancer that is used in a few centers in the United States. Protons are tiny particles with positive charge that can be controlled to travel a certain distance and stop. PBT is precise like IMRT, but it uses proton beams instead of x-ray beams. IMRT ...

This randomized phase II trial studies how well dose-escalated photon intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or proton beam radiation therapy works compared with standard-dose radiation therapy when given with temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays and other types of radiation to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Specialized radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Drugs, such as temozolomide, may make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. It is not yet known whether dose-escalated photon IMRT ...

The optimal dose and fractionation regimen for whole breast irradiation, whole breast and regional nodal irradiation, and postmastectomy radiotherapy remains unknown. The goal of this phase II randomized controlled trial is to determine whether the hypofractionated proton regimens proposed are non-inferior compared with standard fractionated proton radiotherapy and therefore worthy of further investigation.

The purpose of this study is to observe adverse events and effectiveness of hypofractionated concurrent chemoradiotherapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

This is an open label phase II study to determine the safety and efficacy of a novel 3 fraction daily dosing regimen for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) for early invasive and noninvasive breast cancer. The three techniques utilized are recognized as standard options for the delivery of APBI, and there is no evidence that either technique is superior or inferior to any other. The APBI technique utilized will be at the physician's discretion and will be based on technical considerations, availability at the treating radiation facility, insurance coverage, as well as patient preference.

The purpose of this study to assess the effectiveness of proton vs. photon therapy in reducing major cardiovascular events (MCE), defined as atherosclerotic coronary heart disease or other heart disease death, myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, or hospitalization for major cardiovascular event (heart failure, valvular disease, arrhythmia, or unstable angina or other major cardiovascular event) in patients with locally-advanced breast cancer.

Compared to IMRT, PBRT is thought to give less radiation exposure to the surrounding healthy tissues. It is possible that side effect rates with PBRT will be lower or the same compared to IMRT, but this has not been well studied to date. Although both of these radiation therapies have been used in the past to treat head and neck cancer, this research study will compare the effects of these two different radiation treatment modalities with each other to see whether PBRT is better, the same or worse than IMRT.

This research study is a Phase I clinical trial. Phase I clinical trials test the safety of an investigational intervention. Phase I studies also try to define the appropriate dose of the investigational therapy to use for further studies. "Investigational" means that the intervention is still being studied and that research doctors are trying to find out more about it.

Retroperitoneal sarcomas are soft tissue tumors located at the far back of the abdomen. Typically, patients with retroperitoneal sarcomas either have surgery for the removal of their tumors alone, or have their tumors removed, followed by standard radiation therapy, ...

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether proton radiation therapy (proton RT) reduces acute gastrointestinal toxicities at the end of treatment compared to intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).

The purpose of this trial is to determine the safety of 15 fraction vs 25 fraction pencil beam scanning proton radiotherapy after mastectomy in patients requiring regional nodal irradiation. Proton therapy is recognized as a standard option for the delivery of radiotherapy for breast cancer.

The purpose of this study is to assess late > grade 3 GI and/or GU toxicity of interest with the hypofractionated regimen with proton beam therapy or IMRT (late defined as 3 to 24 months after protocol RT).

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how well proton beam radiation therapy compared with intensity modulated photon radiotherapy works in treating patients with stage I-IVA esophageal cancer. Proton beam radiation therapy uses a beam of protons (rather than x-rays) to send radiation inside the body to the tumor without damaging much of the healthy tissue around it. Intensity modulated photon radiotherapy uses high-energy x-rays to deliver radiation directly to the tumor without damaging much of the healthy tissue around it. It is not yet known whether proton beam therapy or intensity modulated photon radiotherapy will work better in ...

The purpose of this study is to determine if prostate cancer patients treated with proton therapy as compared to IMRT experience improved QOL (validated EPIC instrument measuring bowel, urinary, and sexual QOL).

The purpose of the Pediatric Proton Consortium Registry (PPCR) is to enroll children who have been treated with proton radiation in the United States in order to describe the population that currently receives protons and better evaluate its benefits over other therapies. The data collected from this study will help facilitate research on proton beam radiation therapy and allow for collaborative research. The PPCR will collect demographic and clinical data which many centers that deliver proton radiation therapy already collect in routine operations.

The purpose of this study is to develop algorithms that will enable earlier identification and testing triggers for COVID-19 in otherwise asymptomatic patients, and to identify baseline characteristics from patients who ultimately test positive for COVID-19 that may predict clinical trajectory during the evolution of disease.

This study observes the clinical efficacy of combining proton SBRT with PD-1 blockade immunotherapy in both the locoregionally recurrent and metastatic settings.

A pragmatic randomized clinical trial of patients with locally advanced breast cancer randomized to either proton or photon therapy and followed longitudinally for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, health-related quality of life, and cancer control outcomes. Quality of life is the outcome measure for the estimated primary completion date of November, 2020.