Clinical Research Directory

Incentive Spirometry to Improve Outcomes in Lung Cancer Patients Undergoing Concurrent Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if using an incentive spirometer can reduce lung problems in people with advanced lung cancer who are receiving chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The main questions the study aims to answer are: Does using an incentive spirometer lower the chances of developing lung inflammation (pneumonitis)? Does it improve overall survival and quality of life? Participants will: Use an incentive spirometer, a device that helps with deep breathing, 10 times every hour while awake. Continue using the spirometer daily during treatment and for up to three months after treatment. Complete quality of life assessments at the start of the study and at 3, 6, and 12 months. Researchers will compare the results to see if the incentive spirometer helps reduce lung problems and improves participants\' well-being during and after their cancer treatment.

Hippocampal-Sparing Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation in Pathologically Nodal Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Background. During the clinical course of patients with locoregionally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) who have undergone aggressive treatment, brain metastasis (BM) is a frequent seen pattern of disease relapse, which cannot be ignored. It still remains unresolved whether prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) via whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) should be recommended for NSCLC patients with stage III or pathologically nodal positive disease. Actually, PCI would significantly decrease the incidence of BM; however, potential WBRT-related neurocognitive function (NCF) sequelae are indeed a concern, which has made PCI seldom applied in clinical practice. In terms of the time course of WBRT-induced NCF decline, it might vary considerably according to the specific domains which are selected to be measured. Early neurocognitive decline principally involve impairments of episodic memory, which has been significantly associated with functions of the hippocampus. This study thus aims to explore the impact of PCI on the subsequent risk of developing BM and the multi-domain neurobehavioral functions in our eligible patients. Methods. Potentially eligible subjects are postoperative NSCLC patients with a status of pathologically nodal metastasis (pN+). Patients randomly assigned to the PCI arm will undergo the course of hippocampal-sparing PCI after they complete the fourth course of adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy. Radiotherapy dose will be 3000 cGy in 15 fractions during three weeks. Except for the administration of hippocampal-sparing PCI, patients assigned to the observation arm should receive the same baseline and follow-up brain imaging examinations and neurocognitive assessments as those in PCI arm. Accordingly, a battery of neuropsychological measures, which includes 7 standardized neuropsychological tests (e.g., executive functions, verbal \& non-verbal memory, working memory, and psychomotor speed), is used to evaluate neurobehavioral functions for our registered patients. Expected results. This randomized controlled study aims to verify that the incidence of BM still can significantly be reduced by hippocampal-sparing PCI; additionally, NCF preservation regarding neurobehavioral assessments might also be achieved by hippocampal-sparing PCI as compared with the observation arm without PCI. No matter what the final results present, it is believed that this randomized controlled trial (RCT) will provide us solid evidence concerning the exact value of hippocampal-sparing PCI in our patient setting.