Combination Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy Plus Surgery in Treating Patients With Advanced Cancer of the Pancreas

Stage III Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trial

Official title: Phase II Study of Neoadjuvant Intraperitoneal Gemcitabine and Intravenous Gemcitabine With Radiotherapy Followed by Surgery and Adjuvant Intraperitoneal Gemcitabine, Intravenous Gemcitabine, and Fluorouracil in Patients With Advanced Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Giving the drugs in different ways, such as directly into the abdomen, and combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy plus surgery in treating patients who have advanced cancer of the pancreas.

Clinical Trial Description

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine radiographic and/or pathologic response, time to disease progression, and survival in patients with advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas treated with neoadjuvant intraperitoneal gemcitabine and intravenous gemcitabine with radiotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant intraperitoneal gemcitabine, intravenous gemcitabine, and fluorouracil.

II. Determine the pharmacokinetics of intraperitoneal gemcitabine in these patients.

III. Correlate patterns of mRNA expression with response to this regimen and prognosis in these patients.

PROTOCOL OUTLINE: Patients receive gemcitabine intraperitoneally (IP) every 6 hours for 4 doses on day 1. Treatment repeats in 1 week for a total of 2 courses. Beginning 1-3 weeks after completion of IP chemotherapy, patients receive gemcitabine IV over 30-60 minutes on day 1 or 2 of each week and radiotherapy on days 1-5 of each week for 6 weeks. Within 6 weeks after the completion of combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy, patients with stable or responding disease undergo surgical resection. Patients with completely resected extrapancreatic disease then receive 2 additional courses of IP gemcitabine beginning 1-3 weeks after surgery. Beginning 3 weeks after the completion of IP chemotherapy, patients receive gemcitabine IV once weekly for a total of 3 weeks and fluorouracil IV continuously for up to 6 months.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year, every 4 months for 1 year, and then every 6 months for 3 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL:

A total of 10-100 patients will be accrued for this study within 2 years. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Adenocarcinoma
• Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas
• Pancreatic Neoplasms
• Stage III Pancreatic Cancer
• Stage IVA Pancreatic Cancer

• NCT number: NCT00020345
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: September 2000
• Completion date: March 2002