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Soylent in Reducing Gastrostomy Tube Rates in Patients With Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Chemoradiotherapy

A Phase II Study Integrating Soylent™ Meal Replacement to Reduce Gastrostomy Tube Rates in Patients With Head &Amp; Neck Cancer Undergoing Chemoradiotherapy

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07242365
Enrollment
60
Registered
2025-11-21
Start date
2017-06-19
Completion date
2027-12-31
Last updated
2026-02-05

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Locally Advanced Head and Neck Carcinoma

Brief summary

This phase II trial studies Soylent in reducing gastrostomy tube rates in patients with head and neck cancer that has spread to nearby tissues or lymph nodes (locally advanced) who are undergoing chemoradiotherapy. Soylent is a liquid meal replacement product that may reduce the risk of malnutrition and gastrostomy placement during or following treatment for head and neck cancer with chemoradiation.

Detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the compliance rate of oral nutritional replacement with Soylent. II. To determine the overall therapeutic gastrostomy (G)-tube placement rate (G-tube placement from the 1st day of chemoradiation up to 4 weeks following treatment). SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine weight loss and body mass index (BMI) changes during and following treatment. II. To determine the change in nutritional and metabolic biomarkers during treatment. III. To determine physician-reported acute and late toxicities during and following treatment. IV. To determine patient-reported quality of life during and following treatment. V. To determine clinical outcomes from treatment. OUTLINE: Patients receive Soylent orally (PO) for up to 3 months. After completion of study, patients are followed up at 1, 3, 6, 12, 16, 18 and 24 months.

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTSoylent Graham Dietary Supplement

Given Soylent PO

OTHERLaboratory Biomarker Analysis

Correlative studies

OTHERQuality-of-Life Assessment

Ancillary studies

OTHERQuestionnaire Administration

Ancillary studies

Sponsors

Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Lead SponsorOTHER
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
CollaboratorNIH

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Documented locally advanced head and neck malignancies for which concurrent chemoradiation has been recommended for definitive or adjuvant treatment * No history of prior radiotherapy to the head and neck; however, if previous treatment was superficial skin radiotherapy without regional lymph node treatment this will be allowed * Karnofsky performance status (KPS) \>= 70 * Body mass index \>= 18 kg/m\^2 * No evidence of metastatic disease (M1 disease) * No G-tube placement prior to initiation of chemoradiation * Eligible to undergo concurrent chemotherapy as determined by treating medical oncologist * If a woman is of childbearing potential, a negative serum pregnancy test must be documented prior to proceeding with chemoradiation; women of childbearing potential must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; or abstinence) for at least 4 weeks after study treatment * Ability to understand and willingness to sign a written informed consent * Able to tolerate the taste of one of the flavors of the oral nutritional supplement Soylent * Able and willing to participate in the Swallow Preservation Program at the Speech Pathology Clinic * No evidence of clinically significant swallowing dysfunction by history or physical exam at time of radiation oncology consultation

Exclusion criteria

* Patients who have previously received therapeutic radiation therapy to the head and neck except for superficial skin radiotherapy is allowed * Patients who had G-tube placement due to concern for aspiration or due to severe malnutrition in advance of chemoradiation * Patients underweight in advance of chemoradiation (BMI \< 18 kg/m\^2) * Patients who refuse to use Soylent oral nutritional supplementation due to its taste or other patient preference reasons * Patients with allergies to any of the ingredients contained in the nutritional supplement * Pregnant women, or women of childbearing potential who are sexually active and not willing/able to use medically acceptable forms of contraception for the entire study period and for up to 4 weeks after the study treatment * Refusal to sign the informed consent * Refusal to participate in the Swallow Preservation Program prior to start of Soylent if applicable * Evidence of clinically significant swallowing dysfunction by history or physical exam at time of radiation oncology consultation * Distant metastatic disease (M1 disease)

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Compliance with Soylent nutritional supplementationUp to 24 monthsThe compliance rate and the corresponding 95% exact confidence interval will be calculated.
Therapeutic gastrostomy (G)-tube placement rateUp to 24 monthsThe G-tube placement rate will be analyzed using one-sample exact binomial test. The 95% exact confidence interval will be provided.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Weight changeUp to 24 monthsWill be collected at each visit and summary descriptive statistics will be calculated at each time points. Repeated measure analysis of variation will be used to explore if there are any change in these parameters over time.
Body mass indexUp to 24 monthsWill be collected at each visit and summary descriptive statistics will be calculated at each time points. Repeated measure analysis of variation will be used to explore if there are any change in these parameters over time.
Treatment breaksUp to 24 monthsWill be recorded in days per study patient and summarized.
Timing and duration of G-tube placementUp to 24 monthsG-tube placement timing will be recorded for patients receiving G-tubes, and the duration of G-tube dependence will be recorded in days per study patient and summarized.
Serum human papilloma virus deoxyribonucleic acidUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Pre-albuminUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
AlbuminUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
C-reactive proteinUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Interleukin-6Up to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Tumor necrosis factorUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Vitamin AUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Vitamin CUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Vitamin DUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
TryptophanUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
KynurenineUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
LeptinUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
AdiponectinUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Complete metabolic panelUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Complete blood countUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Radiosensitivity biomarker panelUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points, and these statistics will be plotted graphically.
Incidence of physician-reported acute and late toxicitiesUp to 24 monthsToxicity will be graded using the Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0. Adverse events and serious adverse events will be reported using a Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0 terminology and severity.
University of Washington and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy questionnaire assessment of Patient-reported quality of lifeUp to 24 monthsWill be summarized by descriptive statistics by visit time points.
Local/loco-regional controlUp to 24 monthsWill be estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Distant metastasis-free survivalUp to 24 monthsWill be estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Overall survivalUp to 24 monthsWill be observed.

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORJohn Hegde

UCLA / Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 6, 2026