About this trial
This phase III trial tests whether vaginal fractional CO2 laser therapy works in treating vaginal dryness in breast cancer survivors. Vaginal dryness can be commonly experienced with normal aging, with menopause, or come about from medications used to treat breast cancer such as chemotherapy or endocrine therapies like tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors. Vaginal fractional CO2 laser therapy may help reduce vaginal dryness.
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Women with a history of breast cancer treated with curative intent who have completed primary therapy (consisting of surgery with or without chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and/or radiation) >= 12 months prior to registration. Concurrent trastuzumab /pertuzumab is permissible
May be receiving ongoing adjuvant endocrine therapy (with an AI or tamoxifen +/- ovarian function suppression). Patients are not required to receive these treatments to be eligible. Participants receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy prior to registration must intend to continue the same endocrine therapy for the 4 months while they are receiving protocol treatment, unless a clinically necessary change is indicated at the discretion of the patient's medical oncologist. Patients on aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy, tamoxifen with or without ovarian function suppression therapy must have been on their current endocrine therapy regimen for at least 6 months prior to registration
Patient-reported vaginal dryness with or without dyspareunia of at least moderate severity on average, defined as >= 4 on a 0-10-point scale that has been bothersome for >= 3 months and for which the patient wants to undergo the study procedure
No evidence of metastatic breast cancer. Scans to assess for metastatic disease are not required for eligibility
Disqualifiers
None
Trial design
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Laser Therapy
DeviceUndergo vaginal fractional CO2 laser therapy
Sham Intervention
DeviceUndergo placebo procedure
Questionnaire Administration
Other interventionAncillary studies
Quality of Life Assessment
Other interventionAncillary studies
Treatment groups
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
Changes in patient reported vaginal dryness severity
Will use an 11-point (0-10) numerical analog scale to assess patient reported severity of vaginal dryness. Higher scores represent worse symptoms (0: None - 10: Worst possible). The vaginal dryness scores at each time point will be summarized separately by treatment arm using the mean (standard deviation) and median (range). The score changes from baseline to the 18-week time point (T4) will be compared using two-sample t-test or Wilcoxon rank-sum test as appropriate.
Secondary outcomes
Changes in vaginal discomfort during sexual activity (for sexually active subset of study population only)
Assessed using the Vaginal discomfort domain of Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Sexual Function version (V) 2.0 Brief Profile - Female (only the sexually active women will be evaluable for this, which is estimated to be approximately 50% of the population). Higher scores represent more discomfort (1: None - 5: A lot). Change in the vaginal discomfort domain of the PROMIS Sexual Function v. 2.0 Brief Profile-Female from baseline to each post-therapy-initiation time point will be summarized by treatment arm and will be compared as described for the primary endpoint.
Change in quality of life
Evaluated using 11-point (0-10) numerical analog scale. Higher scores represent better quality of life (0: As bad as it can be - 10: As good as it can be). Change in patient reported quality of life from baseline to each post-therapy initiation time point will be summarized and compared as described for the primary endpoint.
Incidence of adverse events associated with vaginal fractional CO2 laser therapy
Incidences of toxicities in the fractional CO2 laser therapy arm will be summarized by type. Common toxicities that occur in both arms will be summarized and compared between arms using the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, as appropriate.
Sponsors and contacts
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Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
Lead sponsor
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Collaborator