A Prospective Study of Daily Adaptive Radiotherapy to Better Organ-at-Risk Doses in Head and Neck Cancer

Completed · Phase 2

Conditions studied: Head and Neck Cancer

In brief

Varian Medical Systems has recently deployed a completely novel radiation treatment system called EthosTM, a first-of-its-kind system that allows for daily adapative radiotherapy (DART), such that the treatment for that day can be created on-the-fly based on the patient's current positioning and anatomy. This system is commercially-available and FDA-approved, and UTSW Radiation Oncology has installed two such units. The ability to adjust the dose delivery every day means both that adaptive therapy is possible with every fraction and that the PTV margin can be dramatically reduced/eliminated, since investigators are treating for that day's patient setup. Investigators are therefore proposing a randomized trial using DART with near marginless (ML) setup margins (a 1 mm margin will be retained for intrafractional motion).

Key facts

Study ID

NCT04883281

Run by

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

People needed

50

Starts

2022-02-23

Expected to finish

2026-03-11

Last updated by the study team

2026-03-18

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Pathologically-proven diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx, larynx, or hypopharynx. Squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary is not allowed.
• Patients must have clinically or radiographically evident measureable disease at the primary site and/or nodal stations. Diagnostic lymph node excision (< 2 nodes) is also allowable.
• Patients may undergo a diagnostic or therapeutic transoral resection for a T1-2 tonsil or base of tongue cancer.
• Clinical stage I-IVB (AJCC, 7th edition); stages I-II glottic cancer are excluded
• Age ≥ 18 years.
• ECOG Performance Status 0-2
• Negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 2 weeks before registration for women of childbearing potential.
• Neck CT and/or neck MRI, and PET-CT (at least skull-to-thigh).
• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent.
• All men, as well as women of child-bearing potential must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry, for the duration of study treatment, and for 90 days following completion of therapy. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately.
• A female of child-bearing potential is any woman (regardless of sexual orientation, marital status, having undergone a tubal ligation, or remaining celibate by choice) who meets the following criteria:
• Has not undergone a hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy; or
• Has not been naturally postmenopausal for at least 12 consecutive months (i.e., has had menses at any time in the preceding 12 consecutive months).

You may not qualify if…

• Distant metastasis.
• Inability to undergo PET-CT.
• Stage I and II glottic carcinoma.
• Gross total excision of both the primary and nodal disease.
• Synchronous non-skin cancer primaries outside of the oropharynx, larynx, and hypopharynx except for low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer and synchronous well-differentiated thyroid cancer; in the latter case, surgery may occur before or after treatment, provided all other eligibility criteria are met.
• Prior invasive malignancy with an expected disease-free interval of less than 3 years.
• Prior systemic chemotherapy for the study cancer; prior chemotherapy for a remote cancer is allowable
• Prior radiotherapy to the region of the study cancer that would result in overlap of radiation fields.
• Subjects may not be receiving any other investigational agents.
• History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to the chemotherapy agents in this study (if necessary).
• Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that, in the opinion of the investigator, would limit compliance with study requirements
• pregnant or nursing women
• History of severe immunosuppression, including HIV, and organ or autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Where it is running

• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center — Dallas, Texas, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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