Simultaneous Care in Recurrent and/or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer: the SupCare Study (SupCare)

This is a late phase II, prospective, multicenter randomized study, to assess the value of early palliative care integrated with the standard oncologic care in patients with Recurrent Metastatic (RM) Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) proposed to first line palliative systemic treatment.

The study randomizes patients in a 1:1 fashion to standard oncologic care, in which the palliative care is requested as needed (reactive approach) or to early palliative care integrated with the standard oncologic care (proactive approach).

Standard of Care: the oncologist will be the main referral of the patient, deciding the therapeutic approach, the assessments requested, in terms of type of exams and timing and the need of possible further support from other expertise. The oncologist will base the choices also upon the results of the Liverpool Head and Neck Patient Concern Inventory (PCI-H&N) and the patient's preferences. At the end of the first oncological visit, the physician will be asked to predict the survival of the patient.

Integrated approach: Besides the Oncology visit, patient will have the palliative care expert visit and follow up. The oncologist will define the therapeutic approach and the assessments requested, in terms of type of exams and timing. The palliative care clinician and the oncologist will judge the burden of symptoms and together they will propose the suggested interventions to relief the symptoms, with a particular attention to a validated instrument (the PCI-H&N) and patient priority questionnaire's results.

Stratification Factors

• Institution
• Performance Status (PS) (0 vs 1-2)
• Presence of any caregiver at home
• Type of treatment (Immunotherapy alone vs any other combination)

Study duration: the total study duration is estimated at 36 months, with a total accrual time estimated to be 24 months from first patient in (FPI) and with an additional follow-up period of 12 months.

End of study occurs when all patients have completed their end of study visit and the study is mature for all analyses defined in the protocol and the database has been cleaned and frozen for these analyses.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Head and Neck Neoplasms
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Palliative care requested as needed, integrated with the standard oncologic care (reactive approach); Procedure: Early palliative care, integrated with the standard oncologic care (proactive approach)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients over 18 years of age
• Histological diagnosis of HNC of epithelial origin. Any sub-site of head and neck is eligible except endocrine tumours such as thyroid and parathyroid cancer
• First diagnosis of recurrent disease and/or distant metastasis; with recurrent disease not amenable to salvage surgery or re-irradiation
• Patient candidate to any first line systemic treatment
• Life expectancy more than 3 months
• PS Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) ≤2
• Adequate cognitive and reading abilities.
• Availability of baseline scores for Emotional Functioning and Pain
• Patient agrees to complete questionnaires at week 6, 15, 24 and 52 after systemic treatment start
• Before patient 's enrolment, written informed consent must be given according to International Council for Harmonisation (ICH)/Good Clinical Practice (GCP), and national/local regulations.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients requiring a palliative care consultation right from the beginning of treatment
• Cutaneous primary cancer
• Any psychological, familial, sociological or geographical condition potentially hampering compliance with the study protocol and follow-up schedule; those conditions should be assessed and discussed with the patient before the enrolment in the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Standard of Care; The oncologist will be the main referral of the patient, deciding the therapeutic approach, the assessments requested, in terms of type of exams and timing and the need of possible further support from other expertise. The oncologist will base the choices also upon the results of the Liverpool Head and Neck Patient Concern Inventory (PCI-H&N) and the patient's preferences. At the end of the first oncological visit, the physician will be asked to predict the survival of the patient.	Procedure: Palliative care requested as needed, integrated with the standard oncologic care (reactive approach); The oncologist will be the main referral of the patient, deciding the therapeutic approach, the assessments requested, in terms of type of exams and timing and the need of possible further support from other expertise (reactive approach). The oncologist will base the choices also upon the results of the PCI-H&N and the patient's preferences. At the end of the first oncological visit, the physician will be asked to predict the survival of the patient.
Experimental: Integrated Care; Besides the oncology visit, patient will have the palliative care expert visit and follow up. The oncologist will define the therapeutic approach and the assessments requested, in terms of type of exams and timing. The palliative care clinician and the oncologist will judge the burden of symptoms and together they will propose the suggested interventions to relief the symptoms, with a particular attention to a validated instrument (the PCI-H&N) and patient priority questionnaire's results.	Procedure: Early palliative care, integrated with the standard oncologic care (proactive approach); Besides the Oncology visit, patient will have the palliative care expert visit and follow up (proactive approach). The oncologist will define the therapeutic approach and the assessments requested, in terms of type of exams and timing. The palliative care clinician and the oncologist will judge the burden of symptoms and together they will propose the suggested interventions to relief the symptoms, with a particular attention to the Liverpool Head and Neck Patient Concern Inventory (PCI-H&N) and patient priority questionnaire's results.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline in emotional functioning and pain scores according to Item List (IL) 250 questionnaire at 15 weeks.	To assess the added value of early palliative care integrated with the standard oncologic care as measured by the difference in mean change from baseline to 15 weeks between arms in patient reported emotional functioning and pain. Minimum = -100; Maximum = +100; higher means better outcome	at 15 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline in emotional functioning and pain scores according to Item List 250 (IL250) questionnaire at 6 weeks, 24 weeks and 52 weeks.	Evaluate the added value of early palliative care integrated with the standard oncologic care as measured by the difference in mean change from baseline at alternative timepoints between arms in patient reported emotional functioning and pain. Minimum = -100; Maximum = +100; higher means better outcome	at 6 weeks, 24 weeks and 52 weeks
Change from baseline in the selected Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) scales from the Item List 250 (IL250) questionnaire at 6 weeks, 15 weeks, 24 weeks and 52 weeks	Evaluate the change from baseline in supportive patient-reported symptom and functional outcomes at 6 weeks, 15 weeks, 24 weeks and 52 weeks. Minimum = -100; Maximum = +100; higher means better outcome	at 6 weeks, 15 weeks, 24 weeks and 52 weeks
Number of unplanned visits to emergency room or specialist visits	Evaluate the frequency of the unplanned access to emergency room or specialist visits	up to 52 weeks
Hospitalization due to treatment toxicities or tumour signs/symptoms, as evaluated by number of admissions and duration	Frequency of hospitalization due to adverse effects of treatment or due to tumour symptoms/signs	up to 52 weeks
Identification of the rate of patients starting a new systemic treatment in the last three months of life	Frequency of oncological treatments in last three months of life.	until 1 year from last patient enrolled
Rate of patients receiving systemic treatment in the last month of life	Identification of the rate of patients receiving systemic treatment in the last month of life	until 1 year from last patient enrolled
Rate of patients with a tracheostomy performed in the last 3 months of life	Identification of the rate of patients with tracheostomy performed in the last 3 months of life.	until 1 year from last patient enrolled
Rate of patients with gastrostomy performed in the last 3 months of life	Identification of the rate of patients with gastrostomy performed in the last 3 months of life.	until 1 year from last patient enrolled
Caregiver/family members' satisfaction (FAMcare questionnaire) at 15 weeks	Assessment of the caregiver/family members' satisfaction. Minimum = -99; Maximum = +99; higher means better outcome.	at 15 weeks
Overall Survival (OS)	Overall Survival	until 1 year from last patient enrolled
Prediction error of survival (defined as the difference between actual survival (AS) of patients and clinician prediction of survival (CPS))	Accuracy of physician prediction of survival	until 1 year from last patient enrolled

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer - EORTC
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Paolo Bossi, MD, Istituto Clinico Humanitas; Principal Investigator: Kathy Taylor, MSc, Universitätsmedizin Mainz - Institut fuer Medizinische -Biometrie, Epidemiologie und informatik; Principal Investigator: Luigi Lorini, MD, Istituto Clinico Humanitas

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): September 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 25, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 2, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 4, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 17, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 14, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Quality of life
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Head and Neck Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: EORTC-2236-HNCG-QLG

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No