Scroll Up
Scroll Down
Play Play Play Play
Unregistered User
Click here if this is not your Personal Edition
 
Contact Us | Free E-Mail Updates | Journals | Register a colleague
 
 
Surgery
 
   
 
SEARCH   
Doctor's Guide Free CME
Medline
Congress Resource Centre
 

 EXPLORE :
   Most Read News
 All News  All News
 All Webcasts / CME  All Webcasts / CME
 All Cases  All Cases
 Congress Resource Centre  Congress Resource Centre
 All Medical Resources  All Medical Resources
 Medical  My Personal Edition



Warning | Privacy

 

 
 Recent news - Surgery
    Abdominal Surgery Incision Method Has No Affect on Healing Process, Pain - (DGNews)
    Bone-Morphogenetic Protein Associated With More Complications in Spinal Fusions - (DGNews)
    Screening men for abdominal aortic aneurysm: 10 year mortality and cost effectiveness results from the randomised Multicentre Aneurysm Screening Study - (BMJ)
    Bariatric Surgery Could Lower Cancer Risk in Obese Women - (DGNews)
    Roux-en-Y Weight Loss Surgery Raises Kidney Stone Risk - (DGNews)

    News archive

     Recent webcasts/CME - Surgery
      Advances in the Management of Postoperative Ileus: Reducing the Clinical and Economic Burden
      Occipital Fusion Techniques
      Perioperative Management Strategies for the Patient Requiring Warfarin
      Posterior Dynamic Stabilization of the Thoracolumbar Spine
      Causes and Risk Factors for Postoperative Fever in Spine Surgery Patients

      Webcasts/CME archive

       Recent cases - Surgery
        Malignant Teratoma of the Uterine Corpus
        Spontaneous Regression in Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma: Case Report and Literature Review
        Ectopic Pancreatic-Type Malignancy Presenting in a Meckel's Diverticulum: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
        Abnormal Presentation of Pulmonary Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis
        Successful Management of an Aortoesophageal Fistula Caused by a Fish Bone - Case Report and Review of Literature

        Cases archive
          




        my personal edition > surgery > news
        divider

          E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague

        DGDispatch


        Interferon Therapy Improves Pancreatic Cancer Survival in Phase 2 Study: Presented at SSO

        By John Gever

        WASHINGTON, DC -- March 19, 2007 -- Adjuvant chemoradiation therapy including interferon-alpha and gemcitabine produced modest improvements in overall survival in pancreatic adenocarcinoma relative to conventional treatments, according to research presented here at the 60th annual meeting of the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO).

        However, the regimen was about as toxic as other chemoradiation therapies.

        Marcus Tan, MD, clinical research fellow, department of surgery, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, reported on a new phase 2 trial in which interferon-alpha was added to conventional radiation and chemotherapy.

        The trial enrolled 53 patients with pancreatic tumours, most with stage IIb or III disease, who initially underwent curative resection. They then received 6 weeks of chemoradiation, including 5,040 cGy external beam radiation, continuous infusion of 5-fluorouracil at 175 mg/m2, intravenous cisplatin 25 mg/m2 weekly, and 3 million units subcutaneous interferon-alpha 3 times weekly. This was followed by 2 4-week cycles of gemcitabine.

        In an oral presentation on March 16th, Dr. Tan said the study's primary endpoint was 2-year overall survival, with 2-year disease-free survival and frequency of grade 3/4 toxicities as secondary measures.

        With median follow-up of 38 months, the 2-year overall survival rate was 56%. Median survival time was 25 months. These results compared favourably to conventional therapies without interferon, with which 2-year survival rates of 37% to 48% have been obtained.

        Perhaps more encouraging, most long-term survivors remained in complete remission, with a 2-year disease-free survival rate of 51%.

        Grade 3/4 toxicities occurred in more than 90% of patients in the trial, Dr. Tan said. These were primarily haematological and gastrointestinal in nature. Nine patients did not complete the scheduled therapy due to toxicity. Interestingly, Dr. Tan said, some of these patients survived past the median.

        "We were surprised that we had a different spectrum of toxicities" relative to an earlier trial, he also noted. That trial, conducted at the Virginia Mason Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, United States, involved a similar regimen but without gemcitabine. The different toxicities rates were not fully explained by the addition of the latter drug, Dr. Tan indicated. The Virginia Mason study had obtained a higher response rate (2-year overall survival of 64%) but with shorter median follow-up.

        Schering-Plough Corp. provided funding for the trial.


        [Presentation title: A Phase II trial of Interferon- and Gemcitabine-based Chemoradiation Therapy After Resection for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. Abstract no. 2]



        E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague   To print, use this version






        All contents Copyright (c) 1995-2009 Doctor's Guide Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.



        The NTK initiative. Physicians helping physicians identify Need-To-Know science
           Feedback
        Please rate this article: Strongly DISAGREE...Strongly AGREE NTK logo
        Question 1 - Physicians need to become aware of this information as soon as possible. Question 2 - This information is likely to have an impact on the way physicians practice medicine.
        1
        2
        3
        4
        5
        6
        7
        Send