Brain Tumor Program

Below are current clinical trials.

Filter this list of studies by location, status and more.

1. A Study to Compare Optimal MRI Timing for Pre-surgical Planning to LINAC-based Therapy

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this research is to compare two different standard-of-care pre-surgical imaging methods. 

2. A Study to Evaluate the Surgical Removal of Residual Brain Tumors Prior to Recurrence

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of surgical resection for pre-recurrent brain tumors. Eligible patients with surgically accessible latent tumors desiring surgical resection will be enrolled to prospectively track short- and long-term outcomes. Safety will be evaluated by quantifying rates of surgical morbidity as compared to patients undergoing RT after surgery, or no surgery for similar latent disease. Variables evaluated will include postoperative complications including death within 30 days, wound infection, length of hospital stay, and readmission rates.

    

    

3. Ommaya Placement for Biomarker Collection

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and feasibility of intra-operative Ommaya Reservoir placement during a clinically indicated tumor surgery in order to facilitate a longitudinal access to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for analysis of exploratory and future tumor biomarkers for individualized monitoring.

    

    

4. Efineptakin alfa (NT-I7) Plus Pembrolizumab for the Treatment of Recurrent Glioblastoma

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this study is to determine the response rate to the combination of pembrolizumab and NT-I7 in patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

5. Effect of Agent Orange Exposure on Endocrine Tumor Aggressiveness

   Jacksonville, Fla., Rochester, Minn., Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz.

   The intent is to collect relevant clinical data on patients exposed to Agent Orange plus assessment of the tissue for genetic mutations known to be associated with growth of thyroid cancer and pituitary tumors and report our findings as a descriptive case series.

6. Testing the Addition of an Anti-cancer Drug, Selinexor, to the Usual Chemotherapy Treatment (Temozolomide) for Brain Tumors That Have Returned After Previous Treatment

   Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz.

   The purpose of phase 1 of this trial is to determine the maximum tolerated dose of temozolomide followed by selinexor in recurrent glioblastoma patients as determined by dose-limiting toxicities [DLTs] and the total toxicity profile.

   The purpose of phase 2 of this trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of sequentially administering temozolomide and selinexor in recurrent glioblastoma as determined by progression-free survival [PFS].

7. A Study to Evaluate Advanced Development of Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Intraoperative Molecular Diagnosis of Brain Cancer

   Jacksonville, Fla.

   The purpose of this study is to explore the translational abilities of desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) as intraoperative diagnostic tool to identify cancerous versus noncancerous tissue and estimate the percentage of tumor infiltration in tissue biopsies, by monitoring depletion of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and aberrations of the phospholipid signature of neurological tissue; and to identify the presence of IDH mutations by monitoring the 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG) and, therefore, differentiate between IDH-mutant and wild-type gliomas.

8. A Study Of The Drugs Selumetinib Vs. Carboplatin And Vincristine In Patients With Low-Grade Glioma

   Rochester, Minn.

   This study aims to demonstrate that the efficacy of treatment with selumetinib as measured by event-free survival (EFS) is non-inferior compared to treatment with carboplatin/vincristine (CV) in previously-untreated low-grade glioma (LGG) not associated with BRAFV600E mutations or systemic neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).

9. Human Blood and Tissues Repository for Neuroscience Research

   Jacksonville, Fla.

   The purpose of this study is to collect adult human blood, cerebrospinal fluid, brain, and spine tissues/fluids at time of surgery in order to conduct future studies of the cellular mechanisms of tissue invasion utilized by brain and spine tumors of the central nervous system (CNS).

10. A Study to Explore if it is Possible to Successfully Obtain Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) Imaging and Data While Patients Undergo Brain Surgery

    Jacksonville, Fla.

    The goal of this study is to investigate the feasibility of successfully obtaining intra-operative OCT imaging and data during standard brain surgery.