Combination Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Pancreatic Cancer

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2010-06-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

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 chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy in treating patients who have locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
• Collaborator: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Treatments: Fluorouracil; Gemcitabine

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma

• Non-metastatic disease that is unresectable due to any of the following:

• Tumor greater than 5 cm

• Bulky lymph nodes greater than 2 cm, but within the radiation port

• Vascular involvement or impingement of major vessels

• Involvement of colon, adrenal glands, or kidney

• Measurable or evaluable disease

• No prior therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma

• No peritoneal seeding or other evidence of metastatic disease by laparotomy or laparoscopy

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

• 18 and over

Performance status:

• CTC 0-2

Life expectancy:

• Not specified

Hematopoietic:

• WBC at least 3,000/mm^3

• Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 mg/dL

• AST no greater than 3 times upper limit of normal

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL

Cardiovascular:

• No myocardial infarction within the past 6 months

Other:

• No other uncontrolled serious medical or psychiatric illness that would preclude study compliance

• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except limited or curatively treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix

• Not pregnant or nursing

• Negative pregnancy test

• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

• See Disease Characteristics

Chemotherapy:

• See Disease Characteristics

Endocrine therapy:

• See Disease Characteristics

Radiotherapy:

• No prior abdominal radiotherapy

Surgery:

• At least 2 weeks since prior major surgery