This study is for patients who have been diagnosed with locoregionally advanced squamous cell carcinoma. The purpose of this study is to compare two usual treatment approaches to head and neck cancer: high-dose cisplatin given every 3 weeks with radiation to low-dose cisplatin given weekly with radiation. The usual approach for patients who are not in this study is treatment with radiation therapy combined with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin. Cisplatin is a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat your head and neck cancer. Cisplatin can be given at different doses and at different times during radiation, but the most common way to give cisplatin is either as a high-dose every 3 weeks or a low-dose weekly during radiation. Participants can expect to be on this study for up to 7 weeks and then followed annually until disease progression.
Because head and neck cancer arises in cosmetically and functionally critical areas, head and neck cancer survivors suffer high rates of body image-related distress. Body image-related distress is a source of significant morbidity, contributing to stigmatization, social isolation, and worse quality of life. Unfortunately, effective therapies exist to manage body image-related distress among head and neck cancer survivors are lacking. We have developed a novel, scalable, tele-cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for head and neck cancer survivors with body image disturbance that could provide the first effective treatment in this population, thereby minimizing psychosocial morbidity, improving quality of life, and developing new standards of clinical care.
This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the effectiveness of using a combination of pembrolizumab and olaparib when given before and after standard chemoradiation therapy in treating locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Pembrolizumab and olaparib are drugs that are approved for treatment of different cancers including lung, head and neck, breast and prostate cancer. However, FDA has not approved use of these two drugs together in treating head and neck cancer.
Treatment will be offered in three phases. In the induction phase, participants will receive a single infusion of pembrolizumab and will take olaparib tablets twice daily for total of 21 days. Participants will move to the chemoradiation phase, where they will receive radiation therapy and chemotherapy per routine standard care, for a total of 7 weeks. Chemoradiation therapy is done on a daily basis (excluding weekends), and chemotherapy therapy will involve a cisplatin infusion once weekly. At the conclusion of this phase, participants start the maintenance phase, which involves treatment with pembrolizumab and olaparib in cycles that are 42-days long. Treatment will include a single pembrolizumab infusion during each cycle and taking olaparib tablets twice daily during each cycle. Total number of cycles to be completed in the maintenance phase are 8 cycles. Participants can expect to be in this study for about 6.5 years.
The goal of this study is to demonstrate that Photon Counting CT (PC-CT) creates similar or better-quality pictures of the body compared to CT systems we currently use in the clinic. The department of Radiology will be conducting this study using the new PC-CT system at MUSC for imaging of the head, neck, and blood vessels. Participants in this study will receive their normally ordered imaging scan as well as an additional imaging scan on the PC-CT machine. This second scan will take place within a month following the first normally ordered imaging study. This additional scan will be the only extra visit for this research study. Risks are the same as a typical CT scan which can include radiation dose, IV dye allergies, risks from IV, and potential loss of confidentiality.
This study is for men and women with HER2-positive salivary gland cancer (SGC) that has come back, spread outside of their salivary gland, or cannot be removed by surgery. This study is being done to find out if ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) extends the length of time without the cancer getting worse compared to the usual approach.
For patients with head and neck cancer, delays starting adjuvant radiation therapy are common, disproportionately burden racial minorities, and contribute to poor survival and racial disparities in mortality. However, effective therapies to improve the delivery of timely, equitable, guideline-adherent adjuvant radiation therapy are lacking. We have developed a navigation-based multilevel intervention to enhance care coordination, communication, and key cancer care delivery processes that could provide the first effective treatment in this population, thereby improving survival, decreasing racial disparities in outcomes, and developing new standards of clinical care.
This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. The purpose of this research study is to determine if lower doses of radiation therapy are as effective as the standard higher doses. Participants will have tests and procedures that would be performed as part of regular care. Participants will be assigned to one of three study groups based on your risk for cancer recurrence. Depending on the group assigned, participants receive either standard dose of radiation therapy (RT), a moderately reduced dose of RT, or an extremely reduced dose of RT. During the RT treatment, participants will also receive chemotherapy. Chemotherapy will be given at the same dose used in routine care for everybody in the study. Participants will be in the study for up to 5 years.
This study is being done to understand whether a different type of electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring that permits longer monitoring is able to capture more seizures than regular EEG monitoring, and whether this new type of monitoring will improve clinical care. This type of EEG monitoring (REMI) is currently cleared by the United States Government Food and Drug Administration (or FDA) for use in hospitals but not yet cleared to be used at home.
Eligible subjects who have EEG monitoring scheduled with either a 3-day EEG monitoring performed at home or with a 3-day EEG monitoring schedule at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Subjects are in the study for approximately 4 weeks and will need to come to the study center for one or two visits. They will be asked to wear 4 of Epitel's REMI Sensors on their head, in addition to the regular EEG electrodes, for two 2-week REMI EEG monitoring periods. A 2nd visit (clinic visit) at MUSC may be needed if the recording is at MUSC, in order to start the second REMI EEG monitoring session.
At the end of the study, three independent epileptologists will review the REMI EEG recordings and compile a report of any findings. They will then provide this report to the subject's neurologist who will assess the value of the additional EEG information, and save the report within the MUSC medical record.
This research is being done to better understand how anti-cancer drugs affect cells within a tumor. Injecting very small amounts (microdoses) of pembrolizumab alone or in combination with MK-0482 or MK-4830 above may help the developer of these drugs to understand more about how these drugs work and what changes they make on the tumor. Subjects in this study will have their tumor injected with anti-cancer drugs using a CIVO device. The CIVO device delivers microdoses of multiple drugs or drug combinations directly into the tumor. Some of the procedures in this study include ultrasound assisted placement for tumor injection, a mucrodose injection of anti-cancer drugs into the tumor, and surgery to remove the tumor. Participation in the study will take 5 visits over a period if 56 days. The screening portion will be 28 days and the treatment portion will be 28 days from the time of the injection to the time of follow-up contact by the study team.
The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility and safety of modified surgical eyeglasses to view bevonescein intraoperatively and the safety of bevonescein as it shows nerve tissue in the body. Bevonescein is an investigational drug being developed to help doctors identify nerves within the body during surgery.
The drug is administered through a vein in the arm and into the blood stream.t Bevonescein then travels through the blood where it makes nerve tissue fluorescent so that it can then be detected by the modified surgical eyeglasses used in this study by a surgeon. This may help the surgeon (study doctor) to tell the difference between nerve tissue and other tissue during surgery. Bevonescein and the modified surgical eyeglasses that your surgeon will wear (ReVealTM 475) are considered investigational because they are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help with the visualization of nerves during surgery Alternatives to this study can include to undergo surgery without the study drug.
The duration of this study is about 2 months. The procedures of this study include administration of the study drug once (500 mg), collection of blood and urine samples, and ECGs. Surgery will happened as planned by the study doctor but as part of the research, the surgeon will ear modified surgical eyeglasses to view nerves and may take pictures or video clips. The glasses are FDA cleared but the modified filter and its use in combination with bevonescein is considered experimental.
The most commonly expected risks of fluorescein are nausea, vomiting, and stomach discomfort. Because bevonescein is cleared through the urine, there may be a potential risk to the kidneys and renal (kidney) system. The most serious risks of fluorescein may include severe local tissue damage, anaphylaxis, convulsions, cardiac arrest, and death.