gemcitabine hydrochloride, docetaxel, and radiation therapy in treating patients with uterine sarcoma that has been removed by surgery

Conditions: Stage IA Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IB Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IC Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IIA Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IIB Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IIIA Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IIIB Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IIIC Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IVA Uterine Sarcoma; Stage IVB Uterine Sarcoma; Uterine Corpus Leiomyosarcoma

Summary: this pilot clinical trial studies gemcitabine hydrochloride, docetaxel, and radiation therapy in treating patients with uterine sarcoma that has been removed by surgery. drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine hydrochloride and docetaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. radiation therapy uses high energy x rays to kill tumor cells. giving combination chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill any tumor cells that remain after surgery.

primary objectives: i. to evaluate the toxicity and tolerability of adjuvant pelvic radiation in combination with gemcitabine (gemcitabine hydrochloride)/docetaxel chemotherapy in patients with stage 1 and 2 surgically-resected uterine leiomyosarcoma. secondary objectives: i. to assess the two year recurrence-free survival in patients with uterine leiomyosarcoma treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy including defining the patterns of recurrence in patients with uterine leiomyosarcoma who were treated with this regimen. outline: chemotherapy: patients receive gemcitabine hydrochloride intravenously (iv) over 90 minutes on days 1 and 8 and docetaxel iv over 1 hour on day 8. treatment repeats every 21 days for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. radiation therapy: beginning week 10, patients undergo 3 fractions of brachytherapy or intensity modulated radiation therapy (imrt) over 3 weeks. patients then undergo external beam radiation therapy (ebrt) once daily (qd) 5 days a week for 5 weeks. after completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * histologically documented uterine leiomyosarcoma with no visible residual disease * surgical staging to include total hysterectomy, +/- removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes, +/- lymph node sampling * patients must be entered no more than 12 weeks post operatively * eastern cooperative oncology group (ecog) performance status of \< 2 * written voluntary informed consent exclusion criteria: * serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (sgot) and /or serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (sgpt) \> 2.5 times the institutional upper limit of normal * total serum bilirubin \> 1.5 mg/dl * history of chronic or active hepatitis * serum creatinine \> 2.0 mg/dl * platelets \< 100,000/mm3 * absolute neutrophil count (anc) \< 1500/mm3 * hemoglobin \< 8.0 g/dl (the patient may be transfused prior to study entry) * patients with severe or uncontrolled concurrent medical disease (eg. uncontrolled diabetes, unstable angina, myocardial infarction within 6 months, congestive heart failure, etc.) * patients with any prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy for pelvic malignancy * patients who have had prior therapy with gemcitabine or docetaxel * patients with known hypersensitivity to gemcitabine or docetaxel * patients with known hypersensitivity to pegfilgrastim and filgrastim * patients with any history of cancer with the exception of non-melanoma skin cancer are excluded if there is any evidence of other malignancy being present within the past five years * patients with dementia or altered mental status that would prohibit the giving and understanding of informed consent at the time of study entry