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

Study Purpose

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.

Recruitment Criteria

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Healthy volunteers are participants who do not have a disease or condition, or related conditions or symptoms

No
Study Type

An interventional clinical study is where participants are assigned to receive one or more interventions (or no intervention) so that researchers can evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or health-related outcomes.


An observational clinical study is where participants identified as belonging to study groups are assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.


Searching Both is inclusive of interventional and observational studies.

Interventional
Eligible Ages 18 Years - 80 Years
Gender All
More Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • - Clinical diagnosis of NSCLC.
  • - Must be adult patients (≥ 18 years old) who have received definitive surgery and have a permanent pathology of nodal metastasis.
  • - Platinum-based chemotherapy is mandatory.
  • - Good performance status better than Eastern Cooperative Group (ECOG) of 2 or a general status of Karnofsky (KPS) > 70 % - Should have sufficient proficiency in Mandarin language.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • - Have received prior cranial irradiation.
  • - Presence of other active primary cancer (exception of basal cell carcinoma of skin and cervical carcinoma in situ) - Radiographic evidence of brain metastasis/metastases.
  • - Clinical evidence of extracranial metastatic disease.
  • - Hypersensitivity to magnetic resonance (MR) contrast enhancer.
- Serious medical or psychiatric illness

Trial Details

Trial ID:

This trial id was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, providing information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants with locations in all 50 States and in 196 countries.

NCT02448992
Phase

Phase 1: Studies that emphasize safety and how the drug is metabolized and excreted in humans.

Phase 2: Studies that gather preliminary data on effectiveness (whether the drug works in people who have a certain disease or condition) and additional safety data.

Phase 3: Studies that gather more information about safety and effectiveness by studying different populations and different dosages and by using the drug in combination with other drugs.

Phase 4: Studies occurring after FDA has approved a drug for marketing, efficacy, or optimal use.

Phase 2/Phase 3
Lead Sponsor

The sponsor is the organization or person who oversees the clinical study and is responsible for analyzing the study data.

Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Principal Investigator

The person who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the entire clinical study.

Chi-Cheng Yang, Ph.D.Shinn-Yn Lin, M.D.
Principal Investigator Affiliation Chang Gung UniversityChang Gung Memorial Hospital
Agency Class

Category of organization(s) involved as sponsor (and collaborator) supporting the trial.

Other
Overall Status Recruiting
Countries Taiwan
Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied.

Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), Brain Metastasis
Arms & Interventions

Arms

Experimental: PCI via hippocampal-sparing WBRT

All studied patients should undergo a computed tomography (CT) simulation scan encompassing the entire head region with 1.25-mm slice thickness using a thermoplastic mask for immobilization. To achieve conformal hippocampal sparing during the delivery of WBRT, the technique of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) via Linac-based RapidArc® or TrueBeamTM is employed in our treatment planning. All treatment plans are delivered by using the Linac Varian-iX or TrueBeamTM. In terms of dose prescription, a dose of 30 Gy in 15 fractions is prescribed to whole-brain planning target volume (PTV) under the setting of prophylactic cranial irradiation for NSCLC patients.

No Intervention: observation without PCI

Interventions

Radiation: - hippocampal-sparing WBRT

Contact a Trial Team

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International Sites

Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Status

Recruiting

Address

Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

Taoyuan, , 333

Site Contact

Shinn-Yn Lin, M.D.

[email protected]

+886-33281200 #7172

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