ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT03378856PERAUpdated Sep 1, 2026

Evaluation of Technological Innovation in Radiotherapy

An observational study in Cancer and Radiotherapy Side Effect, sponsored by Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). Recruiting at 9 sites in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-01.

Sponsored by Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Nov 2017; still recruiting 9 years later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
1,500
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Prospective cohort study of patients receiving standard-care radiotherapy is paramount to a better understanding of radiation effects and longterm outcomes.

The primary objective is to determine the feasibility of establishing infrastructure to systematically collect clinical data, patient-reported outcomes, and imaging data from daily radiotherapy practice.

Secondary objectives are to provide a control cohort for comparative effectiveness research of investigational interventions through a cmRCT design; compare imaging features with clinical outcomes; understand dose-effect relationships; quantify imaging quality metrics.

Read the detailed description

The study consists of an effort to develop infrastructure that will support systematic collection of data from daily radiotherapy practice. At the core, PERA is a large observational cohort study, serving as a multiple cohort randomized trial and image banking facility. It includes consent for the collection of imaging data, patient-reported outcomes, and broad randomization for studies according to the innovative cohort multiple randomized controlled trial design (cmRCT).

The basis of this design is a prospective cohort of participants receiving care as usual, who give informed consent for cohort participation.

Participants can furthermore be asked for informed consent to be randomized in future RCTs conducted within the cohort. Participants are informed that they will be offered an experimental intervention if they are randomly selected. They are also informed that they otherwise might serve as controls without being notified and that their data can be used in a trial context. For each participant in the cohort, PROs are captured at baseline and at regular intervals during follow-up. Within this cohort, multiple RCTs can be conducted. The design is especially attractive for clinical research areas with rapid evolution of technology, and for highly desired or expensive interventions.

In the first stage, at entry into the cohort, all potential participants are asked for their informed consent to participate in a cohort study and broad consent to be either randomly selected to be approached for experimental interventions or to serve as control without further notice during participation in the cohort. In a second stage, at the initiation of an RCT within the cohort, informed consent to receive the intervention is then only sought in those randomly selected for the intervention arm. At the third stage, after completion of each RCT, all cohort participants receive aggregate disclosure of trial results.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cancer
  • Radiotherapy Side Effect
03

In context

Neoplasms

10,818 studies on the registry are indexed under Neoplasms; 2,324 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 1,500 is above the median of 200 across 2,638 observational studies indexed under Neoplasms.

Browse Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) is the lead sponsor of 376 studies on the registry; 110 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Patients receiving standard-care radiotherapy at CHUM

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Ability to provide
  • Receiving radiotherapy or brachytherapy

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
1,500 participants (estimated)
Target follow-up
5 Years
Patient registry
Yes
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Accrual rates

    Determine feasibility of achieving high accural rates (greater than 80%) with this approach.

    Time frame: 2 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of cmRCT trials activated

    Measure if success would be the activation of 2 or more trials in the time frame.

    Time frame: 2 years

07

Study locations

9 of 9 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Giguere P, Bahig H, Westra S, Roberge D, Bourque JM, Masucci GL, Nkurunziza ES, Freire V, Belliveau C, Duplan D, Vigneault E, Wong P, Lang P, Menard C. Platform for the Evaluation of innovations in Radiation oncology through registry-based conduct of multi-centric pragmatic randomized trials: PERa implementation. Trials. 2026 Apr 24;27(1):437. doi: 10.1186/s13063-026-09709-0. PubMed 42032732 ↗
  • Petit C, Delouya G, Taussky D, Barkati M, Lambert C, Beauchemin MC, Clavel S, Mok G, Pare AG, Nguyen TV, Duplan D, Keu KV, Saad F, Juneau D, Menard C. PSMA-PET/CT-Guided Intensification of Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer (PSMAgRT): Findings of Detection Rate, Effect on Cancer Management, and Early Toxicity From a Phase 2 Randomized Controlled Trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2023 Jul 15;116(4):779-787. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2022.12.055. Epub 2023 Jan 11. PubMed 36639035 ↗
  • Belliveau C, Barkati M, Delouya G, Taussky D, Beauchemin MC, Lambert C, Beaulieu L, Beliveau-Nadeau D, Nicolas B, Carrier JF, Vigneault E, Menard C. Focal HDR brachytherapy boost to stereotactic radiotherapy (fBTsRT) for prostate cancer: a phase II randomized controlled trial. Radiat Oncol. 2022 Dec 9;17(1):203. doi: 10.1186/s13014-022-02173-5. PubMed 36494834 ↗
  • Alley S, Jackson E, Olivie D, Van der Heide UA, Menard C, Kadoury S. Effect of magnetic resonance imaging pre-processing on the performance of model-based prostate tumor probability mapping. Phys Med Biol. 2022 Dec 13;67(24). doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac99b4. PubMed 36223780 ↗
09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Nov 2017 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Oct 2040, 275 months after the start.

Of 1,098 non-industry observational studies under Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 61 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 24 and three quarters within 227. This study's planned 275 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 1,246 studies reached it within 58 months; a quarter within 24 and three quarters within 210.

Neoplasms covers many different conditions, not one, so the studies compared here vary widely. Read these figures as a rough guide.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Dec 12, 2017
First posted
Dec 20, 2017
StartActual
Nov 1, 2017
Primary completionEst.
Oct 2040
CompletionEst.
Oct 2040
Last update
Sep 1, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 1, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03378856
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Dec 20, 2017
Start date
Nov 1, 2017
Primary completion
Oct 2040 (estimated)
Completion
Oct 2040 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 1, 2026

Study contacts

Cynthia Ménard, MD, M.Sc
Contact
Cynthia.Menard@umontreal.ca
514-890-8254

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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