Clinical Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8Phase 2NCT01644591
Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Treating Patients With Greater Than 3 Melanoma Brain Metastases
A Phase 2 study testing Quality-of-Life Assessment, Questionnaire Administration and Stereotactic Radiosurgery in people with Clinical Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8 and Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm in the Brain, run by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
This phase II trial studies how well stereotactic radiosurgery works in treating patients with melanoma that has spread to more than 3 places in the brain. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a specialized radiation therapy that delivers a single, high dose of radiation directly to the tumor and may cause less damage to… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Clinical Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8, Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm in the Brain, Metastatic Melanoma
- What is being tested?
- Quality-of-Life Assessment, Questionnaire Administration and Stereotactic Radiosurgery
- Type of treatment
- Surgery or procedure
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 49 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 2 Aug 2012to 31 Aug 2028
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- All patients with histologic proof of malignant melanoma. Histologic confirmation may be from the primary tumor site, or from another metastatic site (systemic lymph node, etc). Cytology-alone is not an acceptable method of diagnosis
- Greater than 3 presumed melanoma brain metastases on contrast-enhanced brain MRI scan obtained no greater than 4 weeks prior to study registration
- Patients must sign informed consent indicating that they are aware of the investigational nature of this study in keeping with the policies of the hospital
- Patients must have Karnofsky performance status (KPS) >= 70
- Patients must be eligible to have all lesions treated as determined by the study radiation oncologist
- Creatinine clearance > 30 ml/min
Show all 9Show fewer
- Platelets > 50,000
- Patients should have normal coagulation (international normalized ratio [INR] < 1.3) and be able to withhold anticoagulation/antiplatelet medications a minimum of 24 hours prior to radiosurgery treatment (or until INR normalizes), on the day of treatment and 24 hours after radiosurgery treatment has concluded
- Patients can be undergoing concurrent systemic therapy, such as temozolomide, at the discretion of their treating oncologist
Who cannot join
- Patients are excluded if they have been treated with whole brain radiotherapy within the prior 3 months
- Patients are excluded if they have a history of metastatic cancer in addition to melanoma or a history of uncontrolled non-metastatic cancer. Patients with localized squamous cell carcinoma and/or basal cell carcinoma are not excluded
- Patients are excluded if there is radiographic or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) evidence of leptomeningeal disease
- Female patients of childbearing age are excluded if they are pregnant as determined with a serum beta HCG no greater than 14 days prior to study registration, or breast-feeding. (The exclusion is made because gadolinium may be teratogenic in pregnancy)
- Patients are excluded if there is any history of gadolinium allergy
- Patients are excluded if they are unable to obtain a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan for any other reason
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: A Phase II Trial to Determine Local Control and Neurocognitive Preservation After Initial Treatment With Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) for Patients With >3 Melanoma Brain Metastases
This phase II trial studies how well stereotactic radiosurgery works in treating patients with melanoma that has spread to more than 3 places in the brain. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a specialized radiation therapy that delivers a single, high dose of radiation directly to the tumor and may cause less damage to normal tissue.
Read the detailed description
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
- To determine local control of brain metastases at 4 months after initial treatment with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with > 3 melanoma brain metastases (MBM).
II. To determine cognitive decline at 4 months defined as a significant decline (>= 5 point decrease from baseline based on the reliable change index) in the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) Total Recall after initial treatment with SRS versus whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) in patients with > 3 MBMs.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
- To determine local tumor control and distal tumor control in the brain at 1, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months post-treatment.
II. To determine overall survival in treated patients. III. To assess the pattern of neurocognitive change in memory at 1, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months post-treatment as well as executive function, attention, processing speed and upper extremity fine motor dexterity.
IV. To evaluate composite neurocognitive function scores in treated patients. V. To assess the pre-treatment factors of age, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS), extra-cranial disease, BRAF-V600E mutation status in the predictive determination of local and distal control and neurocognitive outcome in each treatment arm.
VI. To assess the correlation between number of lesions and total volume of intracranial disease and neurocognitive outcome in each treatment arm.
VII. To document post-treatment adverse side effects in treated patients. VIII. Evaluate the time to initiation of systemic therapy from completion of radiation treatment.
IX. Evaluate the duration/number of cycles of systemic chemotherapy given following radiation treatment.
CORRELATIVE STUDIES:
- To determine if apolipoprotein E (Apo E) (i.e., Apo E2, Apo E3, and Apo E4) genotyping may prove to be a predictor of radiation induced neurocognitive decline (or neuro-protection).
II. To determine if inflammatory markers (i.e., IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha) may prove to be predictors of radiation induced neurocognitive decline.
III. To determine if hormone and growth factors (i.e., glucocorticoids [e.g., cortisol], gonadal steroids [e.g., estradiol, testosterone, progesterone], growth hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1], and neuronal growth factor [NGF]) may prove to be a predictor of radiation induced neurocognitive decline.
IV. To assess whether baseline and post-radiation fludeoxyglucose F-18 (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scans can predict for neurocognitive decline.
OUTLINE:
Patients undergo SRS on day 1.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up for 12 months.
- Conditions
- Clinical Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8, Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm in the Brain, Metastatic Melanoma, Pathologic Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8
- Being tested
- Quality-of-Life Assessment, Questionnaire Administration, Stereotactic Radiosurgery
- Medical subject headings
- Brain Neoplasms, Melanoma
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Quality-of-Life AssessmentOther
Also called Quality of Life Assessment
Ancillary studies
Questionnaire AdministrationOther
Ancillary studies
Stereotactic RadiosurgeryRadiation
Also called Stereotactic External Beam Irradiation, stereotactic external-beam radiation therapy, stereotactic radiation therapy, Stereotactic Radiotherapy
Undergo SRS
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment (SRS) | Experimental | Patients undergo SRS on day 1. Receives: Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment; Other: Questionnaire Administration; Radiation: Stereotactic Radiosurgery |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Time to progression
Time to local failure will be estimated using the product-limit estimator of Kaplan and Meier, and log-rank test will be used for comparison of local failure rate in patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) to null hypothesis with respect to the time to local failure. Patients who are lost to follow-up or who die from distant disease before having local failure will be censored. Local control rates at 4 months may be estimated with 95% confidence intervals using Kaplan-Meier method.
Measured: Up to 12 months
Time to neurocognitive failure
The baseline Listening Vocabulary Levels Test-Revised (HVLT-R) score will be compared to the HVLT-R score in patients surviving 4 months. Preservation of function is defined as improvement of HVLT-R score or decline by 4 points or less. Failure is defined as decline by 5 or more points. Time to neurocognitive decline will be estimated using the product-limit estimator of Kaplan and Meier, and log-rank test will be used for comparison of neurocognitive decline rate in patients treated with SRS to null hypothesis with respect to the time to neurocognitive decline. Patients who are lost to follow-up or who die before having neurocognitive decline will be censored. Rates of neurocognitive decline at 4 months may be estimated with 95% confidence intervals using Kaplan-Meier method.
Measured: Up to 12 months
Secondary outcomes (3)
Overall survival
Will be estimated using the product-limit estimator of Kaplan and Meier. Cox proportional hazards regression will be used to model overall survival as a function of age, Karnofsky performance status, extra-cranial disease, and BRAF mutation status. Will model time to local failure, time to distal failure, and time to neurocognitive decline using competing risk regression when death without events is considered as a competing risk.
Measured: Up to 12 months
Neurocognitive function score
Will use descriptive statistics and boxplots to summarize and illustrate the neurocognitive function score at each assessment time. Will similarly summarize and illustrate the change from baseline in neurocognitive function score. Will also fit the neurocognitive data with a general linear model including the baseline score as covariates to assess differences in neurocognitive scores over time (to 4 months) for those patients that are alive and progression-free at 4 months. We will also model the data with mixed effects regression including baseline HVLT-R, time, number of lesions, extra-cranial disease, and a patient specific random effect. Will use logistic regression methods to model the logit of the probability of neurocognitive decline as function of ApoE (i.e., Apo E2, Apo E3, Apo E4) genotyping, inflammatory markers, hormone growth factors.
Measured: Up to 12 months
Number of cycles of systemic chemotherapy given following radiation treatment
Will use descriptive statistics to summarize the number of cycles of systemic chemotherapy given following radiation treatment for each treatment arm.
Measured: Up to 12 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted19 Jul 2012 (estimated)
- Study start2 Aug 2012
- Primary completion31 Aug 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Aug 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Clinical Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8Studies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by M.D. Anderson Cancer CenterThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 49 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Jing Li, Principal investigator, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT01644591
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2011-0875
- Other IDs
- NCI-2018-01809, 2011-0875
- Status last verified
- Aug 2026
- First submitted
- 17 Jul 2012
- Last updated
- 20 Aug 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- Yes
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 20 Aug 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- A Phase II Trial to Determine Local Control and Neurocognitive Preservation After Initial Treatment With Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) for Patients With >3 Melanoma Brain Metastases
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT01644591
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2011-0875
- Conditions
- Clinical Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8, Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm in the Brain, Metastatic Melanoma, Pathologic Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrolment
- 49 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- M.D. Anderson Cancer CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Study start
- 2 Aug 2012 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 31 Aug 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 Aug 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 19 Jul 2012 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This phase II trial studies how well stereotactic radiosurgery works in treating patients with melanoma that has spread to more than 3 places in the brain. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a specialized radiation therapy that delivers a single, high dose of radiation directly to the tumor and may cause less damage to normal tissue.
Detailed description
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
- To determine local control of brain metastases at 4 months after initial treatment with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with > 3 melanoma brain metastases (MBM).
II. To determine cognitive decline at 4 months defined as a significant decline (>= 5 point decrease from baseline based on the reliable change index) in the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) Total Recall after initial treatment with SRS versus whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) in patients with > 3 MBMs.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
- To determine local tumor control and distal tumor control in the brain at 1, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months post-treatment.
II. To determine overall survival in treated patients. III. To assess the pattern of neurocognitive change in memory at 1, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months post-treatment as well as executive function, attention, processing speed and upper extremity fine motor dexterity.
IV. To evaluate composite neurocognitive function scores in treated patients. V. To assess the pre-treatment factors of age, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS), extra-cranial disease, BRAF-V600E mutation status in the predictive determination of local and distal control and neurocognitive outcome in each treatment arm.
VI. To assess the correlation between number of lesions and total volume of intracranial disease and neurocognitive outcome in each treatment arm.
VII. To document post-treatment adverse side effects in treated patients. VIII. Evaluate the time to initiation of systemic therapy from completion of radiation treatment.
IX. Evaluate the duration/number of cycles of systemic chemotherapy given following radiation treatment.
CORRELATIVE STUDIES:
- To determine if apolipoprotein E (Apo E) (i.e., Apo E2, Apo E3, and Apo E4) genotyping may prove to be a predictor of radiation induced neurocognitive decline (or neuro-protection).
II. To determine if inflammatory markers (i.e., IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha) may prove to be predictors of radiation induced neurocognitive decline.
III. To determine if hormone and growth factors (i.e., glucocorticoids [e.g., cortisol], gonadal steroids [e.g., estradiol, testosterone, progesterone], growth hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1], and neuronal growth factor [NGF]) may prove to be a predictor of radiation induced neurocognitive decline.
IV. To assess whether baseline and post-radiation fludeoxyglucose F-18 (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scans can predict for neurocognitive decline.
OUTLINE:
Patients undergo SRS on day 1.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up for 12 months.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment (SRS) | Experimental | Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment, Other: Questionnaire Administration, Radiation: Stereotactic RadiosurgeryPatients undergo SRS on day 1. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (9 listed)
- All patients with histologic proof of malignant melanoma. Histologic confirmation may be from the primary tumor site, or from another metastatic site (systemic lymph node, etc). Cytology-alone is not an acceptable method of diagnosis
- Greater than 3 presumed melanoma brain metastases on contrast-enhanced brain MRI scan obtained no greater than 4 weeks prior to study registration
- Patients must sign informed consent indicating that they are aware of the investigational nature of this study in keeping with the policies of the hospital
- Patients must have Karnofsky performance status (KPS) >= 70
- Patients must be eligible to have all lesions treated as determined by the study radiation oncologist
Key exclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Patients are excluded if they have been treated with whole brain radiotherapy within the prior 3 months
- Patients are excluded if they have a history of metastatic cancer in addition to melanoma or a history of uncontrolled non-metastatic cancer. Patients with localized squamous cell carcinoma and/or basal cell carcinoma are not excluded
- Patients are excluded if there is radiographic or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) evidence of leptomeningeal disease
- Female patients of childbearing age are excluded if they are pregnant as determined with a serum beta HCG no greater than 14 days prior to study registration, or breast-feeding. (The exclusion is made because gadolinium may be teratogenic in pregnancy)
- Patients are excluded if there is any history of gadolinium allergy
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Quality-of-Life AssessmentAlso: Quality of Life AssessmentAncillary studies | Other | Treatment (SRS) |
| Questionnaire AdministrationAncillary studies | Other | Treatment (SRS) |
| Stereotactic RadiosurgeryAlso: Stereotactic External Beam Irradiation, stereotactic external-beam radiation therapy, stereotactic radiation therapy, Stereotactic RadiotherapyUndergo SRS | Radiation | Treatment (SRS) |
Primary outcome
Time to progression
Time frame: Up to 12 months
Time to local failure will be estimated using the product-limit estimator of Kaplan and Meier, and log-rank test will be used for comparison of local failure rate in patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) to null hypothesis with respect to the time to local failure. Patients who are lost to follow-up or who die from distant disease before having local failure will be censored. Local control rates at 4 months may be estimated with 95% confidence intervals using Kaplan-Meier method.
Time to neurocognitive failure
Time frame: Up to 12 months
The baseline Listening Vocabulary Levels Test-Revised (HVLT-R) score will be compared to the HVLT-R score in patients surviving 4 months. Preservation of function is defined as improvement of HVLT-R score or decline by 4 points or less. Failure is defined as decline by 5 or more points. Time to neurocognitive decline will be estimated using the product-limit estimator of Kaplan and Meier, and log-rank test will be used for comparison of neurocognitive decline rate in patients treated with SRS to null hypothesis with respect to the time to neurocognitive decline. Patients who are lost to follow-up or who die before having neurocognitive decline will be censored. Rates of neurocognitive decline at 4 months may be estimated with 95% confidence intervals using Kaplan-Meier method.
3 secondary outcomes
Overall survival
Time frame: Up to 12 months
Neurocognitive function score
Time frame: Up to 12 months
Number of cycles of systemic chemotherapy given following radiation treatment
Time frame: Up to 12 months
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 20 Aug 2026.
- University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center WebsiteLink provided by the sponsor.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Jing Li principal investigator
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A Phase 2 study testing Quality-of-Life Assessment, Questionnaire Administration and Stereotactic Radiosurgery in people with Clinical Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v8 and Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm in the Brain, run by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 9 inclusion and 6 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 20 Aug 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
What does this phase mean?
Phase 2 studies give the treatment to a larger group to see whether it has the intended effect and to keep checking safety.
Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Time to progression (time frame: Up to 12 months). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 20 Aug 2026; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 7 Nov 2026.