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NCT00003216 · CITED IN SOURCE DOCUMENTS

Fluorouracil, Gemcitabine, and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Cancer of the Pancreas

An NCI or FDA source cites this study. A citation does not establish that it applies to an individual diagnosis.

Phase
PHASE3
Status at capture
COMPLETED
Registry last update
2013-11-19

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. It is not yet known which treatment regimen is most effective for pancreatic cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of fluorouracil and gemcitabine plus radiation therapy in treating patients with cancer of the pancreas who have undergone surgery.

Open the original ClinicalTrials.gov record → · Download preserved record

What did the study report?

Outcomes, safety and baseline populations are separate source sections. Quality-of-life measures appear under their original outcome titles.

No posted result sections were captured. Registered plans do not establish that a treatment works.

Who could take part
eligibility Criteria
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas * Stage T1-4, N0-1 (stage I-IVA) * No M1 or NX staging * Primary tumor of the pancreas (pancreatic head, neck, uncinate process, or body/tail) and maximum diameter/dimension and tumor status at surgical margin known * Prior potentially curative gross resection within 3-8 weeks before study * No non-adenocarcinomas, adenosquamous carcinomas, islet cell carcinomas, cystadenomas, cystadenocarcinomas, carcinoid tumors, duodenal carcinomas, distal bile duct carcinoma, or ampullary carcinoma * No recurrent disease * Post-resection CA-19-9 level required PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: * 18 and over Performance status: * Karnofsky 60-100% 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 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * SGOT no greater than 5 times ULN Renal: * Creatinine no greater than 1.5 times ULN Other: * No significant nausea or vomiting * No prior malignancy within the past 5 years except nonmelanomatous skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix * Able to maintain adequate nutrition (at least 1,500 calories/day) * Feeding tube allowed * Not pregnant * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: * Not specified Chemotherapy: * No prior chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: * Not specified Radiotherapy: * No prior radiotherapy Surgery: * See Disease Characteristics
healthy Volunteers
false
minimum Age
18 Years
sex
ALL
std Ages
  1. ADULT
  2. OLDER_ADULT
Treatment arms and interventions
interventions
  1. name
    fluorouracil
    type
    DRUG
  2. name
    gemcitabine hydrochloride
    type
    DRUG
  3. name
    radiation therapy
    type
    RADIATION
Study design
allocation
RANDOMIZED
primary Purpose
TREATMENT
Enrollment
count
518
type
ESTIMATED
Registered outcome plans (not posted results)
Full study description
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. It is not yet known which treatment regimen is most effective for pancreatic cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of fluorouracil and gemcitabine plus radiation therapy in treating patients with cancer of the pancreas who have undergone surgery.
detailed Description
OBJECTIVES: * Compare the overall and disease-free survival of patients with resected adenocarcinoma of the pancreas treated with adjuvant fluorouracil-based chemoradiotherapy preceded and followed by fluorouracil vs gemcitabine. * Compare the local-regional and distant disease control in patients treated with these regimens. * Compare the acute and late toxic effects of these regimens in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to nodal involvement (yes vs no), tumor diameter (less than 3 cm vs 3 cm or greater), and surgical margins (negative vs positive vs unknown). Patients are randomized to one of two treatment arms. * Arm I: Beginning 3-8 weeks after definitive surgical resection, patients receive fluorouracil IV continuously for 3 weeks. Beginning 1-2 weeks later, patients receive fluorouracil IV continuously concurrently with radiotherapy 5 days a week for 5.5 weeks. Beginning 3-5 weeks after completion of chemoradiotherapy, patients receive fluorouracil IV continuously for 4 weeks every 6 weeks for 2 courses. * Arm II: Beginning 3-8 weeks after definitive surgical resection, patients receive gemcitabine IV once weekly for 3 weeks. Beginning 1-2 weeks later, patients receive chemoradiotherapy as in arm I. Beginning 3-5 weeks after completion of chemoradiotherapy, patients receive gemcitabine IV once weekly for 3 weeks every 4 weeks for 3 courses. Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year, every 6 months for 2 years, and then annually thereafter. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 518 patients will be accrued for this study within 8.6 years.
Source references
references
  1. citation
    Abrams RA, Winter KA, Regine WF, Safran H, Hoffman JP, Lustig R, Konski AA, Benson AB, Macdonald JS, Rich TA, Willett CG. Failure to adhere to protocol specified radiation therapy guidelines was associated with decreased survival in RTOG 9704--a phase III trial of adjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy for patients with resected adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012 Feb 1;82(2):809-16. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2010.11.039. Epub 2011 Feb 1.
    pmid
    21277694
    type
    RESULT
  2. citation
    Berger AC, Winter K, Hoffman JP, Regine WF, Abrams RA, Safran H, Freedman GM, Benson AB 3rd, Macdonald J, Willett CG. Five year results of US intergroup/RTOG 9704 with postoperative CA 19-9 </=90 U/mL and comparison to the CONKO-001 trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012 Nov 1;84(3):e291-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2012.04.035. Epub 2012 Jun 9.
    pmid
    22682806
    type
    RESULT
  3. citation
    Farrell JJ, Bae K, Wong J, Guha C, Dicker AP, Elsaleh H. Cytidine deaminase single-nucleotide polymorphism is predictive of toxicity from gemcitabine in patients with pancreatic cancer: RTOG 9704. Pharmacogenomics J. 2012 Oct;12(5):395-403. doi: 10.1038/tpj.2011.22. Epub 2011 May 31.
    pmid
    21625252
    type
    RESULT
  4. citation
    Regine WF, Winter KA, Abrams R, Safran H, Hoffman JP, Konski A, Benson AB, Macdonald JS, Rich TA, Willett CG. Fluorouracil-based chemoradiation with either gemcitabine or fluorouracil chemotherapy after resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma: 5-year analysis of the U.S. Intergroup/RTOG 9704 phase III trial. Ann Surg Oncol. 2011 May;18(5):1319-26. doi: 10.1245/s10434-011-1630-6. Epub 2011 Mar 10.
    pmid
    21499862
    type
    RESULT
  5. citation
    Showalter TN, Winter KA, Berger AC, Regine WF, Abrams RA, Safran H, Hoffman JP, Benson AB, MacDonald JS, Willett CG. The influence of total nodes examined, number of positive nodes, and lymph node ratio on survival after surgical resection and adjuvant chemoradiation for pancreatic cancer: a secondary analysis of RTOG 9704. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2011 Dec 1;81(5):1328-35. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2010.07.1993. Epub 2010 Oct 8.
    pmid
    20934270
    type
    RESULT
  6. citation
    Tempero MA, Winter KA, Kim GE, et al.: S100A2 as a prognostic marker in patients receiving adjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer (PC): A secondary analysis of RTOG 9704. [Abstract] J Clin Oncol 29 (Suppl 15): A-4118, 2011.
    type
    RESULT
  7. citation
    Farrell J, Bae K, Guha C, et al.: Correlation of cytidine deaminase single nucleotide polymorphism and toxicity from gemcitabine in patients with pancreatic cancer from RTOG 9704. [Abstract] American Society of Clinical Oncology 2009 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, 15-17 January 2009, San Francisco, CA. A-115, 2009.
    type
    RESULT
  8. citation
    Farrell JJ, Elsaleh H, Garcia M, Lai R, Ammar A, Regine WF, Abrams R, Benson AB, Macdonald J, Cass CE, Dicker AP, Mackey JR. Human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 levels predict response to gemcitabine in patients with pancreatic cancer. Gastroenterology. 2009 Jan;136(1):187-95. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2008.09.067. Epub 2008 Oct 7.
    pmid
    18992248
    type
    RESULT
  9. citation
    Piperdi B, Ng S, Piperdi M, et al.: Single institutional experience with oral capecitabine (Cap) in adjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer: Gemcitabine (G) followed by Cap/RT followed by G. [Abstract] American Society of Clinical Oncology 2009 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, 15-17 January 2009, San Francisco, CA. A-229, 2009.
    type
    RESULT
  10. citation
    Berger AC, Garcia M Jr, Hoffman JP, Regine WF, Abrams RA, Safran H, Konski A, Benson AB 3rd, MacDonald J, Willett CG. Postresection CA 19-9 predicts overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer treated with adjuvant chemoradiation: a prospective validation by RTOG 9704. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Dec 20;26(36):5918-22. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2008.18.6288. Epub 2008 Nov 24.
    pmid
    19029412
    type
    RESULT
  11. citation
    Regine WF, Winter KA, Abrams RA, Safran H, Hoffman JP, Konski A, Benson AB, Macdonald JS, Kudrimoti MR, Fromm ML, Haddock MG, Schaefer P, Willett CG, Rich TA. Fluorouracil vs gemcitabine chemotherapy before and after fluorouracil-based chemoradiation following resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2008 Mar 5;299(9):1019-26. doi: 10.1001/jama.299.9.1019.
    pmid
    18319412
    type
    RESULT
  12. citation
    Abrams RA, Winter KA, Regine WF, et al.: Correlation of RTOG 9704 (adjuvant therapy (rx) of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (pan ca)) radiation therapy quality assurance scores (RTQASc) with survival (S). [Abstract] J Clin Oncol 25 (Suppl 18): A-4523, 2007.
    type
    RESULT
Source notices and limitations
    Discovery and provenance
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      source update dates
      1. context
        Updated: February 12, 2025
        datetime
        2025-02-12T12:00:00Z
        display
        February 12, 2025

    Preserved source evidence · Not medical advice