Clinical trial NCT00003170: Glutamine in Preventing Acute Diarrhea in Patients With Pelvic Cancer
Official title: Phase III Double-Blind Study of Glutamine Versus Placebo in the Prevention of Acute Diarrhea in Patients Receiving Pelvic Radiation Therapy
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE3
Conditions: Cancer
Lead sponsor: Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
First posted: 2004-09-06
Enrollment: 129
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Glutamine may be an effective treatment for acute diarrhea caused by radiation therapy. It is not known if glutamine is an effective treatment for acute diarrhea caused by radiation therapy.

PURPOSE: Randomized double-blinded phase III trial to determine the effectiveness of glutamine in preventing acute diarrhea in patients who have pelvic cancer and who are receiving radiation therapy.

Detailed description: OBJECTIVES: I. Determine whether glutamine is effective in reducing the acute treatment related diarrhea in patients receiving pelvic external beam radiation therapy as adjuvant or primary treatment of malignancy. II. Determine whether glutamine can reduce chronic treatment related enteropathy following completion of therapy. III. Determine whether glutamine causes any toxicity in this situation. IV. Provide initial reliability and validity data for a patient bowel function questionnaire.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study. Patients are stratified by history of anterior resection of the rectum (yes vs no); total planned cumulative dose, including boost fields of external beam radiotherapy (4500-5350 cGy vs 5350-6000 cGy vs greater than 6000 cGy); use of fluorouracil (none vs bolus vs continuous infusion); and primary site (rectal cancer vs prostate cancer vs gynecological cancer vs other). Beginning the first or second day of radiotherapy, patients receive either oral glutamine or a placebo twice daily, including the days that they do not receive radiotherapy. Patients continue on treatment throughout radiotherapy and continue 2 weeks postradiotherapy or until grade 3 diarrhea occurs. Patients are followed weekly for 4 weeks, then at 12 months, and then at 24 months after radiotherapy.

Eligibility criteria: DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed pelvic cancer Planned therapy is to undergo continuous definitive or adjuvant external beam pelvic radiation therapy with or without fluorouracil (5-FU) plus or minus levamisole No split course radiation therapy Planned course of radiation therapy must also meet the following criteria: - Entire pelvis must be encompassed by the planned radiotherapy fields - Total planned dose to the central axis midplane or isocenter for the whole pelvic field must be between 4500-5350 cGy - Treatment must be given 4-5 times per week on a one-treatment-per-day basis No stool incontinence or stool frequency of 7 or more per day prior to initiation of radiation therapy Must be entered on study before the second radiation therapy fraction No current or prior metastases beyond pelvic regional lymph nodes Must have functioning rectum No planned perineal irradiation No anal cancer No active intraluminal gastrointestinal (GI) tumors Patients with completely resectioned GI tumors who also receive adjuvant treatment are eligible

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance status: ECOG 0-2 Life expectancy: Not specified Hematopoietic: Not specified Hepatic: Not specified Renal: Creatinine less than 2 times upper limit of normal Other: No known allergy to glutamine No history of inflammatory bowel disease No other medical condition that may interfere with treatment Not pregnant or nursing Adequate contraception is required of all fertile patients

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: Not specified Chemotherapy: No concurrent leucovorin or other chemotherapy agents, except 5-FU with or without levamisole Endocrine therapy: Not specified Radiotherapy: See Disease Characteristics No prior pelvic radiotherapy No brachytherapy prior to completion of all external beam radiotherapy Surgery: No abdominal-perineal resection, Hartmann procedure, or other surgical procedure that has left patient without a functioning rectum

Primary outcomes:
measure: reduction of acute treatment related to diarrhea
timeFrame: Up to 2 years post-radiation treatment
measure: reduction of chronic treatment related to enteropathy
timeFrame: Up to 2 years post-radiation treatment
Secondary outcomes:
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: Ann Arbor
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Ann Arbor Regional
state: Michigan
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: Omaha
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Missouri Valley Cancer Consortium
state: Nebraska
city: Bismarck
country: United States
facility: Quain & Ramstad Clinic, P.C.
state: North Dakota
city: Fargo
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Merit Care Hospital
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 Clinical and Medical Center
state: Pennsylvania
city: Sioux Falls
country: United States
facility: CCOP - Sioux Community Cancer Consortium
state: South Dakota
city: Regina
country: Canada
facility: Saskatchewan Cancer Agency
state: Saskatchewan
Study officials:
affiliation: Mayo Clinic
name: Timothy F. Kozelsky, MD
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Kozelsky TF, Meyers GE, Sloan JA, Shanahan TG, Dick SJ, Moore RL, Engeler GP, Frank AR, McKone TK, Urias RE, Pilepich MV, Novotny PJ, Martenson JA; North Central Cancer Treatment Group. Phase III double-blind study of glutamine versus placebo for the prevention of acute diarrhea in patients receiving pelvic radiation therapy. J Clin Oncol. 2003 May 1;21(9):1669-74. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2003.05.060.