A Study Comparing GLIADEL to Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Metastatic Brain Disease

April 27, 2026 updated by: University of Nebraska

A Randomized Trial Evaluating GLIADEL Compared to Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Subjects With Metastatic Brain Disease

This study is being done to see if adding GLIADEL to the site where the tumor was removed works as well as just having the tumor removed with radiation treatment done within six weeks after the surgery to keep the cancer from coming back.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study is being done to assess the efficacy of GLIADEL, a local chemotherapy, in preventing local recurrence of a metastatic brain tumor compared to stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) after resection.

100 adult participants with one to four metastatic brain tumors with one tumor needing resection will be enrolled. Participants with prior radiation, lymphoma, small cell, germ cell, unknown primary, or anaplastic thyroid diagnoses will be ineligible. Life expectancy should be greater than 3 months.

Participants will be randomized at the time of surgery to 1) GLIADEL placement at the time of resection or 2) SRS post-operatively to the resection cavity. Any other tumors (up to three) will have SRS as their primary treatment after surgery. SRS will take place within 6 weeks from surgery.

Participants will be evaluated pre-operatively with Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain and neuropsychological testing and will have immediate post-op MRI for extent of resection (EOR) determination. Participants will have SRS to the resection cavity if no GLIADEL was placed and all will have SRS to any other lesions. They will be followed at set intervals to evaluate for local recurrence and neurocognitive changes. The genome of the metastatic brain tumor will be compared to their primary and germline for identification of alterations.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

    • Michigan
      • Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48202
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Henry Ford
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Ian Lee, MD
        • Contact:
    • Nebraska
      • Omaha, Nebraska, United States, 68198
        • Recruiting
        • University of Nebraska Medical Center
        • Contact:

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

Description

Inclusion criteria:

  • Age 18 years or older (in states with 18 as age of majority); Age 19 years or older in Nebraska (age of majority)
  • Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class I, II or III with a Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) of >/ 60
  • Known or suspected primary solid cancer with metastatic brain tumor(s) - up to four in number and up to 4 cm in size with surgical resection planned for at least one site with Gliadel placement planned for only one site
  • Laboratory values adequate for patient to undergo surgery safely as determined by the attending neurosurgeon (transfusion permitted to reach goals)
  • Women of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test within 7 days of initiating study. (No childbearing potential is defined as age 55 years or older and no menses for two years or any age with surgical removal of the uterus and/or both ovaries)
  • Normal coagulation studies (international normalized ratio, INR, ≤ 1.3)
  • Estimated survival time of ≥ 3 months (determined by the participant's primary oncologist)
  • Participant is willing and able to consent and abide by the protocol

Exclusion criteria:

  • Prior treatment to the area of planned resection (surgery, radiation)
  • Prior whole brain radiation therapy
  • Diagnosis of lymphoma, germ cell cancer, small cell lung cancer, anaplastic thyroid cancer
  • Leptomeningeal disease
  • Neurodegenerative disorder (e.g. dementia)
  • Tumor size > 4 cm
  • Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) < 60
  • Inability or unwillingness to co-operate with the requirements of the protocol
  • Any other clinically significant medical disease or condition, laboratory abnormality or psychiatric illness that, in the Investigator's opinion, may interfere with protocol adherence or confound efficacy or safety assessment or a subject's ability to give informed consent
  • Simultaneous participation in other therapeutic clinical trials
  • Severe pulmonary, cardiac or other systemic disease, specifically:

    • New York Heart Association > Grade 2 congestive heart failure within 6 months prior to study entry, unless asymptomatic and well controlled with medication
    • Uncontrolled or significant cardiovascular disease, clinically significant ventricular arrhythmia (such as ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, or Torsades des pointes), clinically significant pulmonary disease (such as ≥ Grade 2 dyspnea, according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events 5.0)
  • Participants having any other disease, either metabolic or psychological, which as per Investigator assessment may affect the participant's compliance or place the participant at higher risk of potential treatment complications
  • Participant has a bleeding diathesis, or must take anticoagulants, or antiplatelet agents including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) at the time of scheduled resection that cannot be stopped for surgery
  • Inability to obtain MRI studies

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
No Intervention: Standard of Care Arm
The tumor will be removed surgically. Within 6 weeks after surgery, the resection will be treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).
Experimental: GLIADEL Arm
Once the tumor has been removed, GLIADEL wafers will be applied to the resection cavity. The number of wafers used will be determined by the size of the cavity. Enough wafers should be used so that as much of the cavity is covered as possible.
GLIADEL wafers will be placed to cover tumor bed immediately after tumor removal.
Other Names:
  • GLIADEL

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Efficacy of GLIADEL compared to Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS)
Time Frame: 12 months
The primary outcome is to evaluate the efficacy of GLIADEL local chemotherapy compared to Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) in preventing local recurrence after resection of a metastatic brain tumor (local recurrence at surgical site).
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Michele Aizenberg, MD, University of Nebraska

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)

November 6, 2020

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 6, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 6, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

January 9, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 27, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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