Clinical Research Directory

Manual Therapy in Treating Fibrosis-Related Late Effect Dysphagia in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors

This trial studies how well manual therapy works in treating fibrosis-related late effect dysphagia in head and neck cancer survivors. Manual therapy is the use of massage and stretching exercises to increase blood flow and muscle movement in the neck, throat, jaw, and mouth, which may help to improve swallowing ability and range of motion in participants who have had treatment for head and neck cancer.

Personalizing Veterans' Lung Cancer Screening and Diagnosis

Lung cancer screening with low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) is currently recommended for high-risk individuals who are 50 to 80 years old, have smoked cigarettes for at least 20 pack-years, and currently smoke or quit smoking within the past 15 years. In a prospective cohort at Nashville, Denver, Louisville, Chicago, Kansas City, Salisbury and Seattle Veteran Affairs medical centers, the investigators will evaluate the detection of lung cancer using an expanded screening eligibility criteria based on Veterans' personal and service-related exposures compared to standard of care criteria. Screening a larger population will increase the number of lung nodules needing clinical management and these nodules may or may not be cancer. In a population of Veterans with positive screenings at Nashville, the investigators will also validate a combination biomarker-based approach to manage screen-detected lung nodules to reduce time to lung cancer diagnosis and use of invasive procedures. This study will also convene a Veteran Community Advisory Board and interview Veterans to better understand their thoughts about lung cancer screening and preferences for outreach and engagement.

Long-Term Follow-Up in Patients With Prostate Cancer After Surgery

This clinical trial studies how well a long-term follow-up works in patients with prostate cancer after surgery. Long-term follow-up data may serve as a resource to help ask clinical questions, describe health-related quality of life and long-term complications related, and facilitate future studies focusing on interventions to improve health status and health-related quality of life in prostate cancer survivors.

Survivorship Booklets With or Without Individual Telephone Sessions in Increasing Knowledge About the Impact of Breast Cancer in African American and Latina Breast Cancer Survivors

RATIONALE: Telephone sessions and survivorship booklets may increase knowledge about the psychological and physical impact of breast cancer and increase awareness of available resources. It is not yet known whether survivorship booklets are more effective when given alone or together with individual telephone sessions in informing breast cancer survivors. PURPOSE: This randomized clinical trial is studying individual telephone sessions given together with survivorship booklets compared with survivorship booklets alone to see how well they work in increasing knowledge about the impact of breast cancer in African American and Latina breast cancer survivors.

Energy Balance Interventions in Increasing Physical Activity in Breast Cancer Gene Positive Patients, Lynch Syndrome-Positive Patients, CLL Survivors or High-Risk Family Members

This pilot clinical trial studies different types of energy balance interventions to see how well they work in increasing the physical activity levels of breast cancer gene-positive patients, Lynch syndrome-positive patients, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) survivors or family members of cancer survivors who are at high risk for cancer. Increasing exercise and eating healthy foods may help reduce the risk of cancer. Studying how well different types of interventions work in motivating cancer survivors or high-risk family members to increase exercise and healthy food choices may help doctors plan the most effective motivational program for cancer prevention.

Lifestyle Behavior Influences Among African American Patients With Stage 0-III Prostate Cancer Survivors and Their Partners

This trial studies the day-to-day stress, social support, and health lifestyle behaviors (such as physical activity and nutrition) in African American patients with stage 0-III prostate cancer survivors and their partners. How patients cope with stress may affect their lifestyle behaviors. This study may help understand not only survivors' behaviors but also partners' behaviors and how they interact.

Survivorship Care Planning in Improving the Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors

This randomized pilot clinical trial studies survivorship care planning in improving the quality of life in breast cancer survivors. Survivorship care planning may reduce stress and improve the well-being and quality of life of cancer survivors.

Development and Dissemination of Exercise Prescription and Intervention for Cancer Populations

The purpose of this study is to establish a safe and systematic exercise assessment and prescription program for cancer survivors. It can be challenging for cancer patients to start exercising due to various health risks, so this study aims to create a personalized and easily reproducible workflow. The study will include cancer patients who have completed their primary curative treatments at least 2 months ago. Participants will undergo a comprehensive health and fitness evaluation led by a study physician. This evaluation includes: * A review of medical history and cardiovascular risk. * Functional physical fitness tests. * Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) to carefully evaluate heart and lung function during physical exertion. * A musculoskeletal ultrasound, if deemed necessary. Based on these combined results, the medical team will determine each participant's exercise risk level and design a personalized exercise prescription. Participants will then be assigned to an appropriate and safe exercise setting. To ensure safety and maximize health benefits, the study includes a continuous tracking system. Participants will report their exercise progress every 4 weeks and undergo a full reassessment every 3 months. The medical team will use this feedback to safely adjust the participant's risk level and exercise prescription over time.

Text -Based Depression Screening Among Cancer Survivors

Depression is common among cancer survivors, but current screening methods are not always effective. To help improve depression screening for cancer survivors, this study will conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 60 participants. The goal is to evaluate whether a text message-based approach to depression screening is feasible, acceptable, and potentially more effective than the current standard of care.

Leading Healthy Eating and Activity Promotion Program

The goal of the LEAP project is to improve the health and well-being of cancer survivors and their co-survivors living in persistent poverty areas by providing healthy behavior change support. This will be done by engaging the community in adapting beneficial approaches for promoting healthy diet and regular physical activity into a program for cancer survivors and co-survivors that is appropriate for the persistent poverty context and social determinants of health.

Better Options for Chronic Cancer Pain

This proposal is relevant to the 240,000 cancer survivors who continue to use opioids long after they have successfully completed treatment for cancer at the VHA, placing them at risk of opioid addiction and overdose, and other opioid-related problems. Yet, there are no programs at the VHA to help them find alternatives to opioids, nor evidence to inform the choice of interventions. This study will meet these needs by examining four interventions that are effective at reducing opioid use in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain but have yet to be tested in cancer survivors on long term opioid therapy. The proposed work is relevant to the VHA Pain Office's mission to provide Veterans better pain management while limiting the risks of long-term opioid therapy and it aligns with VHA Research and Development's priority to examine clinical interventions for tapering opioids. Successful completion this project will keep VHA at the forefront of the battle against the opioid epidemic with a strategy that may be adapted to address the same needs in non-Veterans.

Nutrition and Exercise Interventions for Androgen Deprivation Therapy-Induced Obese Frailty in Elderly and Non-Elderly Survivors of Advanced Prostate Cancer

This trial studies how well nutrition and exercise interventions work in reducing androgen deprivation therapy-induced obese frailty in prostate cancer survivors. Individualized nutrition and exercise advice for prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy may help to reduce obese frailty and change the levels of myokines in blood.

Lifestyle Intervention for the Reduction of Prostate Cancer Disparities Among African Americans

This trial studies how well a lifestyle intervention works in reducing prostate cancer disparities among African American prostate cancer patients and their spouses or romantic partners. A lifestyle intervention may help researchers learn if social support can help African American prostate cancer patients and their partners improve their quality of life, support from their partner, physical activity, diet, and inflammation.

An Acupuncture Study for Cancer Survivors With Joint Pain

The purpose of this study is to see whether acupuncture is a practical (feasible) treatment for cancer survivors with joint pain.

Topical Afimoxifene in Treating Patients With Breast Cancer Who Have Undergone Radiation Therapy on One Breast

This phase II trial studies how well topical afimoxifene works in treating patients with breast cancer who have undergone radiation therapy on one breast. Topical afimoxifene is a quick-drying medicated gel that may block the growth of breast cancer cells when applied to the breast skin. The purpose of this research is to determine what effect, if any, differences in skin type between women have on the delivery of topical afimoxifene to the breast tissue, and whether radiation affects the delivery of topical afimoxifene to breast tissue.

Making Healthy Habits Stick

The aim of this project is to help increase physical activity maintenance in cancer survivors.

Studying Health Outcomes After Treatment in Patients With Retinoblastoma

This trial studies health outcomes after treatment in patients with retinoblastoma. Gathering health information over time from patients and family members through vision assessments, samples of tissue and saliva, and questionnaires may help doctors learn more about what causes retinoblastoma, identify long-term health outcomes for patients with retinoblastoma, and find out which therapies may be the best for treating retinoblastoma

LOG-I - Impact Study of LOG-AFTER Software on Long-term Monitoring of Former Patients (LOG-I - LOG-Impact Study)

Childhood cancer survivors represent a high-risk population that requires risk-based follow-up. Follow-up recommendations have been harmonized. Education and information practices regarding follow-up recommendations should be personalized, to ensure understanding by all survivors, including those with neurocognitive disorders. Individualized follow-up is necessary to detect complications that may increase morbidity and decrease quality of life, or even increase the risk of early mortality. In France, the LOG-AFTER software was developed in 2017 by university hospital of Angers and Epiconcept (approved health data host). The main differences with the European procedure concern radiotherapy information, the link with the General practitioner (GP), and the possible addition of information and/or access to therapeutic education in a video format. Indeed, there is the possibility of creating an GP account allowing to receive notifications concerning the follow-up of his patient to be scheduled, to have access to his file summary and his personalized follow-up plan, various information and blank prescription models. LOG-I is a study of the impact of the LOG-AFTER software for the "patient/GP" couple on adherence to follow-up recommendations. LOG-I is interested in all former patients with at least 3 recommendations in their personalized follow-up plan, taking into account the specific population of patients cured of a brain tumor.

Pilot Observational Study and Safety Analysis of FL Nourish Capsules in Cancer Patients in Remission

This is a single-centre, observational prospective study of cancer patients in remission administering FL Nourish capsules (FLNC), a proprietary Chinese Medicine herbal supplement, for the treatment of symptoms associated with qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome.

Health and Exercise Response in Children With Chronic and Auto-immune Pathologies

The aim of the present project is to assess the effects of the chronic diseases and their associated treatments chronic paediatric diseases (CPD), to further understand their impact on physical fitness for public health perspectives. This is an innovative approach in the treatment of chronic paediatric diseases . This project should yield results that help improving treatments for children and adolescents with chronic paediatric diseases throughout physical activity as therapy, reduced pain, fatigue and inflammation, and improvement in physical fitness and life quality. The originality and novelty of this project is to combine architectural, functional and metabolic components of skeletal muscle to further understand the impact of chronic paediatric diseases as a function of treatment, disease activity and maturation status (prepubertal, pubertal or post pubertal). This study will aim at assessing muscular function (force production capacity and fatigability) in specific or ecologic situations so as to get information about muscle functioning on isolated muscle group (here knee extensors) or during whole body exercise. Moreover, results arising from muscle architecture or quality will allow understanding the decrease in strength or endurance reported in the literature. The data collected will allow us to further understand the impact of the disease on structural, functional and metabolic parameters. Finally, the understanding of these alterations will provide information enabling to establish recommendations in physical activity (PA) to reduce or even counter the effect of the chronic inflammation and prevent at long-term overweight and cardiovascular risks. The long-term objective is to contribute establishing recommendations or guidelines for prescribing physical activity during medical therapy. Values obtained in pathological children will be compared to those of control children matched for gender and maturation.