Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care cancer clinics in communities across Illinois and Wisconsin have joined a clinical trial that aims to find the best time to administer radiation therapy when treating cancer that has spread to the brain.
“People who have cancer that has metastasized, or spread, to the brain often require a combination of surgery to remove the tumor and radiation therapy to lower the likelihood of the cancer returning,” said radiation oncologist Daniel Lindsay, MD, Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s principal investigator for the study. “Traditionally surgery has been done first, however, there is reason to believe patients could potentially see better treatment outcomes if radiation is given prior to surgery."
The study will assess whether radiation before surgery improves the length of time without cancer in the brain returning or worsening. The study will also determine whether radiation before surgery reduces the amount of scarring in the brain caused by radiation.
“By performing radiation therapy prior to surgery, surgeons may be able to better delineate where the cancer tissue ends and where the healthy tissue begins,” said Melissa Kadar, Director of the Research Institute’s Center of Excellence in Cancer Research. “This could potentially allow for smaller treatment margins when using radiation therapy, resulting in less damage to healthy brain tissue.”
Researchers plan to enroll 236 participants in the study at sites throughout the country. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either pre-operative radiation therapy or post-operative radiation therapy.
The Research Institute is participating in the study through its inclusion in the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), which brings cancer clinical trials to people in their own communities instead of only at major research institutions.
The study, “Comparing the addition of radiation either before or after surgery for patients with brain metastases,” is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and led by NRG Oncology.
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