Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Esophageal Cancer

August 9, 2013 updated by: Medical Research Council

A Prospective Randomized Trial Comparing Standard Chemotherapy Followed By Resection Versus Infusional Chemotherapy In Patients With Resectable Adenocarcinoma Of The Oesophagus

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known which regimen of combination chemotherapy is more effective in treating esophageal cancer.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of two regimens of combination chemotherapy in treating patients who are undergoing surgery for esophageal cancer.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES:

  • Compare survival and quality of life of patients with resectable adenocarcinoma of the esophagus treated prior to surgery with standard chemotherapy comprising cisplatin and fluorouracil versus prolonged infusional chemotherapy comprising cisplatin, epirubicin, and fluorouracil.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are randomized to one of two treatment arms.

  • Arm I (Standard chemotherapy): Patients receive cisplatin IV over 4 hours on days 1-4 and fluorouracil IV continuously on days 1-4. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 2 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
  • Arm II (Infusional chemotherapy): Patients receive cisplatin IV over 4 hours on day 1, epirubicin IV on day 1, and fluorouracil IV continuously. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Patients undergo surgery 4-6 weeks after the last dose of fluorouracil in arm I or anytime after the fluorouracil infusion is completed in arm II.

Quality of life is assessed at baseline, immediately before starting the last course of chemotherapy, immediately before surgery, 6 weeks post-operatively, and at 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months after randomization.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year, every 6 months for 5 years, and then annually thereafter.

Peer Reviewed and Funded or Endorsed by Cancer Research UK

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: Approximately 1,300 patients (650 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

1300

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
    • England
      • Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, B15 2TH
        • Recruiting
        • Queen Elizabeth Hospital at University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Trust
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or type 1 or 2 tumors of the gastroesophageal junction

    • Stage IIB or greater by spiral or multi-slice CT scan and endoscopic ultrasound
    • Amenable to primary surgery with curative intent
  • No para-aortic/celiac lymphadenopathy greater than 1 cm on CT scan and/or greater than 6 mm on endoscopic ultrasound
  • No disease invading the airways, aorta, pericardium, or lung
  • No liver, lung, or other distant metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

  • Not specified

Performance status:

  • WHO 0-1

Life expectancy:

  • Not specified

Hematopoietic:

  • WBC greater than 3,000/mm3
  • Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm3

Hepatic:

  • Liver function tests no greater than 1.5 times normal

Renal:

  • Glomerular filtration rate greater than 60 mL/min

Cardiovascular:

  • Ejection fraction greater than 50% OR
  • Normal echocardiograph

Pulmonary:

  • FEV1 greater than 1.5 L

Other:

  • Not pregnant or nursing
  • No prior primary malignancy
  • No significant medical condition that would preclude study

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

  • Not specified

Chemotherapy:

  • Not specified

Endocrine therapy:

  • Not specified

Radiotherapy:

  • Not specified

Surgery:

  • See Disease Characteristics

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Survival

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Quality of life
Disease-free survival
Local control
Morbidity from surgery and chemotherapy

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Medical Research Council

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Derek Alderson, MD, University Hospital Birmingham

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2004

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 8, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2003

First Posted (Estimate)

January 27, 2003

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 12, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 9, 2013

Last Verified

March 1, 2007

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MRC-OE05
  • CDR0000069457 (Registry Identifier: PDQ (Physician Data Query))
  • EU-20204

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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