Laryngeal Cancer Cohort (LARCH)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Precision medicine in laryngeal cancer: development of an enhanced laryngeal cancer cohort
IRAS ID
306921
Contact name
David Hamilton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 2 days
Research summary
Cancer of the voice box (laryngeal cancer) is one of the most common cancers of the head and neck. Patients are often quite severely affected; the disease and its treatment affect a patient’s swallow, voice, appearance, and wellbeing. At the moment there are various treatments available including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, laser surgery or total laryngectomy (complete removal of the voice box). Any of these treatments can lead to a permanent tube in the neck for breathing (tracheostomy) or a feeding tube. Although there has been research performed on which treatments are best for patients with laryngeal cancer, we have not made any significant progress in the treatment of this disease for around 30 years. It is impossible to predict which patients will do well or badly on which treatment meaning that there is huge variation around the country in the treatments offered. Ultimately, we need to be able to predict how a patient with laryngeal cancer is likely to respond to treatment.
We aim to achieve this by establishing a “enhanced cohort study”, a large group of patients with newly diagnosed laryngeal cancer, from whom data and samples will be collected, and who will be followed through treatment and beyond. We could then use the details about them and their cancer and compare these to their treatment outcome.
We will set up our enhanced cohort in eight large head neck centres and routinely arrange to use the tissue biopsies which we take from the patients’ cancers and their diagnosis scans. This will allow us to analyse the variables which affect laryngeal cancer outcome; in this way we will take the first step towards precision medicine in this disease.REC name
London - Surrey Borders Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/PR/0406
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion