Antwerpen,, Belgium

Parental Well-being After Childbirth in Switzerland

The Dragon PLC Trial (DRAGON-PLC)

Primary liver cancer (PLC) is the third most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Surgical resection is the mainstay for a curative approach as contemporary chemotherapy and immune-based therapies only lead to a median survival of 10-14 months. A complete surgical resection increases the median survival to 42 months (range 32-52 months). However, PLC is mainly diagnosed at an advanced stage and >70% of PLC patients are ineligible for an immediate surgical approach. There are different reasons that make a patient ineligible for surgery, one important reason is the risk of liver failure after the surgery due to a small remnant liver. This study aims to improve the oncological, radiological and surgical strategy to allow more patients to undergo liver resection safely, to improve quality of life and to extend overall survival at acceptable costs. Adequate function of the future liver remnant (FLR) is a prerequisite for surgical resectability. This is necessary in order to avoid liver failure after surgery, a major cause of morbidity (38%) and mortality (27%). To mitigate this risk, regenerative strategies based on preoperative calculation of the FLR volume and function are essential. Patients with technically resectable disease but predicted insufficient FLR volume or function are referred to as primarily unresectable or potentially resectable (PU/PR). These patients can undergo strategies that capitalize on the regenerative capacity of the liver which aim to preoperatively increase the FLR volume and function in order to allow surgery. Many of the patients that are primarily unresectable due to an insufficient FLR can become ultimately and safely resectable after the induction of adequate FLR-hypertrophy by the current standard, portal vein embolisation (PVE). However, 25% of patients do not show sufficient FLR growth after PVE and are unable to safely undergo resection. A new approach has been developed to improve this. Combined portal and hepatic vein embolisation (PVE/HVE) has great promise in terms of increasing FLR growth, resection rate (RR), safety and potentially, overall survival. Establishing PVE/HVE as the new standard could result in increased survival and a better quality of life (QoL) for patients.

Gastric Emptying Time in Traumatic Injuries

The investigators plan to do serial sonographic examinations of the gastric antrum (quantity, quality) in patients suffering from a relevant traumatic injury. Patients which are admitted to the emergency department with a corresponding history are considered for inclusion. Patient with life-threatening injuries are excluded. After inclusion, the investigators plan to carry out gastric ultrasound (POCUS) all 2 hours until the operative treatment (maximal 5 examinations). To identify factors which may be correlated with delayed gastric emptying several demographic and patient related factors are collected.

Subcutaneous Tarlatamab in Participants With Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer (DeLLphi-308)

Hyperoxia During Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Chronic Lung Disease - Does it Matter?

Volrustomig Priming Regimens Exploratory Phase II Platform Study

This is a platform, randomized, open-label, multicenter, global study. Enrolled participants with Stage IV non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSQ NSCLC) who are treatment-naïve and have not received previous treatment for advanced or metastatic disease. These participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to one of the two treatment arms: Arm 1A and Arm 1B. Both arms will test a volrustomig dosing in combination with chemotherapy.

Darolutamide in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC)

Metastatic prostate cancer remains incurable despite several major improvements in the treatment. In the case of pretreated metastatic castration-resistant disease (mCRPC) the options remain scarce and there is still an unmet need in this patient population. For the majority of patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) the combination of androgen deprivation (ADT) and ARPI (or even a triplet treatment with ADT, docetaxel and darolutamide or abiraterone) has become standard of care. However, when patients become metastatic castration resistant (mCRPC) over time a change of systemic treatment is necessary and thus this paradigm switch in treatment of mHSPC has had a major impact on treatment of mCRPC patients. Many patients developing metastatic castration-resistant disease these days have not only received ADT but also an ARPI and, in some cases, also docetaxel. Therefore, the treatment options in the first line setting of mCRPC are restricted and the outcome is poorer compared to the past. Improvement of first line mCRPC is an important unmet clinical need. The SAKK has demonstrated in two earlier studies that maintenance treatment with an ARPI (orteronel in SAKK 08/11 or darolutamide in SAKK 08/16) can improve radiographic progression-free survival in pretreated mCRPC patients after ARPI and/or taxane based. This maintenance concept could be introduced more generally in the first line setting of mCRPC. In the SAKK 08/16 trial, darolutamide maintenance was shown to prolong progression-free survival (PFS) compared to placebo, in patients with mCRPC who had received prior ARPI, and whose disease did not progress during taxane therapy. This benefit was more pronounced in patients with prior response to ARPI. Taken together it is hypothesized that the continued AR-pathway blockade with darolutamide in patients progressing from mHSPC to mCRPC on ARPI treatment can improve outcome when it is added to a standard first line mCRPC therapy and then continued as maintenance. SAKK proposes to add the ARPI darolutamide to standard first line mCRPC treatment consisting of either taxane chemotherapy (docetaxel or cabazitaxel), olaparib, radium 223 or LuPSMA. The choice of standard of care treatment is up to the investigator, respecting the country specific approvals. Darolutamide will be given concomitantly with the chosen first line treatment and will be continued as maintenance afterwards until radiographic progression.

Intratumoral INT230-6 Followed by Neoadjuvant Immuno-chemotherapy in Patients With Early TNBC. INVINCIBLE-4-SAKK

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) poses significant challenges due to its aggressiveness, high relapse rates, and increased mortality. The Keynote-522 study revealed a 19.6% incidence of event-free survival (EFS) events in early-stage TNBC patients over 39 months. Achieving pathological complete response (pCR) and clearing positive lymph nodes are crucial prognostic factors. The IMP INT230-6 is a combination of the chemotherapeutic agents cisplatin and vinblastine, along with a molecule that facilitates their distribution in tumor tissue. INT230-6, currently in clinical trials, has demonstrated the ability to induce up to 95% necrosis in T2 breast cancer tumors and it has been observed to stimulate systemic immune activation during the period between diagnosis and surgery. Moreover, promising results have been seen in seven refractory breast cancer patients, resulting in decreased Ki67 levels and a median overall survival of 12 months. Completed and ongoing U.S. clinical trials including 91 patient a window-of-opportunity trial demonstrate the safety and early activity of INT230-6, both alone and with checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab and ipilimumab, particularly in resistant cases. Based on the positive outcomes, it will be assessed within this clinical trial the safety and early clinical activity of INT230-6 in early TNBC patients, addressing the high unmet medical need in this challenging subtype.

Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy VERification

Rationale: Lung cancer screening and the increasing use of chest-computed tomography (CT) has led to an increase in the number of (incidental) found suspected malignant lung lesions. Since tissue acquisition for pathological analysis is prerequisite for diagnosis and optimal treatment, a drastic increase in the number of patients that need to undergo bronchoscopy is expected. Over 70% of the suspected lesions develop in the periphery of the lung and are therefore not visible during conventional bronchoscopy. Although several bronchoscopic navigational techniques demonstrated an improved navigation towards the target lesion, the diagnostic yield remains suboptimal due to a substantial near-miss rate. As a result, the need for complementary bronchoscopic guidance that provides real-time feedback on the correct positioning of the biopsy instruments is urgent. Needle-based Confocal laser endomicroscopy (nCLE) is a novel high-resolution imaging technique that uses an excitation laser light to create 'real-time' microscopic images of tissues. nCLE can be integrated into the biopsy needle, allowing real-time cancer detection at the tip of the biopsy needle during bronchoscopy. The confocal microscope captures autofluorescence of tissues or, combined with intravenously (IV) infused fluorophores (such as fluorescein) allows imaging of individual tumor cells. Recent studies on nCLE-imaging in lung tumors and metastatic lymph nodes have identified and validated nCLE criteria for malignancy (enlarged pleomorphic cells, dark clumps and directional streaming) and airway/lung parenchyma (alveoli, elastin fibres of the conducting airway, bronchial epithelium and still image) and granulomas. A recent study demonstrated that these nCLE-criteria can be used in real-time to fine-tune the needle positioning during ongoing bronchoscopy and thereby potentially improve the diagnostic yield. This randomized controlled trials aims to evaluate the added value of nCLE-imaging (smart needle) to the conventional used bronchoscopic approach for peripheral lung lesion analysis. Objective: This multicenter, randomized controlled trial, aims to investigate if nCLE-imaging integrated with conventional bronchoscopy results in a higher diagnostic yield compared to conventional bronchoscopy without nCLE in the diagnosis of peripheral lung nodules. Study design: Investigator-initiated, international, multi-center randomized controlled trial including university and general hospitals. Study population: Patients (>18 years old) with suspected malignant peripheral lung lesions with an indication for bronchoscopic analysis. Procedure: Bronchoscopy will be performed according to institutional practice, including radial endobronchial ultrasound (r-EBUS) and optionally fluoroscopy, electromagnetic navigation, virtual bronchoscopy and/or ultrathin bronchoscopy. This is followed by transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) and (cryo-)biopsies (control arm). In the study arm, nCLE-imaging will be added prior to TBNA tissue acquisition to fine-tune the sampling area. Cytology staining for rapid onsite evaluation (ROSE) and cellblock will be performed according to local practice. Primary objective: To determine if the addition of nCLE-imaging to conventional bronchoscopic peripheral lung lesion analysis results in an improved diagnostic yield. (defined as the proportion of patients in whom the bronchoscopic procedure results in a definitive diagnosis out of the total number of patients that have received the diagnostic bronchoscopic procedure).

The LYMPH Trial - Microsurgical Versus Conservative Treatment of Chronic Breast Cancer Associated Lymphedema

To date, conservative complex physical decongestion therapy (CDT) is the gold standard for BCRL (breast cancer related lymphedema) and includes manual lymphatic drainage, local compression with bandages and garments, physical exercises and meticulous skin care. It is, however, too often ineffective to prevent stage progression in curing BCRL and purely symptomatic. Lymphovenous anastomosis (LVA) and vascularized lymph node transfer (VLNT) are two surgical techniques that, in contrast to CDT, are able to actually address the underlying causes and eventually restore the lymphatic drainage. LVA achieves this by creating numerous bypasses between lymphatic vessels and venules allowing the drainage of excessive fluid within the subcutaneous tissues into the venous system, while VLNT usually brings functioning lymph nodes to an area devoid of lymph nodes or with dysfunctional lymph nodes, thus enabling the spontaneous development of new lymphatic pathways. Both techniques have shown very promising results with low complication rates and improved Quality of Life (QoL) for the patients. However, no multicentric randomized controlled trial (RCT) has yet prospectively evaluated the superiority of these surgical techniques over CDT alone, limiting patient's access to most effective treatment available. Requests for cost reimbursement must still be submitted to insurance companies in most countries and are often rejected, thus delaying surgical treatment and resulting in prolonged suffering of affected patients. This is untenable seeing as affected patients suffer from a heavy physical, psychological and financial burden. This pragmatic, randomized, multicenter trial aims to establish a solid scientific basis assessing the superiority of surgical treatment over CDT alone.