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Brain TumorsNCT03328858

Ketogenic Diet in Children With Malignant or Recurrent/Refractory Brain Tumor

A study testing Ketogenic Diet in people with Brain Tumors, run by Nicklaus Children's Hospital f/k/a Miami Children's Hospital at 1 site in United States.

Terminated

Stopped early. The study ended before it was planned to and will not resume.

Official record
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Trial summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the ketogenic diet on tumor size and quality of life in pediatric patients with malignant or recurrent/refractory brain tumors. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 12 months to 35 years
Conditions the study is for
Brain Tumors
What is being tested?
Ketogenic Diet
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
2 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
1 Nov 2017to 31 Jan 2020
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

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 12 months to 35 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult

Who may be able to join

  • Diagnosis Medulloblastoma, high-grade glioma, low-grade glioma, and ependymoma are eligible. Other central nervous system tumors may be considered for treatment at discretion of investigator. Pathology is required unless diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma or optic pathway tumor. The patient should have failed first line therapy and be considered refractory, relapsed, or recurrent. Exceptions are Grade III and Grade IV gliomas including brain stem gliomas who can be enrolled at initial diagnosis.
  • Prior Therapy Patients should have already had first line standard of care therapy, unless their initial diagnosis is high grade glioma or DIPG in which case they are eligible. Patients with high grade glioma can be enrolled after the completion of initial radiation. Investigator discretion may also be used.
  • Organ Function Requirements A. Functioning gastrointestinal system, i.e. ability to chew and swallow or alternative means of nutrition therapy such as a gastrostomy or jejunostomy tube B. SGPT (ALT) < 3 x upper normal limit; Total Bilirubin ≤ 2 x upper normal limit C. No active pancreatitis D. No arrhythmia or prolonged QT.

Who cannot join

  • History of cardiac arrhythmia
  • Patient unable to chew/swallow and who do not consent to alternative methods of nutrition support, e.g. nasogastric or nasoduodenal tube, or gastrostomy or jejunostomy tube placement.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Nicklaus Children's Hospital

    Miami, Florida, 33155

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: A Phase II Study of the Ketogenic Diet in Children With Malignant or Recurrent/Refractory Brain Tumor

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the ketogenic diet on tumor size and quality of life in pediatric patients with malignant or recurrent/refractory brain tumors.

Read the detailed description

Brain tumors account for nearly 20% of all childhood malignancies. Of these, gliomas represent 50% of all brain tumors in children and young adults. Gliomas are classically divided into two subtypes - low-grade and high-grade. Low-grade gliomas (LGG) include pilocytic astrocytomas and diffuse astrocytomas, and high-grade gliomas (HGG) include anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme. Although patients with grade I and II tumors have a good prognosis with 5-year overall survival rates of 80-90%, those cases that are recurrent, refractory, and/or unresectable remain a challenge. The prognosis of children and young adults with recurrent or refractory malignant brain tumors remains poor despite dramatic improvements in treatment over the past few decades, with only a minority achieving long-term survival if recurrence occurs following initial surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy.

For patients with HGG prognosis remains dismal despite aggressive treatment. In this subset of patients, the 5-year overall survival for anaplastic astrocytoma ranges from 20-40% and for glioblastoma 15-20%. Diffuse intrinsic brain stem gliomas (DIPG) have the worst overall prognosis with a nine-month mean overall survival and with most patients dying from the disease within 2 years. Thus, the development of new treatment protocols for children and young adults with both high grade gliomas and with recurrent or refractory low grade gliomas is crucial to improving the survival rates of these patients.

The Ketogenic Diet (KD) has been in clinical use for nearly a century, initially designed to mimic the effects of starvation. Over the last two decades metabolic studies have been gaining momentum as increasingly promising in disease modification of central nervous system disorders and tumors.

Tests in animals and studies in adult patients with brain tumors have shown that there are advantages to using the ketogenic diet. These include: improved response of the tumor to standard treatment (chemotherapy/radiation) and improvement in quality of life measures (alertness).

Conditions
Brain Tumors
Being tested
Ketogenic Diet
Keywords
Ketogenic Diet, brain tumors
Medical subject headings
Brain Neoplasms

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Ketogenic DietOther

    Once tolerance to the diet has been assessed, participants will be placed in the ketogenic diet, followed-up every three months until the one year completion.

Study groups in NCT03328858
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Ketogenic DietOtherParticipants will be provided a consultation with a ketogenic dietitian, and test the tolerance to the diet in an inpatient mode
Receives: Other: Ketogenic Diet

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Overall Response Rate

    To evaluate the overall response rate of subjects with malignant or refractory brain tumors receiving dietary therapy with the ketogenic diet

    Measured: one year

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. Quality of Life Measures

    To evaluate the changes of quality of life of subjects with relapsed or refractory brain tumors receiving dietary therapy with the ketogenic diet using age-appropriate quality of life modules (Peds QL).

    Measured: one year

  2. Ketosis Levels

    To compare the betahydroxybutyrate level to decrease tumor size using MRI.

    Measured: one year

  3. Blood Glucose Levels

    To compare average blood glucose during ketogenic diet initiation compared to decrease in tumor size at time of first follow-up MRI.

    Measured: one year

  4. Correlation of ketosis levels and ketogenic diet

    To evaluate correlation between degree of ketosis (betahydroxybutyrate level) and ketogenic diet ratio.

    Measured: one year

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted1 Nov 2017
  2. Study start1 Nov 2017
  3. Primary completion31 Jan 2020
  4. Study completion31 Jan 2020

Why it stopped: PI no longer available, not able to find replacement. 2 patients, lost to follow-up.

Resources

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 N/A
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Model description
Ketogenic Diet will be initiated as inpatient, once all necessary studies are obtained and reviewed. The "classic ketogenic diet" will be initiated, and once ketosis is reached and patient demonstrates tolerance to diet he/she will be discharged home. Follow-up visits will be necessary up to 1 year.
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
2 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03328858
Sponsor's protocol ID
MCH05817
Status last verified
Jan 2020
First submitted
23 Oct 2017
Last updated
5 Feb 2020
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Gasior M, Rogawski MA, Hartman AL. Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet. Behav Pharmacol. 2006 Sep;17(5-6):431-9. doi: 10.1097/00008877-200609000-00009.

    PubMed 16940764
  • Neal EG, Chaffe H, Schwartz RH, Lawson MS, Edwards N, Fitzsimmons G, Whitney A, Cross JH. A randomized trial of classical and medium-chain triglyceride ketogenic diets in the treatment of childhood epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2009 May;50(5):1109-17. doi: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01870.x. Epub 2008 Nov 19.

    PubMed 19054400
  • Kossoff EH. More fat and fewer seizures: dietary therapies for epilepsy. Lancet Neurol. 2004 Jul;3(7):415-20. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(04)00807-5.

    PubMed 15207798
  • Lussier DM, Woolf EC, Johnson JL, Brooks KS, Blattman JN, Scheck AC. Enhanced immunity in a mouse model of malignant glioma is mediated by a therapeutic ketogenic diet. BMC Cancer. 2016 May 13;16:310. doi: 10.1186/s12885-016-2337-7.

    PubMed 27178315
  • Vidone M, Clima R, Santorsola M, Calabrese C, Girolimetti G, Kurelac I, Amato LB, Iommarini L, Trevisan E, Leone M, Soffietti R, Morra I, Faccani G, Attimonelli M, Porcelli AM, Gasparre G. A comprehensive characterization of mitochondrial DNA mutations in glioblastoma multiforme. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2015 Jun;63:46-54. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2015.01.027. Epub 2015 Feb 7.

    PubMed 25668474
  • Nebeling LC, Miraldi F, Shurin SB, Lerner E. Effects of a ketogenic diet on tumor metabolism and nutritional status in pediatric oncology patients: two case reports. J Am Coll Nutr. 1995 Apr;14(2):202-8. doi: 10.1080/07315724.1995.10718495.

    PubMed 7790697

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Ketogenic Diet in people with Brain Tumors, run by Nicklaus Children's Hospital f/k/a Miami Children's Hospital 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 3 inclusion and 2 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: stopped early, as of the sponsor's last update on 5 Feb 2020. 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.

Are results available for this study?

The study was stopped early (reason given: PI no longer available, not able to find replacement. 2 patients, lost to follow-up.). Results are not available in the source record.

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?

Overall Response Rate (time frame: one year). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03328858, which also lists 6 linked publications.

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 5 Feb 2020.

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