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Gemcitabine/Bevacizumab Plus Radiation Appear Active in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer: Presented at ASCO-GI
Doctors said that the combination of gemcitabine and bevacizumab along with radiation in the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer does not appear to create any major safety issues, even when some of the patients have responses potent enough to allow them to undergo resection.
"There was no obvious increase in operative mortality postsurgery," said William Small, Jr., MD, Professor of Medicine/Radiation Oncology, Northwestern University and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
The findings were presented here in a poster session on January 25 at the American Society for Clinical Oncology's 2008 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO-GI). The study was also reported in an oral abstract presentation on January 26.
The symposium is cosponsored by ASCO with the American Gastroenterological Association Institute, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society for Surgical Oncology.
In the study, patients received three cycles of therapy. Cycle 1 was a total of 21 days, with gemcitabine was administered on days 1 and 8 and bevacizumab on days 1 and 15. Cycle 2 was 28 days and consisted of gemcitabine on days 1, 8, and 15, and bevacizumab on days 8 and 22; radiotherapy was administered on days 1 to 5, 8 to 12, and 15 to 19. Cycle 3 was 21 days; gemcitabine was administered on days 1 and 8, and bevacizumab on day 8.
Chemoradiation eventually allowed six patients to undergo surgery, including the two patients who achieved a complete response; three other patients achieved a partial response, and 18 patients were able to stabilize their disease. One-year survival for all 29 patients in the study is 45%; 41% of the patients achieved a 1-year progression-free survival; 20% of the patients have achieved 2-year progression-free survival.
Three patients who underwent resection experienced minor complications, Dr. Small said.
One patient had to be readmitted for drainage of intra-abdominal fluid and also experienced a wound infection. Two other patients had delayed gastric emptying following surgery. There was no complication among the patients that did not undergo resection. No wound dehiscence occurred. No operative mortality occurred.