Clinical Trials Search at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

This pilot trial compares drug exposure levels using a new method for dosing vincristine in infants and young children compared to the standard dosing method based on body surface area (BSA) in older children. Vincristine is an anticancer drug used to a variety of childhood cancers. The doses anticancer drugs in children must be adjusted based on the size of the child because children vary significantly in size (height, weight, and BSA) and ability to metabolize drugs from infancy to adolescence. The dose of most anticancer drugs is adjusted to BSA, which is calculated from a patients weight and height. However, infants and young children have more severe side effects if the BSA is used to calculate their dose, so new dosing models have to be made to safely give anticancer drugs to the youngest patients. This new method uses a BSA-banded approach to determine the dose. Collecting blood samples before and after a dose of the drug will help researchers determine whether this new vincristine dosing method results in equivalent drug levels in the blood over time in infants and young children compared to older children.

Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) will be used in an open label, single agent, multicenter,
study for patients with neuroblastoma in remission. In this study subjects will receive 730
Days of oral difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) at a dose of 750 mg/m2 250 mg/m2 BID (strata 1,
2, 3, and 4) OR 2500 mg/m2 BID (stratum 1B) on each day of study. This study will focus on
the use of DFMO in high risk neuroblastoma patients that are in remission as a strategy to
prevent recurrence.