Clinical Research Directory

Enhancing Cancer Care: Patient Navigation Through EROTC Quality-of-Life Insights at Sohag Oncology Center - A Cross-Sectional Study

This study investigates the use of the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire to assess and address the supportive care needs of cancer patients. It aims to align patient-identified needs with physician-assessed needs to enhance care delivery and referral to supportive clinics such as pain management, physiotherapy, nutrition, and psychotherapy. To improve cancer patients' care, supportive clinics need to be utilised especially for terminal cases. This study investigated the navigation process for patients needing supportive care services based on their responses to the EROTC Quality of Life (QoL) questionnaire, conducted as part of the "Evidence-Based Patient Navigation" initiative. The QoL questionnaire assessed patients across multiple domains relevant to supportive care needs. Approval to use the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire was obtained from the "European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)"5 before study initiation. Our process included both the EROTC-QoL questionnaire (patient-identified needs) and the physicians-assessed needs across four supportive clinics: pain management, physiotherapy, nutrition, and psychotherapy. Clinic navigation was determined by a threshold score (up to a maximum of 4), with patients needing specialized support scoring higher than 2 and those below 2 not needing such services. This initiative (data collection phase) ran from January 1, 2024, to September 31, 2024, and the analysis process was followed afterward. Additionally, we conducted a consistency analysis to measure the alignment between the two assessments.

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.

Survival Monitoring in Russian Cancer Registries

This study aims to establish a holistic framework for continuous cancer survival surveillance in Russian regions with high-quality population-based cancer registry data. The data from the population-based cancer registries of the Northwestern regions of Russia will be used to assess net and cause-specific survival trends.

Nutritional Status and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Common Malignancies(NCOM)

This multicenter, prospective cohort study investigates the long-term impact of nutritional status on clinical outcomes in cancer patients undergoing treatment in Shaanxi Province, China. It evaluates how malnutrition, dietary patterns, and nutritional interventions affect treatment tolerance, quality of life, and survival. The study tracks dynamic changes in nutritional health and related indicators throughout various stages of chemoradiotherapy, aiming to inform evidence-based strategies for precision nutrition in oncology care.

A Novel Ureteric Stent in Kidney Stone Patients and Oncology Patients Compared to a Conventional JJ Stent

Urological stents and catheters often lead to inflammation, causing pain and infection in the urinary tract. Moreover, 80% of stents are associated with pain, negatively impacting on QoL and mental health. Offering novel designs with significantly lower E\&B leads to a reduction in UTIs and improves QoL. Reducing hospital admissions (from 3 to 1 per patient, annually) would free \>100,000 bed-nights, allowing the elderly to regain independence. Our proposed research could have a significant impact towards fulfilling the 'healthy-ageing' Grand Challenge. Additionally, the novel stent reduces prevalence of infections and therefore, of antibiotic prescriptions contributing to the Global AMR challenge.

Clinical Alternatives for Reducing Harm Using E-cigarettes

For patients in cancer care, quitting smoking is critical, but a significant portion of patients in cancer care refuse all components of tobacco treatment, even when offered free of charge. The proposed clinical trial will assess one harm reduction intervention, switching completely from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, among oncology outpatients who smoke and refuse traditional tobacco treatment. This study is a type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial among oncology outpatients at an NCI-designated cancer center who smoke and refuse all components of tobacco treatment (N=208).

The Implementation of the Go Wish Game to Promote Advance Care Planning in Onco- Hematologic Disease

This is a mixed-method, device-free and drug-free multicenter interventional study. The study aims at facilitating end-of-life conversations within the doctor-patient relationship through the use of the Go Wish Game (GWG) and supporting patients, their caregivers and healthcare professionals to complete Advance Care Panning documentation. The GWG helps people clarify and identify their priorities, should they be affected by a chronic, disabling and potentially non-healing illness. In fact, the GWG consists of a small deck of cards, and on each card is a concrete action or situation that may be important to a person at the end of life. The "Onco-hema Go wish-ACP" project aims to evaluate the feasibility of a Go Wish Game-based intervention with patients with refractory lymphoma, leukemia or multiple myeloma or advanced solid tumors with prognosis \> 3 months. In terms of secondary objectives, the study aims to. * Evaluate and compare the intervention with hematology and oncology patients in terms of: - Other feasibility indicators; Involvement in CCP pathways; Quality of communication; Meaning of life; Impact on hope; through a series of questionnaires administered to patients and caregivers involved in the intervention * Qualitatively assess the acceptability of the intervention in terms of recruitment and delivery with patients and caregivers through semi-structured interviews and with professionals through Focus Groups (FGs). * To analyze the clinical records of enrolled patients in terms of: values and preferences; awareness of prognosis; end-of-life choices and shared decision-making on treatment decisions.

Implementing AI-Assisted, Patient-Friendly Imaging Report Summaries to Enhance Oncology Care Delivery

The implementation of the AI-assisted radiology summary tool into clinical workflows is being conducted as part of a standard-of-care quality improvement (QI) initiative at UW Health. The evaluation of this tool's impact via structured feedback from patients and providers is being undertaken as a prospective research study.

Feasibility and Acceptability of Internet-based Parent-child Interaction Therapy (I-PCIT) in Pediatric Cancer

This study is being done to learn whether a telehealth intervention called "Internet-Based Parent Child Interaction Therapy," or I-PCIT," can help parents improve the child's behavior if the child currently or previously went through cancer treatment. Parents who choose to be in this study will complete a survey to help researchers figure out if the parent is eligible for the larger study. If a parent is eligible for the larger study and chooses to participate, if so, the participants will be randomly assigned to either receive the I-PCIT intervention now or to be on a waitlist and begin I-PCIT in 5-6 months. The whole study consists of completing I-PCIT sessions with a clinician and completing 3-4 follow-up surveys after the initial screener survey.

Effectiveness of the Mindful Compassion Care Program for Healthcare Professionals in Oncology and Palliative Care

This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mindful Compassion Care Program (MCCP), a mindfulness- and compassion-based intervention designed to enhance the emotional and professional well-being of healthcare professionals (HPs). The study adopts a multi-center, open-label, randomized, parallel-group, superiority design and includes HPs (physicians, nurses, and nursing assistants) involved in the clinical care of cancer patients across different settings and disease phases. Eligible participants must not have attended MBSR or other mindfulness-/compassion-based interventions in the preceding six months. The RCT has a primary objective of assessing the MCCP's effectiveness in increasing positive emotions and reducing negative emotions among HPs working in oncology and palliative care. Secondary objectives include evaluating improvements in professional quality of life and self-compassion. After providing informed consent, HPs will be randomized to receive either the MCCP (experimental group) or no intervention (control group).

STEP2 vs. Routine Early Palliative Care: Randomized Noninferiority Trial

Palliative care aims to improve quality of life for people with advanced illness, and early palliative care (EPC) has been shown to benefit patients with late-stage cancer. However, specialist teams do not have the capacity to see all patients; on the other hand, many who would benefit are not referred. To address this, the investigators created STEP2, a system that combines online symptom screening with targeted palliative referrals. Eligible patients with advanced cancer are randomly assigned to routine EPC-where all receive a referral-or to STEP2, where referrals occur only if moderate-to-severe symptoms are reported. Patients complete questionnaires on quality of life, satisfaction, symptoms, depression, and goals of care at baseline, 16 weeks, and 24 weeks. The study will assess whether STEP2 is as good as receiving routine EPC by comparing the results of the questionnaires in each group.

Effects of a Group Versus Individual Cognitive Training Program on Chemotherapy-induced Cognitive Impairment (Chemobrain) in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Active Treatment

Introduction: The significant improvement in breast cancer survival, largely attributable to biomedical and technological progress, makes it increasingly necessary to investigate the secondary effects linked to this pathology. Among these, cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) stands out as one of the most frequent yet frequently overlooked complications. Objective: To evaluate the impact of a structured cognitive training program on the management of CRCI in patients with breast cancer receiving active treatment. Methodology: A randomized controlled clinical trial will be conducted with two arms: an Intervention Group (IG) and a Control Group (CG). The study will include patients with a recent diagnosis of breast cancer. Based on sample size calculations, 50 participants will be recruited-25 per group-to detect a minimum difference of 2.95 points on the MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment), a tool commonly used to assess cognitive performance. All participants will receive an informational leaflet aligned with the latest WHO recommendations for preventing cognitive decline. In addition, the IG will complete an individualized cognitive training (CT) program focused on everyday cognitive skills (EC). The program will provide a dossier with 80 training sessions, structured into four phases (P1-P4) of 20 activities each, to be implemented monthly. Baseline assessments and a follow-up four months after the intervention will be carried out in both groups. Variables collected will include sociodemographic and clinical data, as well as outcome measures for cognitive status (MoCA), everyday cognition (PECC), anxiety levels (Hamilton scale), functional capacity (LB), sleep quality (PSQI), quality of life (ECOG), and subjective memory complaints (FACT-COG). Impact: Findings from this study could support the development of targeted cognitive rehabilitation strategies and the implementation of clinical protocols for individuals undergoing breast cancer treatment. By addressing CRCI-an underrecognized but increasingly prevalent issue given rising survival rates-these interventions may contribute to improving patients' overall quality of life.

A Study to Investigate the Safety and Efficacy of NST-628 Oral Tablets in Subjects With Solid Tumors

This is a two-part Phase 1, open label, multi-center, single arm, non-randomized, multiple dose, safety, pharmacokinetic (PK) and preliminary efficacy study of single agent NST-628 in adult patients with MAPK pathway mutated/dependent advanced solid tumors who have exhausted standard treatment options.

Assessing Perceptions of ML Explanations by Medical Oncologists

The objective of this proposal is to conduct a vignette-based survey among practicing oncology clinicians who treat non-small cell lung cancer to assess the trustworthiness of explainable predictions from a neurosymbolic AI vs. State-of-the-art post-hoc explanatory algorithms, using simulated patient data.

CTNow: A Clinical Trials Education Program for Rural Cancer Patients and Oncology Providers

The overall goal of the project is to pilot test CTNow, a multilevel intervention designed to facilitate access and referrals to cancer clinical trials in rural areas through patient and provider education and teleconference resources.

BEhavioral and Adherence Model for Improving Quality, Health Outcomes and Cost-Effectiveness of healthcaRe

Lack of adherence to treatment is a widespread issue worldwide, which leads to higher healthcare utilisation rates and even premature death. While the level of adherence may differ based on the specific condition and treatment, studies estimate that approximately 50% of medications are not taken according to the prescribed instructions. In addition, adherence rates tend to decrease even further when the treatment requires a behavioural change. Literature reviews about factors that affect people's adherence show that it is challenging to predict whom can be considered to have adherent and non-adherent behaviours. In addition, the studies highlight that it is challenging to support a person to be adherent. Based on this knowledge the BEAMER project was established (Behavioural and Adherence Model for improving quality, health outcomes and cost-Effectiveness of healthcaRe). The overall goal of the project is to improve the quality of life of individuals, enhance healthcare accessibility and sustainability, thereby transforming the way healthcare stakeholders engage with patients to understand their condition and adherence levels throughout their healthcare journey. To address the overall goal, the BEAMER project has developed a disease agnostic model named "B-COMPASS: BEAMER-COmputational Model for Patient Adherence and Support Solutions". The aim of the B-COMPASS is to identify patients' needs and preferences which enables the creation of patient-specific supports, with the intention of improving their adherence to treatment within the heterogeneity of the different disease-areas and healthcare contexts. Based on the validated BEAMER questionnaire, the B-COMPASS predicts relative adherence and offers an elicitation process of patient needs and preferences to enable targeted supports to improve patient adherence. This results in an allocation of patients to different groups based on their needs and preferences. Overall, the B-COMPASS provides patient insights that will enable more effective design of patient support, most likely resulting in better patient experience, improved adherence and lower healthcare and societal costs. So far, several activities from a technical and user perspective have already been conducted in the project to refine the B-COMPASS. This has been done by applying an iterative mixed method approach were both stakeholders (regulator, pharma, academic/research and small and medium-sized enterprises) and end users (patients, health providers and health systems) have been involved. Despite the finetuning of the B-COMPASS, the effectiveness of the B-COMPASS hinges on empirical investigations into the structural elements that impact patient behaviour and the identification of predictive factors that can assist healthcare providers' (HCP) and Research Leads in designing more effective treatment plans (the term HCPs/Research Lead include both the individuals and the institutions where care is delivered). Therefore, validation studies will be conducted to assess the B-COMPASS's performance in six therapeutic areas (cardiovascular, endocrinology, immunology, neurology, oncology and rare diseases) with patients recruited in at least Italy (FISM), Portugal (APDP and MEDIDA) Norway (AHUS), Spain (FHUNJ and FIIBAP), The Netherlands (WDO), and Germany (UDUS). The collected data will be used to evaluate the B-COMPASS's capacity to attend to a variety of needs and challenges for adherence.

A Decisional Intervention for Older Adults With Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Their Caregivers

This is a multicenter randomized controlled trial that assesses the efficacy of a decisional intervention \[University of Rochester-Geriatric Oncology assessment for Acute myeloid Leukemia (UR-GOAL)\] compared to an attention control.

Phase 1/2a Study of RP-001 in Participants With Advanced Malignancies

Phase 1/2a Study of RP-001 in participants with Advanced Malignancies

Evaluating the Safety of Shortened Infusion Times for dIfferent Oncological Immunotherapie

This study is an interventional, explorative, prospective study to show whether shortening of infusion times for patients using nivolumab, pembrolizumab, ipilimumab, trastuzumab, bevacizumab, durvalumab or atezolizumab continues to be associated with an acceptable safety profile. Infusion times will be gradually shortened if tolerability allowes.

Feasibility Usability & Acceptability Study: Symptom Reporting by Children Adolescents & Young Adults w/Cancer

The purpose of this project is to pilot test an electronically delivered symptom assessment tool Pediatric Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (Ped-PRO-CTCAE), completed by children/adolescents and young adults (AYAs) and caregivers and shared with their clinicians during an outpatient clinic visit, in preparation for a future test of intervention efficacy.

Impact of Adapted Aesthetic Onco in Patients With Upper Aerodigestive Tract Cancer During Their Management

Treatment for cancers of the pharyngolarynx is mutilating, with major consequences for patients' lives in terms of physical and functional after-effects. The psycho-social consequences are also significant, notably the metamorphosis of identity linked to the disease and its treatment, which alters the patient's self-image. Initial feedback from patients who have been able to benefit from adapted oncoesthetics (OEA) is overwhelmingly positive. This study will assess the feasibility of oncoesthetics and describe any obstacles.

Developing a Multimodal Cancer Pain Database to Support AI-Based Automatic Pain Assessment

The goal of this observational study is to collect short video and sound recordings of people with cancer to create a secure database that can be used in future research to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for pain assessment. The main aim is to build a large, high-quality collection of audiovisual data showing how people with cancer express themselves when they do and do not have pain. Participants will include adults with cancer who are admitted to the oncology ward for pain treatment and a control group admitted for chemotherapy who have no pain. After giving consent, participants will: * Be recorded on video (from the shoulders up) for up to 60 seconds while reading a short sentence and describing their pain or daily experience. * Complete a short questionnaire about their mood and pain expression. * Allow researchers to collect some information from their medical record, such as their pain score, medications, and cancer type. These recordings will be securely stored and used to create a database for future AI research. No medical tests, new treatments, or extra hospital visits are involved. This study will provide the foundation for developing future AI-based tools that could support doctors and patients in monitoring and managing pain more accurately and easily.

The MOMENTUM Study: The Multiple Outcome Evaluation of Radiation Therapy Using the MR-Linac Study

The Multi-OutcoMe EvaluatioN of radiation Therapy Using the Unity MR-Linac Study (MOMENTUM) is a multi-institutional, international registry facilitating evidenced based implementation of the Unity MR-Linac technology and further technical development of the MR-Linac system with the ultimate purpose to improve patients' survival, local, and regional tumor control and quality of life.

Curatively Intended Thoracic Reirradiation

The number of long-term lung cancer (LC) survivors increases, however many patients are diagnosed with recurrent or new thoracic cancers. High-dose reirradiation (reRT) is promising but associated with high severe toxicity rates. Existing studies are small lacking high-quality data, with no clear correlation between toxicity risk and delivered radiotherapy (RT) dose. This Danish multicentre prospective cohort study aims to provide a framework for collecting radiotherapy-related toxicity data, loco-regional control, and overall survival data for patients with thoracic cancer undergoing reirradiation; with the ultimate aim of providing safe reirradiation to more patients. As a secondary aim, guidelines for dose accumulation and provisional constraints for the organs at risk will be used to establish a uniform treatment strategy for reirradiation. The CURE Lung trial will provide high-impact, globally missing data. This project will ensure full utilization of and learning from the trial, adding SDM, PROMs, and modality referral to the trial. It will model the correlation between toxicity burden and doses, enabling individualized reRT with optimized dose prescription based on toxicity risk and patient preferences, and assisting in the decision-making on the prescription dose and optimal modality. This will ensure safe reRT for the increasing number of long-term LC survivors.