Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Top Enroller

The Department of Radiology at Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Institute was the top patient accrual site for Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) clinical trials in 2013.

“We enrolled over 100 patients, which is a rare achievement within RTOG,” says John Suh, MD, Department Chair of Radiation Oncology at the Taussig Cancer Institute. “This was more than double our accrual numbers for 2012.”

Clinical trials: A source of treatment innovations

Dr. Suh says the department’s success in recruiting patients for trials comes from the dedication of its research team and physicians to the RTOG’s mission to increase survival and improve the quality of life for cancer patients through clinical trials. “It also underscores a very strong belief that multi-institutional clinical trials are instrumental in helping to establish new standards of care for cancer patients,” he says.

Radiation Oncology currently has 19 RTOG clinical trials underway on prostate, lung, spine, brain, breast, and head and neck cancers. These run the gamut from a phase II/III study of image-guided radiosurgery/stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for localized spine metastasis to phase III research on postoperative radiation therapy +/- cetuximab for locally advanced resected head and neck cancer. Dr. Suh says that 2014 plans call for opening four to five more trials.

These will be in addition to investigator-initiated studies, such as the phase II SBRT trial for prostate cancer patients. This study treats patients with five fractions of high-dose, high-precision radiation rather than the traditional 35 to 40 fractions offered at other centers. Radiation Oncology is also collaborating with Roswell Park in a phase III trial to evaluate one fraction of SBRT versus three fractions for early-stage lung cancer.

The benefits of leadership

Dr. Suh says the Department of Radiation Oncology is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of cancer patients. Like the other 41 full-member RTOG sites, it strongly supports identifying patients for clinical trials. At the same time, it is focused on participating in trials where it can actively enroll patients and leverage its clinical expertise and experience.

Its recruitment success will help it move forward on both fronts. “We believe that our robust enrollment of patients in RTOG studies will provide us with additional leadership positions in clinical trial design and a greater number of research opportunities,” says Dr. Suh. He notes that research advances will ultimately become innovative treatments.

Toward that end, the department has recently brought on board two physician-scientists with interests in genomics, stem cells and immunotherapy. It is also investing in radiation technologies, computer treatment planning and databases to further personalized cancer care. “The future of radiation oncology research is bright, with many ways to make a meaningful difference in the lives of cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy,” he says.

The RTOG is an international clinical research cooperative funded by the National Cancer Institute. It has 260 members and affiliates in the U.S. and Canada, and includes nearly 90 percent of NCI-designated comprehensive clinical cancer centers.