This preliminary study proposes to explore the unmet survivorship care needs of advanced-disease prostate cancer survivors. The study will use a qualitative approach by giving this population the opportunity to voice their attitudes, perceptions, and preferences regarding their current survivorship care. The overarching goal is using these results to inform the need for a larger scale study in the future to increase the knowledge base regarding late-disease prostate cancer survivors.
This study is designed to answer the question "Does the addition of hyperbaric oxygen to radiation and chemotherapy improve outcomes in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinomas?"
There is reason to believe that provision of hyperbaric oxygenation immediately (within 15 minutes) prior to radiation therapy will improve radiation's effect on tumor cells, particularly those that reside in a low oxygen environment.This concept has been proven in implanted tumor-bearing animals. Several small case series suggest there is a modest extension of survival in malignant gliomas.
Squamous cell carcinomas are particularly suited to hyperbaric sensitization as they have a relatively large number of hypoxic cells.
Patients concurrently receiving chemo-radiation standard of care will be placed into a hyperbaric chamber and randomized to receive either pressurized oxygen (the experimental group) or pressurized air (the sham control group).This process will be repeated prior to each scheduled radiation treatment.
Primary outcomes to be assessed are progression-free survival and disease-free survival at two years.
Several other institutions with join in this research initiative, both in the US and internationally.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a type of treatment used to treat cancer. The purpose of this research study is to collect information on patients treated with PDT so that we can determine if patient characteristics affect their response to PDT. We will collect information about medical history, life style habits like smoking, reports from the tissue taken during biopsy, and outcome of the treatment to include in the registry.