Clinical Trials Search at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

The purpose of this study is to compare the two approaches for monitoring pancreatic cysts. The study doctors want to compare more frequent monitoring vs less frequent monitoring in order to learn which monitoring method leads to better outcome for patients with pancreatic cysts.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of implementing the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathway in a prospective manner to patients undergoing surgical treatment for extremity sarcoma.

Malignant pleural effusion remains a debilitating complication of end stage cancer, which can be greatly improved by the introduction of the indwelling tunneled pleural catheter (IPC). However, there is no standard of care regarding drainage and limited data on the utility of different drainage techniques. In addition, many patients develop discomfort and chest pain during drainage. The investigators propose to evaluate gravity drainage and suction drainage on quality of life measures and outcomes.

Recent comparative data suggest that EUS gastroenterostomy offers more durable patency than enteral stents for treatment of malignant GOO, leading some endoscopists to suggest that EUS gastroenterostomy should be the preferred endoscopic treatment approach.

EUS gastroenterostomy and surgical gastrojejunostomy have been compared in retrospective cohort analysis, suggesting a high technical success rate a shorter hospital length of stay for the endoscopic approach \[4\]. Comparison of these techniques has not been reported in controlled prospective fashion. A prospective trial is necessary in order to define the optimal interventional management option for treatment of malignant GOO in the context of the contemporary and rapidly evolved range of available endoscopic and surgical treatment options.

The goal of this study is to investigate whether the therapeutic response of pancreatic tumors can be accurately assessed using quantitative DCE-MRI, when the inter/intra-scanner variability is reduced using the Point-of-care Portable Perfusion Phantom, P4. The intra-scanner variability over time leads to errors in therapy monitoring, while the inter-scanner variability impedes the comparison of data among institutes. The P4 is small enough to be imaged concurrently in the bore of a standard MRI scanner with a patient for real-time quality assurance. The P4 is safe, inexpensive and easily operable, thus it has great potential for widespread and routine clinical use for accurate diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring.

This study has identified two arms, one arm is healthy individuals that will undergo DCE MRI at three different MRI locations to establish baseline results. The healthy volunteers will undergo these MRIs prior to the second arm, which contains patients with pancreatic cancer. The pancreatic cancer patients will only have DCE MRI done at one location.

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a standardized lymphedema and fibrosis self-management program (LEF-SMP) to improve LEF self-management and reduce LEF-associated symptom burden, functional deficits, and improve quality of life in head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors.