ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06579248Updated Jan 14, 2026

Intraoral Hypothermia Device for Preserving Taste During Radiation

An Early Phase 1 interventional study of Intraoral Device in Head and Neck Cancer, Taste Dysfunction and Radiation Therapy, sponsored by Henry Ford Health System. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-14.

Sponsored by Henry Ford Health System · Early Phase 1, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Nov 2024; still recruiting 2 years later.
Phase
Early Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
15
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Radiation therapy to the head and neck region is known to cause taste dysfunction. Preliminary studies showed that cooling normal structures may lower damage caused by radiation. The purpose of this research study is to see if it is feasible to use an intraoral cooling device during radiation treatments to preserve or lower the decline of taste function.

02

Conditions studied

  • Head and Neck Cancer
  • Taste Dysfunction
  • Radiation Therapy
03

In context

Head and Neck Neoplasms

2,710 studies on the registry are indexed under Head and Neck Neoplasms; 594 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 15 is below the median of 46 across 2,032 interventional studies indexed under Head and Neck Neoplasms.

Browse Head and Neck Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Henry Ford Health System is the lead sponsor of 303 studies on the registry; 50 are open to participants now.

Of its 37 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 26 (70%) have results posted.

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

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

  • Patients being treated with combination radiation therapy and chemotherapy (definitive) for locally advanced (AJCC 8th cT3-4 or cN+) squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx.
  • Age ≥ 18.
  • (ECOG) performance status 0-1.
  • Patients will engage in the process and provide study-specific informed consent prior to study entry and must be able to fill out toxicity and quality of life related questionnaires.
  • Patients should be concurrently treated with any of the following chemotherapy drugs: cisplatin, carboplatin, and cetuximab.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients receiving other forms of therapy intended to reduce taste dysfunction.
  • Patients with disease.
  • Patient with allergies or to materials in the intraoral bolus.
  • Patients who have received prior chemotherapy or radiation therapy for head and neck cancer.
  • Patients who decline to use or cannot tolerate the intraoral device.
  • Patients who are current or recent (within 3 months of treatment initiation) cigarette smokers.
  • Patients who are unable to complete the required forms; however, verbal completion is adequate if recorded on the form daily.
  • Patients with uncontrolled serious illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or serious active infection requiring IV antibiotics for over 30 days, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia other than chronic, stable atrial fibrillation, state, significant hepatic insufficiency, significant hematological disease, and any serious or unstable psychological condition.
  • Patients who are on any of the following medication that cannot find a suitable substitute during the study period: acetazolamide, maribavir (TAK-620, Phase 3 trial drug), eszopiclone, topiramate, captopril, lithium, procainamide, terbinafine, and amiodarone.
  • Patients who have taste loss at baseline, assessed subjectively and objectively at the first encounter, will be excluded from the study and all analysis. They will be replaced with a new patient.
  • Patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 during the study period.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

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.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

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.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

05

Study design

Phase
Early Phase 1
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
15 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Intraoral Hypothermia Device

    An intraoral hypothermia device will be used to cool the oral cavity while subject's receive radiation therapy.

    Device: Intraoral Device

Interventions

  • DeviceIntraoral Device

    Device that circulates cooled water through the oral cavity.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Dysgeusia

    Taste will be measured objectively using Burghart taste strips in five different concentrations of salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. Taste will be assessed on a yes/no scale to reflect the ability to correctly identify taste category. Taste will be measured subjectively with a series of previously-validated, patient-reported taste-related questions. The questions comprise of a modified Chemotherapy-induced Taste Alteration Scale (CiTAS), one question from the Head and Neck Quality of Life questionnaire (HNQOL, question 2H) and one question from the University of Washington Head and Neck-specific Quality of Life questionnaire (UWQOL, question 9). The CiTAS uses a scale of 1-5, with 1 meaning taste is normal and 5 being unable to taste. The HNQOL uses a scale of 1-5, with 1 meaning taste is normal and 5 being unable to taste. The UWQOL uses a scale of 1-4, with 1 meaning taste is normal and 4 being unable to taste. Questionnaires are used together to quantify change in taste.

    Time frame: 6 months after RT completion

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — No individual participant data will be shared with other researchers.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 14, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06579248
Responsible party
Farzan Siddiqui (Senior Staff Physician, Henry Ford Health System) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 30, 2024
Start date
Nov 12, 2024
Primary completion
Aug 30, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 30, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Jan 14, 2026

Study contacts

Marissa Gilbert, BSBME
Contact
mgilber6@hfhs.org
313-556-8422

Oversight

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

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