Multiparametric Imaging-based Intraoperative Navigation for Guidance of Surgical Resection and Postoperative Radiotherapy in Patients With Head-and-neck Tumors

NCT ID: NCT05671458

Last Updated: 2026-01-12

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 60 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-01-01
• Study Completion Date: 2027-01-01

Brief Summary

The overarching goal of the NAVIGATORR trial is the improvement of local tumor control in head-and-neck cancer (HNC) by increasing the precision of surgical resection and individualization of radiotherapy. Squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) together with salivary gland carcinomas (adenoid cysytic Carcinoma (ACC), mucoepidermoid Carcinoma (MEC), adenocarcinoma (AC)) represent the most common entities in German head and neck oncology. In localized tumors, primary tumor resection with possible adjuvant (chemo)radiotherapy is still the treatment of choice. Advances in targeted therapy and immunotherapy have greatly expanded the repertoire of medical oncology in recent years. In particular, prognosis of patients with end-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been improved and even patients with advanced head and neck disease can be offered new second line regimes. Importantly, all of these advances are based on personalized and targeted therapies. Unfortunately, surgical oncology in the head-and-neck region has not yet shown such developments towards individualized treatment, so that the rates of safe oncological resections (clear resection margins) haven been stagnating. Despite advances in reconstructive surgery that allow the resection of head-and-neck tumors that would not have been operable 10 - 15 years ago, the basic principles of the resection margin and especially margin evaluation have remained unchanged. The technique of navigation-based tumor resection and the annotation of biopsies by titanium clip-markings or special annotation have been described, but only in small case series and without proving the benefit of the method concerning clinically relevant parameters.

Therefore, the NAVIGATORR trial will enroll 60 patients with HNC of the midface that will undergo navigation-based surgery. Importantly, interdisciplinary data exchange of the intraoperative navigation data between surgeons, pathologists and radiation oncologists will be established. Clear surgical margins (distance between tumor cells and resection border > 5 mm) have been defined as primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints such as dosimetric assessment of individualized radiotherapy plans, local tumor control or overall survival should then be compared to data from the literature to further assess this multidisciplinary approach.

Conditions

Head and Neck Tumors

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Interventions

intraoperative navigation and creation of tumor resection maps

TRM are based on intraoperative navigation data and yield anatomically accurate marks of the tumor resection margin and potential residual tumor areas on clinical imaging. These marks will be annotated with histopathological information. Subsequently, the resulting 3-dimensional TRM will be imported into the radiotherapy planning system as part of a multidisciplinary workflow.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Diagnosis of a malignancy (squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), adenocarcinoma (AC), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC), adenoidcystic carcinoma (ACC)) of the midface, upper jaw and skull-base (e.g. based on imaging-studies and/or biopsies)
• Indication of surgical tumor resection according to multidisciplinary tumor conference
• Probably indication for postoperative radiotherapy (e.g. T3/4 tumor)
• Medical operability and written informed consent of the patient to undergo surgical resection (as indicated clinically)
• Patient age ≥ 18 years
• Karnofsky performance index ≥ 60%
• For women with childbearing potential: adequate contraception
• Ability of subject to understand character and individual consequences of the trial
• Written informed consent to participate in this trial

Exclusion Criteria

• Contraindications against radiotherapy, especially pregnant or lactating women
• Refusal of the patient to take part in the study
• Participation in another competing clinical study or observation period of competing trials

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Juergen Debus

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Juergen Debus

PD Dr. Sebastian Regnery

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Department of Radiotherapy, University of Heidelberg

Heidelberg, , Germany

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Germany

Central Contacts

Sebastian Regnery, PD Dr.

Role: CONTACT

sebastian.regnery@med.uni-heidelberg.de

+49 6221 56 8202

Facility Contacts

Juergen Debus, Prof. Dr. Dr.

Role: primary

juergen.debus@med.uni-heidelberg.de

+49 6221 56 ext. 8200

Adriane Lentz-Hommertgen, Dr. rer. nat.

Role: backup

studienkoordination.rad@med.uni-heidelberg.de

0622156 ext. 34091

Other Identifiers

NAVIGATORR

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id