Cancer Clinical Trials in Washington, DC

This phase III trial studies how well the addition of radiotherapy to the usual treatment (chemotherapy) works compared to the usual treatment alone in treating patients with esophageal and gastric cancer that has spread to a limited number of other places in the body (oligometastatic disease). Radiotherapy uses high energy x-rays, gamma rays, or protons to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Drugs used in usual chemotherapy, such as leucovorin, 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Adding radiotherapy to the usual chemotherapy may work better compared to the usual chemotherapy alone in treating patients with esophageal and gastric cancer. Read Less

This research study is looking to see whether the combination of Dostarlimab and Niraparib plus Radiation Therapy (RT) is safe and effective in participants with metastatic triple negative breast cancer. The names of the study treatment involved in this study are: Dostarlimab Niraparib Radiation Therapy (RT), which is given per standard of care. Read Less

This phase III trial compares the effect of active symptom monitoring and patient education to patient education alone in helping young women with stage I-III breast cancer stay on their hormone therapy medicines. The patient education tool contains interactive weblinks which provide patients with education material about breast cancer and side effects of therapy. Symptom monitoring is a weblink via email or text message with questions asking about symptoms. Hormone therapy for breast cancer can cause side effects, and may cause some women to stop treatment early. Asking about symptoms more often may help women keep taking hormone therapy medicines. Read Less

The purpose of this clinical trial is to determine if prostate-capsule-sparing cystectomy improves functional outcomes without comprising oncologic outcomes in male patients receiving a radical cystectomy. Patients will be randomized to one of two groups: prostate capsule-sparing radical cystectomy or nerve-sparing radical cystectomy. Patients will be monitored following standard of care guidelines and clinical data will be collected. Patients in both groups will be asked to complete an erectile function questionnaire at multiple timepoints. Patients who receive an orthotopic neobladder will be asked to complete a questionnaire to monitor urinary function at multiple timepoints. Patient adverse events will be monitored to ensure patients safety. Read Less

This is an unblinded, randomized clinical study comparing the efficacy of DNA damaging chemotherapy using carboplatin, to standard of care therapy for patients who have metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer. This trial will use olaparib or carboplatin as initial therapy with crossover to the alternate or second-line drug after first progression for patients with tumors containing BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, BRIP1, CHEK1, FANCL, PALB2, RAD51B, RAD51C, RAD51D, or RAD54L inactivating mutations. Participants are randomized (1:1) and receive either carboplatin (AUC 5, IV) every 21 days, first or olaparib taken orally (300 mg), twice daily in 28 day cycles, until intolerance, complete response, or progression by Prostate Cancer Working Group 3 (PCWG3) criteria. Participants then crossover from the first-line therapy to the second-line therapy with the opposite study medication and receive treatment to intolerance or progression (whichever is first). Enrolled participants will be allowed to crossover to second line therapy if they continue to meet initial eligibility criteria, and at least three weeks have elapsed since last administration of either carboplatin or olaparib. Throughout the study, safety and tolerability will be assessed. Progression will be evaluated with bone scan, CT of the abdomen/pelvis, or MRI and PSA as per PCWG3 criteria. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to evaluate mood changes in patients with Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer who are receiving intravesical Bacillus Calmete-Guerin (BCG). Patients with Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer receiving intravesical treatments are eligible to participate in this study. Participation involves providing research blood and urine samples prior to the start of treatment and throughout the treatment course. The study team will also collect participant's medical history and clinical information. Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires and daily mood diaries. Read Less

Cervical cancer is primarily caused by Human Papillomaviruses (HPV). Testing for HPV in cervical samples is now an option for cervical cancer screening. HPV can also be tested from self-collected samples which may help to improve access to screening, since it does not require a doctor visit. However, many women will test positive for HPV who are not at high risk for cervical cancer. Therefore, additional ("triage") tests are needed to determine which women testing HPV-positive require additional clinical workup. For self sampling, a triage test that could be measured from the same initial sample without requiring a follow-up visit to the doctor would be an ideal strategy. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a new HPV test that measures changes in HPV DNA can be used to triage HPV-positive women using self collected samples. This study will enroll 1,000 women who are undergoing cervical cancer screening at the George Washington University. Women will be asked to take a self-collected sample prior to their clinic visit. The investigators will evaluate the clinical accuracy of the new HPV triage test in self-collected samples and compare the accuracy of the test in samples collected by the clinician. Read Less

This research is being done to learn more about coping and survivorship of women with bladder cancer, specifically regarding psychosocial distress and sexual dysfunction. This study is a non-therapeutic study and will randomize participants to a standard of care group and education group. Patients in both groups will be asked to complete surveys regarding their mood and sexual function. Patients in the intervention group will be asked to complete attendance diaries regarding educational and support services utilized. Participants' clinical data will also be collected. Read Less

The objective of the proposed study is to scale social risk factor screening and referral for cancer survivors and to solidify information exchange between clinical and community settings in order to improve survivor health and well-being. This will be completed through three primary aims: 1) To ascertain workflow and map community resources needed to facilitate social risk factor screening and referral for breast and prostate cancer survivors in Washington, District of Columbia. 2) To determine impact of Community Health Worker (CHW) support on Black breast and prostate cancer survivor health and wellbeing as measured through quality of life (QOL) and social connection. 3) To determine impact of anti-racism training for staff and clinicians at three cancer centers on patient-reported discrimination. Read Less

This is a phase II trial of combination therapy of pembrolizumab and lenvatinib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic cervical cancer that had failed first line of therapy. The hypothesis is the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab will overcome vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-mediated immunosuppression to enhance the response of patients with locally advanced or metastatic cervical cancer. Read Less

Sleep disruption is common among young adult cancer survivors for a variety of reasons. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) has been shown to improve chronic sleep disorders. This project will test the feasibility and acceptability of a new voice-activated virtual assistant (VAVA) device to deliver CBT-I to improve sleep among young adult cancer survivors with chronic sleep disorders. Read Less

Pediatric cancer survivors are at an increased risk of excessive weight gain and reduced exercise behaviors with the potential for this risk to worsen over time. With over 80% of pediatric cancer patients living to adulthood, many pediatric cancer survivors experience long-term health consequences such as heart disease - the leading cause of death in this population. The purpose of this clinical research study is to teach parents/caregivers skills that will help prevent and reduce the problems of obesity in childhood cancer survivors. In this study, parents have the opportunity to participate in one of two web-based groups in which parents in either group will learn valuable information to improve the health of their child and of themselves. Read Less