Clinical trial NCT00003157: Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Cancer of the Pancreas or Stomach
Official title: A Phase I Study of Gemcitabine, Cisplatin, and Radiation Therapy in Patients With Locally Advanced Pancreatic and Gastric Cancer
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE1
Conditions: Gastric Cancer
Pancreatic Cancer
Keywords: stage IV gastric cancer
recurrent gastric cancer
recurrent pancreatic cancer
stage IV pancreatic cancer
Lead sponsor: Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
First posted: 2004-03-30
Enrollment: 26
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining radiation therapy with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of radiation therapy plus chemotherapy in treating patients who have cancer of the pancreas or stomach.

Detailed description: OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the maximum tolerated dose of gemcitabine and cisplatin that can be administered during a standard course of radiation therapy for patients with unresectable or locally recurrent pancreatic and gastric cancer. II. Describe the tolerance of gemcitabine, cisplatin, and radiation therapy in this patient population. III. Seek preliminary evidence of the therapeutic activity of this regimen in this patient population as measured by survival.

OUTLINE: This is a dose escalation study. Patients undergo radiotherapy to the tumor and lymph nodes, followed by a decrease in radiotherapy to the tumor alone. Radiation therapy is administered for a total of 5.5 weeks. Patients receive intravenous gemcitabine twice weekly on Tuesday and Friday over the first 3 weeks of radiotherapy. Cisplatin is administered intravenously twice weekly following gemcitabine therapy. Three patients are treated at each dose level. Dose escalation does not occur until all patients at a given dose level have completed radiotherapy and returned for a 4 week follow up. The dose limiting toxicity (DLT) is defined as the dose at which at least 2 of 6 patients experience unacceptable toxic effects. The maximum tolerated dose is defined as the dose at which no more than 1 of 6 patients experiences DLT. Patients exhibiting stable disease remain on therapy until disease progression or intolerable toxic effects. Patients experiencing toxic effects and no disease progression are retreated at a lower dose. Patients are followed every 3 months for the first 2 years then every 6 months for the next year.

Eligibility criteria: DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically proven unresectable (including incomplete resections) or locally recurrent pancreatic or gastric cancer No evidence of metastases outside of the planned radiation field No cystadenocarcinoma of the pancreas or pancreatic tumors of neuroendocrine origin

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance Status: ECOG 0-1 Life Expectancy: Not specified Hematopoietic: Absolute neutrophil count at least 2,000/mm3 Platelet count at least 100,000/mm3 Hepatic: Bilirubin within normal limits Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 3.0 times upper limit of normal (ULN) AST no greater than 3.0 times ULN Renal: Creatinine no greater than 1.3 times ULN Other: Not pregnant or nursing Fertile patients must use effective contraception No significant infection or medical illness No significant nausea or vomiting At least 1200 calories per day of oral nutrition

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: No prior or concurrent biologic therapy Chemotherapy: No prior or concurrent chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: Not specified Radiotherapy: No prior radiotherapy (except focal fields for skin cancer that do not overlap with planned radiotherapy fields) Surgery: At least 21 days since laparotomy surgery

Primary outcomes:
measure: Maximum tolerated dose
timeFrame: Up to 3 years
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Survival
timeFrame: Up to 3 years
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Scottsdale
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Scottsdale Oncology Program
state: Arizona
city: Peoria
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Illinois Oncology Research Association
state: Illinois
city: Urbana
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Carle Cancer Center
state: Illinois
city: Cedar Rapids
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Cedar Rapids Oncology Project
state: Iowa
city: Des Moines
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Iowa Oncology Research Association
state: Iowa
city: Sioux City
country: United States
facility: Siouxland Hematology-Oncology
state: Iowa
city: Wichita
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Wichita
state: Kansas
city: Duluth
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Duluth
state: Minnesota
city: Rochester
country: United States
facility: Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
state: Minnesota
city: Saint Cloud
country: United States
facility: CentraCare Clinic
state: Minnesota
city: Saint Louis Park
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Metro-Minnesota
state: Minnesota
city: Omaha
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Missouri Valley Cancer Consortium
state: Nebraska
city: Bismarck
country: United States
facility: Medcenter One Health System
state: North Dakota
city: Grand Forks
country: United States
facility: Altru Health Systems
state: North Dakota
city: Toledo
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Toledo Community Hospital Oncology Program
state: Ohio
city: Danville
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Geisinger Clinic and Medical Center
state: Pennsylvania
city: Rapid City
country: United States
facility: Rapid City Regional Hospital
state: South Dakota
city: Sioux Falls
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Sioux Community Cancer Consortium
state: South Dakota
Study officials:
affiliation: Mayo Clinic
name: James A. Martenson, MD
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Martenson JA Jr, Viglitotti AG, Geeraerts LH, et al.: Phase I study of twice weekly gemcitabine (GEM) and cisplatin (CDDP) during radiation therapy (RT) for advanced pancreas and gastric cancer: a progress report. [Abstract] Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology A-2305, 2001.