Dexamethasone for Treatment of Radiation-related Fatigue in Patients Receiving RT for Head-neck and Lung Cancer

April 22, 2019 updated by: University of Arizona

A Phase II Randomized Study of Short-Term Dexamethasone Versus Placebo for Fatigue in Patients Receiving Radiation Alone or Radiation and Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Head and Neck and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers

This study will look at how dexamethasone and placebo influence radiation fatigue, quality of life and number of treatment days missed during radiation therapy or radiation therapy and chemotherapy for cancer.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Subjects will randomly receive either dexamethasone or placebo and begin the study medication during the midpoint of their radiation treatment. Study medication will be taken for 14 straight days then stopped. Fatigue and quality of life will be measured weekly with short patient completed surveys. The number of breaks taken during radiation treatment will also be tracked. For safety, blood sugar levels will be checked with finger stick blood draws because dexamethasone is known to cause these levels to increase. Study participation will be approximately 3 months.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

79

Phase

  • Phase 2

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

  • United States
    • Arizona
      • Tucson, Arizona, United States, 85724
        • University of Arizona

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • confirmation of head & neck cancer (stage I-IV) or non-small cell lung cancer (stage II & III)
  • Undergoing treatment with either radiation alone or in combination with chemotherapy
  • Normal cognition and willingness to complete fatigue and quality of life forms, patient observation form, and pill diary

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Hypersensitivity to dexamethasone or corticosteroids or Equal sugar substitute
  • Corticosteroid within the past 30 days prior to study enrollment for greater than one week duration
  • Planned Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)
  • Active psychosis
  • Current pregnancy
  • Active peptic ulcer disease or evidence of gastrointestinal bleed
  • Current active tuberculosis or systemic fungal infection
  • Previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus
  • Acute febrile illness
  • Known human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
  • Major surgery within two weeks of study enrollment of which the patient has not recovered
  • Psychostimulant use in the past 30 days prior to registration
  • History of phenylketonuria (PKU)

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Arm 1 Placebo
Subjects receiving radiation therapy or radiation and chemotherapy randomly assigned to placebo bid for 14 days
Drug: Placebo
oral placebo
Active Comparator: Arm 2 Dexamethasone
Subjects receiving radiation therapy or radiation and chemotherapy randomly assigned to dexamethasone 4 mg bid for 14 days
Drug: Dexamethasone
oral dexamethasone 4 mg bid for 14 days
Other Names:
  • corticosteroid

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Fatigue Measured by FACIT-F Version 4 Fatigue Score
Time Frame: 12 weeks
To compare the effects of dexamethasone and placebo on radiation fatigue using validated measures
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of Life as Measured by FACIT-F Version 4 Well-Being Score
Time Frame: 12 weeks
To determine the effect of dexamethasone on QoL and radiation therapy treatment interruption
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Arizona

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sun Yi, MD, University of Arizona

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)

August 27, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 16, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

February 16, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 30, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 1, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

April 7, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 14, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 22, 2019

Last Verified

April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1408439554

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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