Clinical trials

The study aim is to test the clinical feasibility and effectiveness of an online qualitative monitoring device named INSIDE system during hadrontherapy treatments. This instrumentation is composed by detectors able to acquire secondary signals generated by the interaction of the primary beam with human tissues. From these measurements performed during irradiation, the INSIDE system estimates the particle beam range inside the patient's body and check the compliance of the ongoing treatment with the clinical prescription, with the aim to optimize the delivered dose. The study aims to longitudinally monitor patients treated with hadrontherapy at the Italian National Centre of Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO) in Pavia in order to: * evaluate the stability of the INSIDE system response and the significance of the monitoring measurement; * study the clinical tolerances between ongoing and prescribed treatments within which the differences in particle range are not clinically relevant; * assess what impact an instrument such as the INSIDE system can have on the clinical routine; * evaluate the benefits of such a monitoring system with respect to treatment planning constraints.

The Quality of Life of patients treated with hadrontherapy is still limited. Two cohorts are established, they will be receiving specific standardized questionnaires to be evalutaed in their results.

The study aims to obtain a local control rate in patients with lateral pelvic relapses of gynecologycal cancers previously irradiated. High LET (Linear Energy Transfer) particles as carbon ions can guarantee a biologic advantage compared to photons in radioresistant neoplasms, given to their higher biological efficacy (RBE).

The purpose of this registry is to collect retrospective and prospective standardized data of patients treated with particle therapy, either with protons or carbon ions, at the National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO) based in Pavia. By keeping track of the patients treated, it will allow the investigators to periodically analyze and evaluate data collected of daily clinical activity. This will help gathering more information on the results of particle therapy and will provide the basis for in depth evaluation of patients' outcome with respect to the delivered treatment.

The investigators aim at investigating in a prospective clinical trial whether using a Simoultaneous Integrated Boost of carbon ions treatment planning approach, improving the tumor dose conformation while lowering the unintended dose to the low-risk volume, can significantly reduce the probability of toxicity without affecting Local Control.

The study consists in the retrospective and prospective collection of imaging data (along with clinical information related to treatment) of skull-base chordoma patients treated with particle therapy, to derive imaging biomarkers which, integrated with advanced mathematical models, will allow predicting treatment outcome on a multi-scale basis.

The present monocentric prospective phase 2 study aims to reproduce the results obtained at NIRS thus offering the possibility of obtaining a promising rate of progression-free survival (PFS) and local control (LC) in patients diagnosed with mucosal melanoma of lower genital tract. Systemic treatment with immunotherapy is not the subject of this study but is allowed both in the neoadjuvant and sequential regimens. Melanomas have always been considered poorly radiosensitive. It is now accepted that high LET (Linear Energy Transfer) particle beams, such as carbon ions, can offer a biological advantage, compared to photons treatment, in radio-resistant neoplasms treatment, thanks to their higher biological efficacy (RBE) against tumours with a low α/ ß ratio. In addition, carbon ions have the physical advantage of an inverted depth deposition profile compared to photons, allowing then a steep dose gradients that ensure increased sparing of adjacent healthy organs at risk (OARs).

Immunotherapy has become the standard of care in different advanced malignancies. Its effectiveness in the palliative setting was demonstrated by several phase III trials. However, the response rate varies according to the cancer under study and to the line of treatment. A potential way to improve the activity of single agent immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is to enhance the clinical response through further antitumor agents, including radiotherapy. Studies showed that carbon ions may lead to a broader immunogenic response; for their dosimetric characteristics it is possible to reduce integral dose sparing immune cells to direct and sustain a tumor specific immune response. Considering the available preclinical and clinical evidence together, the goal of this study is to explore the feasibility and the clinical activity of adding carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT), employed with a fractionation strategy comparable to stereotactic body radiation, to ICIs in advanced malignancies where immunotherapy is currently the standard of care.