Clinical Trials

Biospecimen banks are a modern attempt to centralize collections of human blood and tissue samples along with health information and personal history. The Neuro-Oncology Program Registry and Biobank will be used for research purposes to increase our understanding of nervous system tumors.

The primary hypotheses are that the TULSA-Procedure is safe and effective treatment of intermediate grade prostate cancer over 2 years. The primary endpoint is defined as the proportion of patients who maintain urinary continence and erectile potency. The effectiveness co-primary endpoint is defined as the proportion of patients free from treatment failure.

The purpose of this study is to explore the translational abilities of desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) as intraoperative diagnostic tool to identify cancerous versus noncancerous tissue and estimate the percentage of tumor infiltration in tissue biopsies, by monitoring depletion of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and aberrations of the phospholipid signature of neurological tissue; and to identify the presence of IDH mutations by monitoring the 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG) and, therefore, differentiate between IDH-mutant and wild-type gliomas.

The purpose of this study is to combine MRI images with histologic and genetic analysis of cancer (from blood and tissue samples) to improve the overall accuracy of diagnosis and effectiveness of cancer treatment.

The purpose of this study is to confirm detection of the H3K27M mutation in patient biofluids (CSF, blood, urine, saliva) and uncover the molecular histone (alkaline protein) profile of H3K trimethylation and H3S phosphorylation in the circulating nucleosomes isolated from the biofluids of patients with H3K27M tumors.

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and feasibility of intra-operative Ommaya Reservoir placement during a clinically indicated tumor surgery in order to facilitate a longitudinal access to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for analysis of exploratory and future tumor biomarkers for individualized monitoring.

This is a retrospective specimen acquisition study of pre-treatment head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tumor biopsy samples.  The sponsor-provided protocol allows for multiple different tumor types.  However, Mayo Clinic, Rochester will only enroll head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Intraoperative Microdialysis During Neurosurgery for Central Nervous System Malignancies

The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of placing Ommaya reservoirs at the time of biopsy to enable longitudinal CSF monitoring.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of using Exablate Model 4000 Type-2.0/2.1 in adults with Glioblastoma brain tumors to increase temporarily the permeability of the blood brain barrier, allowing increased passage of circulating free DNA (cfDNA) for sampling and analysis.