Study Stopped
Surgery wait times during the COVID-19 pandemic were eventually reduced to pre-pandemic wait times. This study became irrelevant.
SIGNAL During a COVID-19 Pandemic
Single Fraction Preoperative Radiation as a Strategy for Local Control of Breast Cancer During a COVID-19 Pandemic
1 other identifier
interventional
N/A
0 countries
N/A
Brief Summary
The standard treatment for early stage, estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer is lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy followed by 16-25 treatments of adjuvant whole-breast radiation therapy plus or minus hormone therapy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated changes in the way breast cancer is treated in order to reduce contact between individuals, reduce spread of the novel coronavirus, and lessen the impact on health care resources. As elective surgeries are being cancelled, current pandemic guidelines recommend that patients be started on hormone treatment while waiting for surgeries to be re-instated. Only after this surgery occurs will patients receive radiation treatment, dramatically extending the time between diagnosis and end of treatment. Emergency pandemic guidelines in the UK and other countries recommend 5 fractions of pre-operative radiation therapy where appropriate. Based on previous work in the SIGNAL 1.0 and SIGNAL 2.0 clinical trials, the investigators are proposing treating patients with early stage breast cancers with one single fraction of stereotactic neoadjuvant radiation during the pre-operative waiting period. This will allow patients to complete radiation therapy upfront while reducing the number of patient visits to hospital. This will also allow investigators to evaluate the ability of single-fraction targeted radiation to induce a pathologic complete response.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
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Started May 2020
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Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
Study Start
First participant enrolled
May 1, 2020
CompletedFirst Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
May 5, 2020
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
September 8, 2021
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
November 1, 2021
CompletedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
November 1, 2022
CompletedMay 16, 2022
September 1, 2021
1.5 years
May 5, 2020
May 10, 2022
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (2)
Pathologic complete response (pCR)
To evaluate whether a pathologic complete response can be achieved when radiotherapy is delivered in a single 21 Gy fraction, establishing whether tumour response has a linear function with time in the context of delayed surgery. Pathologic complete response will be treated as a dichotomous variable (yes/no). Results will be stratified based on whether patients were also placed on neoadjuvant hormone treatment.
1 year
Feasibility of SBRT during a pandemic
To demonstrate feasibility of treating early stage breast cancer patients with a single 21 Gy fraction during the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be measured by accrual rate and the number of patients that can be treated during this pandemic.
1 year
Secondary Outcomes (2)
Radiation toxicity
1.5 years
Cosmesis
1.5 years
Study Arms (1)
Single fraction radiotherapy
EXPERIMENTALSingle fraction of 21 Gy stereotactic radiation therapy delivered to a single malignant lesion of the breast prior to any other treatment for breast cancer.
Interventions
Women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer are given a single dose of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) prior to any other treatment in the context of delayed lumpectomy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Female sex
- Age ≥ 50 years old
- Postmenopausal
- Tumor size \< 3cm on pre-treatment imaging
- Any grade of disease, estrogen receptor (ER) positive, HER2 negative
- Unicentric/unifocal disease
- Invasive ductal carcinoma or other favorable subtypes of epithelial breast malignancy (lobular, medullary, papillary, colloid, mucinous, or tubular) .
- Clinically node-negative (based upon pre-treatment physical examination and/or axillary ultrasound).
- Surgical expectation that a \> 2mm margin can be obtained.
- Lesion is 1 cm or greater from the skin surface.
- Able to lie comfortably in the prone position with arms raised above the head for extended periods of time.
You may not qualify if:
- Male sex
- Under 50 years of age
- Previous RT to the same breast
- HER2 positive disease
- Evidence of suspicious diffuse microcalcifications in the breast prior to the start of radiation.
- Local metastatic spread into ipsilateral axilla and/or supraclavicular region and/or neck nodes and/or internal mammary nodes diagnosed on clinical examination or any imaging assessment (unless such sites can be confirmed as negative following biopsy)
- Distant metastases
- Involvement of contralateral axillary, supraclavicular, infraclavicular or internal mammary nodes (unless there is histologic confirmation that these nodes are negative)
- Prior non-hormonal therapy or radiation therapy for the current breast cancer
- Patients with Paget's disease of the nipple.
- Skin involvement, regardless of tumor size.
- Patients with a breast technically unsatisfactory for radiation therapy.
- Inability to lie prone with arms raised above head for extended periods of time.
- Patients not appropriate for BCS due to expectation of poor cosmetic result, even without RT
- Collagen vascular disease (particularly lupus, scleroderma, dermatomyositis)
- +3 more criteria
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Interventions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Muriel Brackstone, MD, PhD
London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- NA
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- TREATMENT
- Intervention Model
- SINGLE GROUP
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- SPONSOR
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
May 5, 2020
First Posted
September 8, 2021
Study Start
May 1, 2020
Primary Completion
November 1, 2021
Study Completion
November 1, 2022
Last Updated
May 16, 2022
Record last verified: 2021-09
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will not share