OBSERVE: A Pilot Study Of Omission Of Brain Metastasis Stereotactic Radiosurgery Following Resection With CNS-Active Systemic Therapy

June 15, 2026 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
To remove a brain tumor, patients usually receive radiation to lower the chance that the cancer will come back in the spot where the tumor was removed.

Study Overview

Status

Suspended

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Primary Objective To estimate the risk of surgical bed recurrence of resected melanoma or NSCLC brain metastases treated with highly CNS-active systemic therapy without post-operative radiation.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

20

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • MD Anderson Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Description

Eligibility Criteria

  1. Age ≥ 18 years.
  2. ECOG performance status ≤ 2.
  3. Participants with a resected brain metastasis with gross total resection and pathologic confirmation of NSCLC or melanoma. Gross total resection must be confirmed based on a review of the operative report, pathology, and all post-operative images available at the time of enrollment.
  4. Brain metastasis resection occurred ≤ 5 weeks ago.
  5. Additional prior surgeries, including Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT), to the same or nearby location are permitted, provided that residual disease or local recurrence is confirmed pathologically at the most recent resection.
  6. The resected lesion has never previously been targeted by radiotherapy.
  7. Evaluation by a brain metastasis multidisciplinary team (BM-MDT), consisting of a medical oncologist (can be the patient's primary medical oncologist), a radiation oncologist who regularly performs SRS, and a neurosurgeon, and agreement that the intracranial cavity does not or will not require immediate post-operative radiation (i.e. it is judged to be safe to omit post-operative radiation). This BM-MDT evaluation can take place in clinic or during a multidisciplinary conference, either before or after the surgical resection. If the BM-MDT evaluation was before the surgical resection, there can be no new findings in the interim (e.g. during or after the surgical resection) that would change the BM-MDT's recommendation, as determined by one or more of the patient's treating physicians.
  8. Documentation by the patient's primary medical oncologist of a planned study systemic therapy regimen consisting of one of the following: dual-agent immune checkpoint inhibitors (e.g. ipilimumab and nivolumab) for melanoma, osimertinib for EGFR Mutant (e.g. Exon 19 deletion; L858R) NSCLC, and brigatinib, alectinib, or lorlatinib for ALK rearranged/fusion positive NSCLC. As new agents are approved, other highly-CNS active tyrosine kinase inhibitors for participants with NSCLC may be included at the discretion of the principal investigator.
  9. For a participant with more than one recently resected brain metastasis that meets eligibility criteria #3-#7 above, it is permissible (but not mandated) for more than one surgical cavity to proceed without immediate post-operative radiation. All other intracranial disease must proceed with treatment according to standard-of-care practices at the time of enrollment. This may include treatment with SRS or observation if clinically appropriate.
  10. Regarding prior systemic therapy:

    1. For participants with melanoma: no prior disease progression on any immune checkpoint inhibitor agent and ≥ 6 months between the last dose of any immune checkpoint inhibitor agent and initiation of the study systemic therapy regimen.
    2. For participants with EGFR Mutant NSCLC: no prior disease progression on any EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor and ≥ 6 month between the last dose of any EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor and initiation of the study systemic therapy regimen.
    3. For participants with ALK rearranged/fusion positive NSCLC: no prior disease progression on any ALK-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor and ≥ 6 month between the last dose of any ALK-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor and initiation of the study systemic therapy regimen.
  11. This study will allow non-English speaking subjects to be enrolled. Verbal Translation Preparative Sheet (VTPS) will be used if a translated consent form is not available in the subject's language. The consent form will be translated into the language of the subject after 2 or more occurrences. This will apply to any MD Anderson patient.

Exclusion Criteria

  1. History of known leptomeningeal involvement (radiographic or cytological).
  2. Subjects that have previously received or are currently planned for whole brain radiotherapy.
  3. Prior unacceptable toxicity on one or more of the agents comprising the planned study systemic therapy.
  4. Cognitively impaired subjects with a major medical, neurologic or psychiatric condition who are judged as unable to fully comply with study therapy or assessments should not be enrolled.
  5. Participant unable to receive a brain MRI (implanted metal devices or foreign bodies) or MRI contrast.
  6. Pregnancy or plans to become pregnant during the duration of the study.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
systemic therapy
Systemic therapy regimen consisting of one of the following: dual-agent immune checkpoint inhibitors (e.g. ipilimumab and nivolumab) for melanoma, osimertinib for EGFR Mutant NSCLC, and brigatinib, alectinib, or lorlatinib for ALK rearranged/fusion positive NSCLC.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
safety and adverse events (AEs).
Time Frame: Through study completion; an average of 1 year.
Incidence of Adverse Events, Graded According to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI CTCAE) Version (v) 5.0
Through study completion; an average of 1 year.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Thomas H Beckham, MD, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 27, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 15, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 15, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 15, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-0345
  • NCI-2026-04559 (Other Identifier: NCI-2026-04559)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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