Clinical Research Directory

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Monitoring of Neurological Symptoms, Treatment Tolerance, and Quality of Life Using the Resilience PRO Electronic Patient-reported Outcome Application in Patients With IDH-mutated Glioma

Patients with IDH-mutant glioma frequently experience symptoms such as fatigue, seizures, headaches, cognitive impairments (primarily attentional), and mood changes, which can significantly affect their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Disease progression and treatment-related toxicities are the two primary factors driving the decline in HRQoL in this population. These symptoms can be exacerbated by side effects from available therapeutic options, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or targeted IDH inhibitors. In this context, it is crucial to consider the combined effects of these treatments on patient symptoms and HRQoL. Given that this population is young and otherwise healthy, with long-term survival exceeding 10 years after diagnosis, it is essential to consider not only on longevity but also on overall functioning and HRQoL when making treatment decisions. Assessing quality of life has therefore become a key parameter in phase III clinical trials and observational studies under real-world conditions. The Resilience PRO digital medical device (DMD; CE-marked class IIa) enables remote monitoring of patients treated for cancer who are receiving systemic therapy. Resilience PRO has been positively evaluated by the French National Health Authority (HAS) and included on the LATM list under its brand name. Resilience PRO sends validated weekly questionnaires to patients (NCI PRO-CTCAE ePatient Reported Outcomes \[ePROs\]), inquiring about treatment- and disease-related symptomatic adverse events. The associated alert algorithm, equivalent to those used in the STAR and PRO-TECT studies, allows for the proactive management of severe or worsening symptoms by the healthcare professional receiving the alert. Additionally, Resilience PRO provides patients with personalized access to a mobile app that offers resources aimed at improving education, self-management, and patient engagement. These innovations lead to clinical benefits (improved quality of life, reduced morbidity, and increased overall survival), as well as organizational benefits (reduced emergency room visits and hospitalizations) and economic advantages.

Evaluating the Implementation and Impact of Standard-of-care Delivered Oncology Financial Navigation

The purpose of this study is to understand the implementation and impact of a pragmatically-delivered oncology financial navigation program. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. How did oncology financial navigation implementation strategies affect implementation outcomes? 2. What is the impact of financial navigation on patient financial hardship, quality of life, and psychological distress? 3. How were implementation strategies utilized to overcome barriers to oncology financial navigation? Researchers will examine secondary, standard-of-care collected, patient-reported data, electronic medical record data, and qualitative interview data to answer these questions.

Multicentre Randomised Study Comparing a Taurolidine Lock and a Standard Saline Lock in Paediatric Oncology

Interest of a Taurolidine lock at each catheter closure in the primary prevention of catheter-related endoluminal infection in paediatric oncology. Multicentric, controlled, randomized and double-blind label study.

DEprescribing: Perceptions of PAtients Living With Advanced Cancer

Polymedication in palliative oncology care is a real public health problem. This phenomenon has been shown to increase the risk of iatrogenesis, reduce patients' quality of life and increase healthcare costs. For many years, health policies have been developed in geriatrics to reduce polymedication through deprescription tools. Recently, palliative care initiatives have been introduced, but without having studied the potential specificities of this population (younger, with a different care dynamic and life trajectory). It is important to better understand this population's perceptions of deprescribing in order to adapt tools/actions to make these approaches more efficient. The primary aim of this study is to investigate patients' perceptions of deprescribing in palliative cancer care, and the secondary aim is to investigate factors that may influence patients' attitudes and beliefs about deprescribing. At the same time, we will study the psychometric properties of the rPATD (Revised Patients' Attitudes Towards Deprescribing) in this population (a standardized questionnaire validated in geriatric medicine to assess patients' perceptions of deprescription).An ancillary study will be carried out to investigate the link between patients' health literacy and their perception of deprescribing (health literacy is defined as the ability to acquire, understand and use information in ways that promote and maintain good health). To meet our objectives, we will conduct a 3-year national, prospective, observational, multicenter study with an exploratory sequential mixed design. The study will comprise an initial qualitative phase. Semi-directed individual interviews using a descriptive approach will be carried out (around 25 patients, over an 8-month period). Following analysis of the qualitative data, we will then carry out a quantitative study to determine the distribution of the different profiles within this population and the factors influencing the perception of deprescription. The self-administered questionnaires, rPATD and BMQ (medication beliefs questionnaire), potentially supplemented by other items following analysis of the qualitative data, will be administered to 300 patients (over a 12-month period).The ancillary study will be carried out during this second phase, using a validated self-questionnaire to assess patients' level of literacy. Thanks to the different results, we will improve our knowledge of the perception of deprescription in palliative oncology care, in order to develop approaches adapted to the specificities of our population to reduce polymedication and thus improve the quality of life of our patients and reduce the risks of iatrogenia.

Breast Cancer and Chemobrain : Effects of Photobiomodulation on the Improvement of Perceived Cognitive Impairment

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in metropolitan France, with over 60,000 new cases in 2023. Mostly a female cancer, it can affect a young population, with around 20% of breast cancers occurring in women under 50. Treatment is mainly based on surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapies and hormone therapy. Although chemotherapy is not systematically used, it remains a frequent treatment option. While chemotherapy makes a major contribution to curing cancer, it is also a source of potentially disabling side effects for survivors. Chemotherapy can interfere with the normal functioning of the central nervous system, leading to cognitive impairment. The number of people potentially affected by chemobrain is estimated at several tens of millions worldwide. There is no recommended treatment for people with chemobrain. Several avenues have been explored, with very limited results. Photobiomodulation (PBM) is a non-medicinal treatment technique that combines all the biological, athermic and non-cytotoxic effects of tissue exposure to non-ionizing sources of red and infrared light. Several studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of cortical stimulation by photobiomodulation on memory (increased angiogenesis, increased oxygenation of brain tissue via vasodilatation, and increased mitochondrial ATP production). These positive biological effects are likely to ameliorate the undesirable effects of chemotherapy, and consequently the post-chemotherapy cognitive disorders that ensue.

Goal Attainment Scale in Transplantation

The primary aim of this monocentric randomised controlled study is to evaluate the impact of using GAS to maintain the functional abilities of children and adolescents undergoing TCSE. The secondary aims include evaluating parents' and adolescents' perceived changes in the subject's functional abilities from the moment of stem cell transplantation unit (SCTU) admission to subsequent follow-ups. Another secondary aim is to evaluate the achievement of functional goals as defined by GAS in the experimental group (EG). Other aims include investigating the feasibility of the exercise program and the rehabilitation counselling indications in both groups, as well as the effectiveness of the two interventions and GAS use in the EG.

Effect of Position and Anesthetic Choice in Intraocular Pressure in Robotic GYN (Gynecologic) Oncology Patients

Steep Trendelenburg positioning and insufflation of the abdominal cavity have shown to increase intra ocular pressure. Different anesthetic techniques can alter intra ocular pressure and a small pilot study showed decrease in Intraocular Pressure (IOP) in robotic case in steep Trendelenburg with IV anesthetics (TIVA). We want to quantify the degree of change in Intraocular Pressure (IOP) in female patients undergoing robotic procedures for cancer. We want to detect the difference in increase of pressure with total IV anesthesia versus conventional balanced anesthesia

Long-term Evaluation of Fertility Preservation Options in Women in Cancer Remission or Haematological Pathology

Cancer treatments, despite their increasing effectiveness, carry a significant risk of gamete toxicity. Women of reproductive age are commonly offered fertility preservation (FP) before starting their treatment. However, few studies have analyzed the long-term reproductive outcomes of these interventions, nor how patients ultimately use or do not use the FP options once in remission. This project aims to better understand the effectiveness, utilization, and psychological impacts of these strategies. This work is part of an effort to understand and evaluate fertility preservation practices implemented for women of reproductive age undergoing cancer treatment at the Amiens-Picardie University Hospital (CHU). Its objective is to document patient pathways, clinical decisions, techniques employed, and reproductive outcomes observed after remission, in order to identify potential areas for improvement in the support and follow-up of these patients, thereby enhancing the overall quality and coordination of care. This work is conducted alongside the development of a fertility observatory at the Department of Medicine and Reproductive Biology, CHU Amiens-Picardie.

Ask Questions About Clinical Trials

The overall goal of this study is to assess the implementation of the Ask Questions about Clinical Trials (ASQ-CT) brochure, a patient-focused communication tool previously demonstrated to improve patient-provider communication about clinical trials. Participants will be given the ASQ-CT brochure at Time 1 (baseline) and participants will complete a questionnaire at three timepoints, baseline (Time 1), Pre-Research Visit (Time 2), and Post-Research Visit (Time 3).

Acceptability and Tolerance Study of Bolus Tube Feed With Food Blends

This is a prospective acceptability study to evaluate the gastrointestinal tolerance and compliance of a bolus tube feed over a 28 -day period for up to 50 participants. The enteral bolus formula is for the dietary management of patients with short bowel syndrome; intractable malabsorption; preoperative preparation of undernourished patients; inflammatory bowel disease; total gastrectomy; dysphagia; bowel fistulae; feeding intolerances, developmental disabilities, and disease related malnutrition.

Efficacy of Adapted Physical Activity on a Walking Platform in Elderly Patients HOspitalized for Cancer Surgery

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of daily use of a walking platform to improve recovery of preoperative walking speed at hospital discharge following oncological surgery in patients aged 65 or older.