Overview

Gemcitabine With or Without Capecitabine in Treating Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2007-05-01
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. It is not yet known if gemcitabine is more effective with or without capecitabine in treating pancreatic cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of gemcitabine with or without capecitabine in treating patients who have locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Phase:
Phase 3
Accepts Healthy Volunteers?
No
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Cancer Research UK
Treatments:
Capecitabine
Gemcitabine
Criteria
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Histologically or cytologically confirmed ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas

- Locally advanced or metastatic disease not amenable to curative surgical
resection

- Macroscopic residual disease after prior resection with histological confirmation
is allowed

- Unidimensionally measurable disease

- No intracerebral metastases or meningeal carcinomatosis

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

- Over 18

Performance status:

- WHO 0-2

Life expectancy:

- More than 3 months

Hematopoietic:

- WBC greater than 3,000/mm3

- Neutrophil count greater than 1,500/mm3

- Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm3

Hepatic:

- Bilirubin less than 2 mg/dL

Renal:

- Creatinine less than 2 mg/dL

- Creatinine clearance greater than 50 mL/min

Cardiovascular:

- No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease

- No uncontrolled angina pectoris

Other:

- No other prior malignancy except nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the
cervix

- No other concurrent uncontrolled medical condition

- No other medical or psychiatric condition that would preclude study

- No known hypersensitivity to fluorouracil

- No dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase deficiency

- No known malabsorption syndromes

- Not pregnant or nursing

- Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

- Not specified

Chemotherapy:

- No prior chemotherapy (including preoperative or adjuvant) for this disease

- No other concurrent cytotoxic chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

- Not specified

Radiotherapy:

- No prior radiotherapy (including preoperative or adjuvant) for this disease

Surgery:

- See Disease Characteristics

Other:

- No prior investigational drugs (including preoperative or adjuvant) for this disease

- No other concurrent investigational drugs

- No concurrent dipyridamole or allopurinol

- No concurrent sorivudine or sorivudine analogs (e.g., brivudine) (capecitabine arm
only)