Clinical trialNCT04754321RecruitingPhase 1Interventional

Combining Immunotherapy Salvage Surgery & IORT Tx Persistent/Recurrent Head & Neck Cancer

SponsorOhio State University Comprehensive Cancer CenterEnrollment45Head and Neck Carcinoma of Unknown PrimaryLocally Recurrent Head and Neck Squamous Cell CarcinomaRecurrent Laryngeal Squamous Cell CarcinomaRecurrent Oral Cavity Squamous Cell CarcinomaRecurrent Pharyngeal Squamous Cell CarcinomaResectable Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

View the registry record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Summary

The lay summary the sponsor registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.

This phase I trial is to find out the possible side effects of pembrolizumab and radiation therapy before and during surgery in treating patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer that remains despite treatment (persistent) or has come back (recurrent). Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays or protons to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Giving pembrolizumab and radiation therapy before and during surgery may kill more tumor cells.

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Investigators

The overall officials registered on this study. Names that resolve to a findmyKOL profile link to it; the rest are shown as registered.

Dukagjin M Blakaj, MD, PhD
Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Principal Investigator
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A profile link is shown only when the registered name resolves to a person record with a confident, namesake-checked match; ambiguous names stay unlinked.

Sites

1 registered facility, with the per-site recruitment status where the registry publishes one. ClinicalTrials.gov does not publish per-site enrollment counts.

United States

Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Dukagjin M. Blakaj, MD, PhD
Recruiting

Site investigator names are published by ClinicalTrials.gov only while a study recruits, so completed studies list sites without them.

Drugs studied

The drug and biological interventions registered on this study, normalized to their RxNorm ingredient where possible.

Pembrolizumab →

Linked drugs open the directory filtered to KOLs working with them.clinicaltrials.gov ↗

Registration & key dates

Registry attributes as recorded on the ClinicalTrials.gov study record.

Start: 12 May 2022
Primary completion: 31 Dec 2026
Completion: 31 Dec 2026
Last update posted: 24 Jul 2026
Registered enrollment: 45
Registry id: NCT04754321

clinicaltrials.gov ↗

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, via the CTTI AACT database, data as of 24 Aug 2026. Registry facts are shown as registered by the study sponsor; findmyKOL does not interpret them.