Treatment of pancreatic cancer with a combination of docetaxel, gemcitabine and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: A phase II study of the Greek Cooperative Group for Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose: To evaluate the tolerance and efficacy of front-line docetaxel plus gemcitabine treatment in patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer. Patients and methods: Fifty-four patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer were enrolled. Gemcitabine (1000 mg/m(2)) was administered on days 1 and 8 and docetaxel (100 mg/m(2)) on day 8, every three weeks; rh-G-CSF (150 ig/m(2) s.c.) was given prophylactically on days 9-15. Results: Seven (13%) patients achieved partial response and 18 (33%) stable disease (intent-to-treat). The median duration of response was 24 weeks, time to tumour progression 32 weeks, and overall survival 26 weeks. Performance status was improved in 33% of patients, pain in 43%, asthenia in 16%, weight gain in 28% and appetite in 27%. Grade 3-4 neutropenia occurred in 17(31%) patients and grade 3-4 thrombocytopenia in four (4%). Six (11%) patients developed febrile neutropenia and one of them died from sepsis. Conclusions: This combination is a relatively well-tolerated out-patient regimen for patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer

Treatment of pancreatic cancer with docetaxel and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: A multicenter phase II study

Purpose: To determine the efficacy and tolerance of single-agent docetaxel and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Patients and Methods: Thirty-three chemotherapy-naive patients (median age, 65 years) with histologically confirmed pancreatic cancer were treated, after appropriate premedication, with docetaxel (100 mg/m(2)) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor(150 mu g/m(2)/d subcutaneously days 2 through 10) every 3 weeks. World Health Organization performance status was 0 to 1 in 28 patients (85%) and 2 in 5 patients (15%), Twenty-nine patients had stage III and IV disease. Results: One complete response (3%) and one partial response (3%) were observed far an overall response rate of 6% (95% confidence interval, 2.1% to 14.2%), Nineteen patients (58%) had stable disease and 12(36%) had progressive disease. The duration of the two objective responses was 10 and 28 weeks, and the median time to tumor progression was 20 weeks. The median overall survival was 36 weeks. The actuarial I-year survival was 36.4%, The performance status improved in seven of 21 assessable patients (24%) and pain improved in 14 of 21 (67%) assessable patients; five patients (29%) experienced weight gain during treatment. Disease-related asthenia, anorexia, vomiting, and diarrhea improved in 29%, 15%, 67%, and 47% of the assessable patients, respectively. Serum concentrations of CA 19-9 were decreased by more than 50% in seven patients (35%). Grade 3 and 4 neutropenia occurred in four patients (12%) and eight patients (24%), respectively, with two episodes of febrile neutropenia. There were no treatment-related deaths. Grade 3/4 asthenia occurred in three patients. Conclusion: Although docetaxel teas a marginal objective activity in pancreatic cancer, it seems to have an important effect on tumor growth control, conferring a clinical benefit, (C) 1999 by American Society of Clinical Oncology