Clinical trial NCT00002897: Surgery With or Without Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Stage II or Stage III Cancer of the Esophagus
Official title: RANDOMIZED STUDY OF PREOPERATIVE CHEMOTHERAPY VERSUS SURGERY ALONE IN ESOPHAGUS CANCER
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE3
Conditions: Esophageal Cancer
Keywords: stage II esophageal cancer
stage III esophageal cancer
squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus
Lead sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Sponsor class: NIH
First posted: 2004-09-03
Enrollment: 240
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 75
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
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. It is not known whether chemotherapy before surgery is more effective than surgery alone in treating cancer of the esophagus.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of surgery with or without chemotherapy in treating patients with stage II or stage III cancer of the esophagus.

Detailed description: OBJECTIVES: I. Compare resectability and survival in patients with stage II/III esophageal cancer treated with neoadjuvant cisplatin/fluorouracil vs. surgery alone.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized study. Patients are randomized to one of two groups. The first group receives cisplatin and fluorouracil every 4 weeks for 3 courses followed by esophagectomy and regional lymphadenectomy. The second group undergoes esophagectomy and regional lymphadenectomy alone. All patients are followed for survival.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 240 patients will be entered over 4 years.

Eligibility criteria: DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed esophageal squamous cell cancer that is stage T2-3 Nx M0

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 to 75 Performance status: WHO 0-2 Hematopoietic: Not specified Hepatic: Not specified Renal: Not specified Other: No second malignancy within 5 years except: Basal cell skin carcinoma Carcinoma in situ of the cervix

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: No prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy

Primary outcomes:
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Padua
country: Italy
facility: University of Padua
Study officials:
affiliation: Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova
name: Ermanno Ancona, MD
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Ancona E, Ruol A, Santi S, Merigliano S, Sileni VC, Koussis H, Zaninotto G, Bonavina L, Peracchia A. Only pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves significantly the long term survival of patients with resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: final report of a randomized, controlled trial of preoperative chemotherapy versus surgery alone. Cancer. 2001 Jun 1;91(11):2165-74.
citation: Ancona E, Ruol A, Santi S, et al.: Major response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy leads to improved long-term survival in potentially resectable (T2-3, any N, M0) esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Final report of a randomized trial of neoadjuvant chemotherapy versus surgery alone. [Abstract] Proceedings of the European Surgical Association 7th annual meeting, Amsterdam, April 14-15, 2000.