Dalteparin for Primary Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Prophylaxis in Pancreatic Cancer Patients

October 20, 2016 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Randomized Clinical Trial of Dalteparin for Primary Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Prophylaxis in Pancreatic Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy Treatment.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if dalteparin can lower the risk of VTE occurring in the legs and lungs. This will be tested in patients with pancreatic cancer who are going to receive chemotherapy. Some patients will receive dalteparin and some will receive no study drug.

The safety of dalteparin will also be studied.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Study Drug:

Dalteparin is designed to thin the blood and block blood from clotting. This may lower the risk of VTE.

Study Groups:

If you are found to be eligible to take part in this study, you will be randomly assigned (as in the flip of a coin) into 1 of 2 groups. There is an equal chance of being assigned to either group.

Group 1 will receive dalteparin.

Group 2 will not receive a study drug.

During this study, all study participants will be routinely checked for VTE by ultrasounds and CT scans.

You may also receive standard therapies for preventing VTE. This may include blood-thinning drugs while you are in the hospital, getting up and moving around at least 5 times per day, and/or wearing special stockings or boot-like devices designed to put pressure on the feet.

Genetic Research Testing:

Before starting your therapy (at baseline), blood (about 1 teaspoon) will be drawn and stored for genetic testing. Researchers want to use DNA (the genetic material in cells) to look for markers that may be related to having a high risk for developing blood clots. The samples will be processed and stored at MD Anderson. Once this study ends, the DNA will be tested further in Dr. Futreal's laboratory and/or may be shipped outside to Illumina Sequencing Services (San Diego, CA) for genetic research. The samples will be deidentified before shipping.

Before your samples are sent to the outside laboratory for banking, your name and any personal identifying information will be coded to protect your privacy. The outside researchers will not have access to the codes that link the samples to your identity.

Study Drug Administration:

If you are in Group 1, you will receive dalteparin by injection under your skin, once a day for 16 weeks. You and/or your caregiver will be taught how to perform injections.

Study Visits:

At every study visit, the following tests and procedures will be performed:

  • You will have a physical exam, including measurement of your vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and breathing rate).
  • Your medical history will be recorded.

About every 2 weeks after chemotherapy starts until Week 16, blood (about 2 teaspoons) will be drawn for routine tests. This test may be repeated more often if the doctor decides it is needed.

Before each new cycle of chemotherapy during Weeks 1-16, blood (about 2 teaspoons) will be drawn for routine tests to check the function of your liver and kidneys.

At Weeks 8 and 16 (+/- 7 days), the following procedures will be performed:

  • You will have an ultrasound of your legs to check for blood clots.
  • If the doctor decides it is needed, you will have CT scans to check the status of the cancer. Researchers will also check your chest CT scans to look for blood clots in the lungs.

Length of Study Participation:

You may remain on study for up to 16 weeks. You will be taken off study early if blood clots occur or you experience intolerable side effects.

Follow-Up Phone Calls:

This study has a 3-year follow-up period. In Year 1, you will receive a follow-up phone call from the study staff in the first month and then at Months 3, 6, 9, and 12. In Years 2 and 3, you will be called every 6 months.

The study staff will ask about your overall health. In the first phone call, you will also be asked about any side effects that may have occurred.

This is an investigational study. Dalteparin is commercially available and FDA approved for use in preventing VTE that may occur for other reasons. Those reasons include abdominal surgery; surgery for a hip fracture, hip replacement, or knee replacement; and illnesses causing patients to be unable to move around.

Dalteparin is also commercially available and FDA approved to treat VTE in cancer patients. However, it is investigational to use dalteparin to prevent VTE in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Up to 87 patients will take part in this study. All will be enrolled at MD Anderson.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

87

Phase

  • Phase 4

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 States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with the diagnosis of advanced stage (unresectable or metastatic) adenocarinoma of the pancreas. Patients with borderline resectable will also be eligible if they are starting chemotherapy and/or chemo/radiation therapy (RT) prior to attempting resection.
  2. Patients must be planning to initiate systemic chemotherapy within 2 weeks. Chemotherapy that is being given concurrently with radiation is allowed.
  3. Age >/= 18 years old
  4. Adequate renal function defined as a calculated creatinine clearance of > 50 mL/min (as reported by the MDACC laboratory using MDRD method or using Cockroft and Gault formula).
  5. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status 0-2.
  6. Negative urine or serum pregnancy test in women with childbearing potential, within one week prior to initiation of treatment.
  7. Patients must sign an Informed Consent.
  8. Patient must agree to transfusion of blood products, when indicated.
  9. Ability to administer subcutaneous injections of the study drug by the patient and/or care giver.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with evidence of venous thrombosis on the initial lower extremity screening ultrasound or incidental VTE of other sites (e.g. PE, Abdominal/pelvic vein thrombosis, etc.).
  2. Patients already taking prophylactic or full dose anticoagulation (eg. heparin, low-molecular weight heparin, fondaparinux, or coumadin).
  3. Patients with currently active bleeding.
  4. The presence of a condition with a high risk for bleeding, including but not limited to active peptic ulcer, recent neurosurgery, or cirrhosis with esophageal varices.
  5. Patients with known brain metastases.
  6. Patients with a known bleeding diathesis.
  7. Patients with a platelet count < 50,000.
  8. Patients with known hypersensitivity to dalteparin.
  9. Patients who regularly use medications known to increase the risk of bleeding such as >/= 325 mg of aspirin daily, or daily clopidogrel, or daily non-steroidal antiinflammatory medications (eg., ibuprofen, naproxen).

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
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group 1: Dalteparin
Dalteparin 5000 units subcutaneous, by injection under the skin, daily for 16 weeks.
Drug: Dalteparin
5000 units subcutaneous, by injection under the skin, daily for 16 weeks
Other Names:
  • Fragmin
No Intervention: Group 2: Control
No study drug.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Participants With Venous Thromboembolic Events (VTE)
Time Frame: 16 weeks of treatment
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) defined by both symptomatic and asymptomatic VTE which includes deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) through clinical assessments and radiologic studies. All patients undergo bilateral lower extremity ultrasound every 2 months while on study (total of 3 exams including pre-randomization). VTE requires imaging documentation to evaluate use of prophylactic anticoagulation in reducing the occurrence of VTE in a patient population with a known high risk of VTE.
16 weeks of treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Collaborators

Eisai Inc.

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

Helpful Links

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

April 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 25, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 25, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

August 26, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 12, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 20, 2016

Last Verified

October 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2008-0487
  • NCI-2011-01773 (Registry Identifier: NCI CTRP)

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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