Efficacy of Prophylactic Itraconazole in High-Dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

November 17, 2008 updated by: Samsung Medical Center

Clinical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Prophylactic Itraconazole in High-Dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Pediatric Solid Tumors

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the prophylactic use of itraconazole is a better option than empirical use of itraconazole in the management (prevention and treatment) of fungal infection associated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children with high-risk solid tumor.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

With the advance of chemoradiotherapy, survival of patients, especially children, with malignant disease has improved. However, prognosis is still poor with conventional chemotherapy if patients have an advanced or high-risk tumor at diagnosis. Outcome in advanced or high-risk pediatric solid tumor such as advanced neuroblastoma, high-risk brain tumor, or recurrent pediatric solid tumor is still not satisfactory with conventional chemotherapy. In this context, investigators have explored the possible efficacy of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in patients with high-risk or relapsed pediatric solid tumor. Efficacy of HDCT and ASCT has been well demonstrated in high-risk neuroblastoma, high-risk brain tumor, and recurrent pediatric solid tumors. Therefore, now, HSCT and ASCT is the most important treatment modality in the treatment of a variety of pediatric solid tumors poorly responding to conventional chemotherapy.

However, although HDCT and ASCT has improved the survival of patients with high-risk tumor, a variety of clinical issues associated with HDCT and ASCT are present causing significant morbidity and even mortality. The most frequent cause of morbidity associated with HDCT and ASCT is infection. Once high-dose myeloablative chemotherapeutic agents are administered, most hematopoietic cells in bone marrow die and prolonged marrow aplasia is unavoidable even after autologous hematopoietic stem cells infusion because it takes time for infused stem cells to reconstitute sufficient hematopoietic function. In addition, high-dose chemotherapy results in severe gastrointestinal mucosal damage which facilitates bacterial and/or fungal infection via damaged mucosal barrier. Therefore, infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality associated with HDCT and ASCT. Common pathogens associated with infection during HDCT and ASCT are bacteria and fungi.

To reduce the chance of infection and therefore, to reduce the morbidity and mortality from severe infection, various prophylactic antibiotics including antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral agents have been used according to standard guideline in allogeneic stem cell transplantation. However, in autologous transplantation for solid tumor in which hematologic recovery is rapid and immune suppression is less severe than allogeneic transplantation, there is no standard guideline for the use of prophylactic antibiotics whereas infection is the most important cause of morbidity. Standard guideline for the use of prophylactic antifungal agent is also not available. While some institutes use anti-fungal agent prophylactically, others use antifungal agent empirically only when neutropenic fever persist despite of empirical use of antibacterial agents.

HDCT in pediatric solid tumor is generally more intensive, and therefore, usually cause more severe mucositis than that in adult tumor. Severe mucositis facilitates fungal infection via damaged mucosal barrier (mainly by Candida species). Therefore, use of prophylactic anti-fungal agent may reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with HDCT and ASCT in pediatric solid tumor. However, there is no randomized clinical study to evaluate the efficacy of prophylactic use of anti-fungal agent to date.

Itraconazole is one of newly developed antifungal agents and many physicians started to use itraconazole as first-line antifungal agent in the management of neutropenic fever in immunocompromised patients. However, the efficacy of prophylactic itraconazole has not been established in children with solid tumor, especially who receive HDCT and ASCT.

In this context, we are going to evaluate the efficacy of prophylactic use of itraconazole in children with high-risk solid tumors during HDCT and ASCT. "Prophylactic" group will be treated with itraconazole once ANC fall below 500/uL regardless of infection and "Empirical" group will be treated with itraconazole only when high fever persists despite of treatment with first-line anti-bacterial agents.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

100

Phase

  • Phase 4

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

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

No older than 15 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with high risk solid tumors who are going to receive high dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Significant organ toxicity (National Cancer Institute [NCI] grade > 2) prior to high dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

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

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Presence/absence of documented fungal infection
Time Frame: until post transplant day 30
until post transplant day 30
Presence/absence of clinical fungal infection
Time Frame: until post transplant day 30
until post transplant day 30
Total duration of high fever
Time Frame: until post transplant day 30
until post transplant day 30
Total duration of antibiotic treatment
Time Frame: until post transplant day 30
until post transplant day 30

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: KiWoong Sung, MD, PhD, Samsung Medical 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

April 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2008

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 11, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 11, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

June 13, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

November 19, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2008

Last Verified

November 1, 2008

More Information

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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