Clinical Research Directory

Studying the Workflow of the American College of Surgeons Geriatric Surgery Program to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Older Adults Undergoing Surgery at the James Cancer Hospital

This study examines how the American College of Surgeons Geriatric Surgery Verification Program, also called the ACS GSV Program, is implemented at the James Cancer Hospital. The program is designed to improve surgical care for adults age 65 and older by helping care teams identify and address age-related needs before, during, and after surgery. Older adults with cancer may have concerns related to physical function, memory or thinking, medications, social support, and goals of care. If these needs are not recognized, patients may be at higher risk for complications, longer hospital stays, readmission, or discharge to a facility instead of home. The ACS GSV Program includes standards for geriatric surgery leadership, goals-of-care discussions, screening for age-related vulnerabilities, care plans for identified needs, age-friendly perioperative care, and regular review of surgical outcomes. This study will evaluate how well these standards are adopted across surgical oncology services and whether implementation is associated with better outcomes, such as shorter hospital stays, fewer complications, fewer readmissions, and improved discharge outcomes. The results may help improve surgical care workflows for older adults undergoing cancer surgery.

Optical Imaging Scans for the Diagnosis of Skin Cancer in Patients With Lesions

This clinical trial studies how well an optical imaging scan called quantitative oblique back-illumination microscopy (qOBM) helps in diagnosing skin cancer in patients with skin lesions. qOBM is a non-invasive procedure that uses red light for illumination, and may work better than no imaging procedures in aiding doctors in diagnosing skin lesions.

Minibeam Radiation Therapy With Tungsten Slit Collimator for the Treatment of Recurrent or Metastatic Skin or Soft Tissue Tumors, MBRT1 Trial

This clinical trial tests the safety and best dose of minibeam radiation therapy (MBRT) with a tungsten slit collimator for treating patients with skin or soft tissue tumors that have come back after a period of improvement (recurrent) or that spread from where they first started (primary site) to other places in the body (metastatic). Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays, particles, or radioactive seeds to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Tungsten is an extremely dense metal and is commonly used for blocking x-rays for minimum radiation exposure. A tungsten slit collimator is a device that separates an initially wide beam of x-rays into several very narrow individual beams of radiation. As radiation passes through the collimator, the radiation hits regions of solid tungsten and is blocked. In the open slit regions, radiation passes through to the intended target/tumor area defined by the physician. The tungsten slit collimator then selectively blocks portions of the radiation to create an alternating pattern of higher "peak" and lower "valley" radiation dose regions. These narrow beams of radiation are referred to as "minibeams" and the general approach referred to as MBRT.

DETERMINE Trial Treatment Arm 04: Trastuzumab in Combination With Pertuzumab in Adult, Paediatric and Teenage/Young Adult Patients With Cancers With HER2 Amplification or Activating Mutations

This clinical trial is looking at a combination of drugs called trastuzumab and pertuzumab. This combination of drugs is approved together as standard of care treatment for adult patients with breast cancer (often with other anti-cancer drugs). This means it has gone through clinical trials and been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK. Trastuzumab and pertuzumab work in patients with these types of cancers which have a molecular alteration called HER2 amplification or HER2 activating mutation. Investigators now wish to find out if it will be useful in treating patients with other cancer types which are also HER2 amplified or HER2 mutated. If the results are positive, the study team will work with the NHS and the Cancer Drugs Fund to see if these drugs can be routinely accessed for patients in the future. This trial is part of a trial programme called DETERMINE. The programme will also look at other anti-cancer drugs in the same way, through matching the drug to rare cancer types or ones with specific mutations.

Impact of Sunscreen Dispensers in Parks Visited by Teenagers

This study will evaluate the use of publicly available free sunscreen dispensers at Maine beaches and Boston and Cambridge parks. Aim 1: Determine the impact of DFS+ (dispensers, flyers, enhanced signage, + a social media component delivered by teen ambassadors) sun protection education on the use of free sunscreen dispensers by adolescents ages 12-20 compared with DFS (dispensers, flyers, standard signage). Aim 2: Outcomes evaluation to assess the effects of the sunscreen dispensers and the sun-safety educational intervention on sun protection knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors within the community. Aim 3: Cost Evaluation and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis