A Phase 2 interventional study of Cisplatin or carboplatin and Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or Intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) in Head and Neck Cancer, sponsored by Kevin Contrera. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-12.
Sponsored by Kevin Contrera · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
Among 127 studies testing cisplatin in Head and Neck Neoplasms — 11 open to participants now, 18 under way, 1 of them phase 3. Cisplatin · Head and Neck Neoplasms.
Among the 127 studies testing cisplatin in Head and Neck Neoplasms, this one is the 20th largest by planned enrollment of the 119 interventional ones that give a count, is one of 3 that started in 2026, is one of 74 in phase 2, reaches primary completion later than 14 of the 17 other live ones, and was the 127th registered.
2,713 studies on the registry are indexed under Head and Neck Neoplasms; 596 are open to participants now.
Browse Head and Neck Neoplasms studies →11 of the 127 studies testing cisplatin in Head and Neck Neoplasms are open now, in 2 countries. Recruiting first, the newest first:
Massachusetts General Hospital · Sites in United States
Ages 18+
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute · Sites in United States
Ages 18+
Hunan Cancer Hospital · Sites in China
Ages 18–70
Heath Skinner · Sites in United States
Ages 18+
The Affiliated Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School · Sites in China
Ages 18–75
By country, each count listing its studies:
Cisplatin: first FDA approval 1978 (PLATINOL-AQ). What it is approved for, and how studies give it, is on its page →
Of the 453 Head and Neck Neoplasms studies recruiting now, 345 (76%) set no upper age limit and 51 (11%) stop at 75 or younger; 21 take children under 18; 27 take healthy volunteers.
This study: 18 Years and older · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.
The full table on the hub →This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
127 studies; the count open now beside each. This study's row is marked.
A study in two phases is counted once above. Listed by phase, each with its combined phases: Phase 1 34 · Phase 2 88 · Phase 3 14 · Phase 4 2
First in 1988; this study’s year is marked. 3 started in 2026.
By drug class, each counting the studies that test any of its medicines:
This study's planned enrollment of 140 is above the median of 46 across 2,033 interventional studies indexed under Head and Neck Neoplasms.
Median enrollment 42 across the 119 interventional studies. Of the 96 that completed or were terminated, 35 (36%) have results posted.
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
19 of 127 have an industry lead sponsor. The 10 most frequent:
This is the only study on the registry with Kevin Contrera as lead sponsor.
Kevin Contrera has 1 study filed under Head and Neck Neoplasms — fewer than ten, so there is no comparison to draw.
2 of the studies testing cisplatin in Head and Neck Neoplasms that are under way reach primary completion within a year, 0 of them phase 3. Phase 3 first, then by date:
| Study | Primary completion |
|---|---|
| NCT06793761Beijing Tongren HospitalA Phase II Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Salvage Preoperative PD-1 Inhibitor Combined with Chemotherapy Neoadjuvant Therapy in Recurrent and Metastatic LPSCC/HPSCC | 2026-12-20 |
| NCT01220583Radiation Therapy Oncology GroupRadiation Therapy With or Without Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With High-Risk Malignant Salivary Gland Tumors That Have Been Removed By Surgery | 2026-12-31 |
Add all 2 to your calendar (.ics) → With an account.
Among the 127 studies testing cisplatin in Head and Neck Neoplasms, from their registry updates:
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
This study is being done to determine whether an assay called LymphDetect™ Head and Neck is a useful tool to help guide treatment decisions for patients with head and neck cancer. The LymphDetect™ assay works to detect a certain kind of DNA that is released by tumors called circulating tumor DNA or ctDNA for short. In this study, the presence of ctDNA will be assessed in fluid collected from the surgical drain that will be placed during curative-intent surgical procedure performed as a part of patient standard care. Treatment after surgery is determined by a patient's disease risk category (low-risk, intermediate-risk, or high-risk). Having intermediate-risk with detection of ctDNA in the surgical drain fluid (SDF+) may mean that a patient is at greater risk of their cancer coming back. To reduce this risk, treatment will be more intensive than if ctDNA in the surgical drain fluid (SDF-) was not found.
Patients who are Surgical Drain Fluid (SDF) positive have a more than eight-fold higher risk of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma disease recurrence. Whether these pathologically intermediate-risk patients benefit from the addition of concurrent cisplatin to adjuvant radiotherapy is unknown. Various prognostic biomarkers have been proposed to identify patients at high risk of recurrence. Tissue-based biomarkers may be less prognostic after successful tumor extirpation. Several plasma-based ctDNA assays measuring treatment response in HPV- HNSCC are under investigation. However, data is limited on the role of such assays for the detection of molecular residual disease (MRD) after surgery, particularly for risk-informed adjuvant treatment decision making. Tumor-informed ctDNA from postoperative SDF, taken 24 hours after surgery, has been shown to be a promising biomarker for individualizing recurrence risk. The LymphDetect™ Head \& Neck system, will be used to measure circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in surgical drain fluid, the most proximal biofluid to a recently resected tumor, to assess cancer recurrence risk at the source of potential spread - before it can travel to other parts of the body. There is a critical need to improve recurrence risk estimates for patients with HPV- HNSCC to inform the extent of adjuvant management, improve oncologic outcomes, and limit unnecessary treatment morbidity and mortality.
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.
Must have or cytologically confirmed newly diagnosed mucosal HNSCC (i.e., oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, or larynx).
o Patients with intermediate-risk disease (stage cT2N0 with adverse pathologic features OR stage cT3-4Nany OR stage cTanyN1-3a) will be preferentially enrolled.
Female subjects of must not be pregnant or breastfeeding at screening. Female subjects are considered to be of childbearing potential unless one of the following criteria is met:
o Permanent sterilization (hysterectomy, bilateral salpingectomy, or bilateral oophorectomy) or documented status (defined as 12 months of amenorrhea in a woman > 45 years of age in the absence of other biological or physiological causes). Note: Documentation may include review of medical records, medical examination, or medical history interview by study site staff.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.
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.
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.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Histologically or cytologically confirmed
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Adjuvant and neoadjuvant
Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Postmenopausal
Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Diagnostic Test: LymphDetect assay · Procedure: Surgery +/- neoadjuvant pembrolizumab
IMRT or IMPT to 60 Gy in 30 fractions (2Gy/FX) ± Pembrolizumab - 200 mg q3w - Restart post-surgery (can begin prior to or at the same time as radiation therapy) and continue for up to 17 cycles (including neoadjuvant cycles). \[IMRT / IMPT Schedule to be determined by radiation oncologist, should be completed within 42 days of start date\]
Radiation: Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or Intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) · Drug: Pembrolizumab · Diagnostic Test: LymphDetect assay · Procedure: Surgery +/- neoadjuvant pembrolizumab
IMRT or IMPT to 60 Gy in 30 fractions (2Gy/FX) with concurrent cisplatin 40 mg/m\^2 weekly for 6 doses or 3-weekly 100mg/m2 dose for 3 doses ± Pembrolizumab - 200 mg q3w - Restart post-surgery (can begin prior to or at the same time as radiation therapy) and continue for up to 17 cycles (including neoadjuvant cycles). \[Cisplatin: 40 mg/m\^2 weekly (6 total doses) - Day 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, and 36 of radiation therapy or Cisplatin: 100 mg/m\^2 q3w (3 total doses) - Day 1, 22, and 43 of radiation therapy (last dose of cisplatin may be after the last dose of radiation)\] (If Cisplatin is not tolerated, Carboplatin AUC 2 weekly for 6 doses may be given.)
Drug: Cisplatin or carboplatin · Radiation: Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or Intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) · Drug: Pembrolizumab · Diagnostic Test: LymphDetect assay · Procedure: Surgery +/- neoadjuvant pembrolizumab
IMRT or IMPT to 60 Gy in 30 fractions (2Gy/FX) with concurrent cisplatin 40 mg/m\^2 weekly for 6 doses or 3-weekly 100mg/m2 dose for 3 doses ± Pembrolizumab - 200 mg q3w - Restart post-surgery (can begin prior to or at the same time as radiation therapy) and continue for up to 17 cycles (including neoadjuvant cycles). \[Cisplatin: 40 mg/m\^2 weekly (6 total doses) - Day 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, and 36 of radiation therapy or Cisplatin: 100 mg/m\^2 q3w (3 total doses) - Day 1, 22, and 43 of radiation therapy (last dose of cisplatin may be after the last dose of radiation)\] (If Cisplatin is not tolerated, Carboplatin AUC 2 weekly for 6 doses may be given.)
Drug: Cisplatin or carboplatin · Radiation: Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or Intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) · Drug: Pembrolizumab · Diagnostic Test: LymphDetect assay · Procedure: Surgery +/- neoadjuvant pembrolizumab
Drug pages: Cisplatin · Carboplatin
An alkylating agent that contains platinum, which binds to DNA in cancer cells, causing cross-links that prevent DNA replication and repair, leading to cell death, particularly in rapidly dividing cancer cells.
Also known as: Platinol®
Advanced type of radiation therapy that uses powerful energy beams to kill cancer cells. The energy can come from X-rays, protons or other sources, in which the beams of radiation are carefully customized.
Humanized monoclonal antibody and a PD-1 inhibitor used in cancer immunotherapy that differs from chemotherapy as it does not directly kill cancer cells but stimulates the immune system, particularly T-cells, to recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively.
Also known as: Keytruda®
A tumor-informed ctDNA assay that uses Surgical Drain Fluid (SDF) collected 24 hours after the end of surgery to direct therapeutic intervention.
Performed within 28 days after baseline assessment to remove Head and Neck Cancer tumor(s).
2-year Locoregional Control (LRC): SDF+ intermediate risk
Proportion of patients without locoregional recurrence (growth or recurrence of the primary tumor or other nearby structures within the same anatomical region or nearby regional lymph nodes) at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment in patients who are SDF+ intermediate risk.
Time frame: At 2 years
2-year Locoregional Control (LRC): SDF- intermediate risk
Proportion of patients without locoregional recurrence (growth or recurrence of the primary tumor or other nearby structures within the same anatomical region or nearby regional lymph nodes) at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment in patients who are SDF-intermediate risk.
Time frame: At 2 years
2-year Locoregional Control (LRC)
Proportion of all patients without disease recurrence (growth or recurrence of the primary tumor or other nearby structures within the same anatomical region or nearby regional lymph nodes) at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment.
Time frame: At 2 years
2-year Event-free Survival (EFS): SDF+ intermediate risk
Proportion of patients without disease recurrence (growth or recurrence of the primary tumor and nearby regional lymph nodes or other nearby structures within the same anatomical region), progression, or death from any cause in SDF+ intermediate risk patients at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment.
Time frame: At 2 years
2-year Event-free Survival (EFS): SDF- intermediate risk
Proportion of patients without disease recurrence (growth or recurrence of the primary tumor and nearby regional lymph nodes or other nearby structures within the same anatomical region), progression, or death from any cause in SDF- intermediate risk patients at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment.
Time frame: At 2 year
2-year Event-free Survival (EFS)
Proportion of all patients without disease recurrence (growth or recurrence of the primary tumor and nearby regional lymph nodes or other nearby structures within the same anatomical region), progression, or death from any cause at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment.
Time frame: At 2 years
2-year Overall Survival (OS): SDF+ intermediate risk
Proportion of SDF+ intermediate risk patients alive at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment.
Time frame: At 2 years
2-year Overall Survival (OS): SDF- intermediate risk
Proportion of SDF- intermediate risk patients alive at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment.
Time frame: At 2 years
2-year Overall Survival (OS)
Proportion of all patients alive at 2 years from the initiation of study treatment.
Time frame: At 2 year
Incidence of Grade ≥ 3 Treatment-related Adverse Events (AE)
Number of (distinct) HNSCC patients with grade ≥ 3 Treatment-related Adverse Events (AE)s per CTCAE v5.0.
Time frame: up to 30 days post-treatment
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Start is estimated for Nov 2026; primary completion for Nov 2028, 24 months later.
Of 215 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Head and Neck Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 57 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 37 and three quarters within 84. This study's planned 24 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 259 studies reached it within 51 months; a quarter within 30 and three quarters within 76.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Studies of the drugs tested here: Cisplatin · Carboplatin · Pembrolizumab