A Pilot Study of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid (5-ALA) to Enhance Visualization of Pituitary Adenomas

Study Purpose

5-Aminolevulinic Acid (5-ALA) was approved by the FDA as an intraoperative optical imaging agent in patients with suspected high-grade gliomas (HGGs) in 2017. The investigators plan to administer 5-ALA to patients with pituitary tumors to demonstrate whether it can be used as an intraoperative optical imaging agent for this pathology. Overall, this pilot study will afford the overall opportunity to improve surgical management and advancement of the science of neurological and neuroendocrine disease.

Recruitment Criteria

Accepts Healthy Volunteers Healthy volunteers are participants who do not have a disease or condition, or related conditions or symptoms	No
Study Type An interventional clinical study is where participants are assigned to receive one or more interventions (or no intervention) so that researchers can evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or health-related outcomes. An observational clinical study is where participants identified as belonging to study groups are assessed for biomedical or health outcomes. Searching Both is inclusive of interventional and observational studies.	Observational
Eligible Ages	18 Years and Over
Gender	All

More Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients with non-functioning pituitary adenomas who require surgical intervention, as deemed appropriate by a neurosurgeon, either due to size criteria, observed growth in lesion on MRI, and/or for alleviation of the symptoms of mass effect.

- Patients with functional pituitary adenomas, including prolactinomas, growth-hormone secreting adenomas, and ACTH-secreting adenomas, where surgery is recommended for biochemical control.

Patients with symptoms of Cushing's Disease and centralization of ACTH on IPSS without imaging-confirmed lesions will be included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

- History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to aminolevulinic acid (ALA).

Patients should refrain from use of other potential phototoxic substances (e.g. tetracyclines, sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, hypericin extracts) for 72 hours.

- Personal or family history of porphyria.

- Uncontrolled concurrent illness including, but not limited to ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.

Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with 5-ALA breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with 5-aminolevulinic acid.

- Women who are pregnant or become pregnant will be excluded from the trial as it is unknown if aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is teratogenic or has abortifacient effects.

- Prior history of GI perforation, diverticulitis, and/or peptic ulcer disease.

Trial Details

Trial ID: This trial id was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, providing information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants with locations in all 50 States and in 196 countries.	NCT04390802
Phase Phase 1: Studies that emphasize safety and how the drug is metabolized and excreted in humans. Phase 2: Studies that gather preliminary data on effectiveness (whether the drug works in people who have a certain disease or condition) and additional safety data. Phase 3: Studies that gather more information about safety and effectiveness by studying different populations and different dosages and by using the drug in combination with other drugs. Phase 4: Studies occurring after FDA has approved a drug for marketing, efficacy, or optimal use.
Lead Sponsor The sponsor is the organization or person who oversees the clinical study and is responsible for analyzing the study data.	Massachusetts General Hospital
Principal Investigator The person who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the entire clinical study.	N/A
Principal Investigator Affiliation	N/A
Agency Class Category of organization(s) involved as sponsor (and collaborator) supporting the trial.	Other, Industry
Overall Status	Not yet recruiting
Countries
Conditions The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied.	Pituitary Adenoma

Contact Information

This trial has no sites locations listed at this time. If you are interested in learning more, you can contact the trial's primary contact:

For additional contact information, you can also visit the trial on clinicaltrials.gov.

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