Gemcitabine combined with capecitabine in the treatment for 41 patients with relapsed or metastatic biliary tract carcinoma.
- Author:
Zong-Yang YU
1
;
Xue-Nong OUYANG
;
Zhang-Shu CHEN
;
Jie LI
;
Xi CHEN
;
Fang-Wei XIE
Author Information
- Publication Type:Clinical Trial
- MeSH: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; adverse effects; therapeutic use; Bile Duct Neoplasms; drug therapy; pathology; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic; Capecitabine; Cholangiocarcinoma; drug therapy; pathology; Deoxycytidine; administration & dosage; analogs & derivatives; Diarrhea; chemically induced; Female; Fluorouracil; administration & dosage; analogs & derivatives; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nausea; chemically induced; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Neutropenia; chemically induced; Remission Induction; Survival Rate
- From: Chinese Journal of Oncology 2008;30(2):144-146
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficacy of the combination of gemcitabine with capecitabine in the chemotherapy for patients with relapsed or metastatic biliary tract carcinoma.
METHODSForty-one patients with unresectable relapsed or metastatic carcinoma of the biliary tract were treated from March 2000 to December 2004. The regimen consisted of intravenous administration of gemcitabine plus oral intake of capecitabine every 3 weeks for more than 2 cycles. The parameters including tumor response, clinical benefit rate,survival and safety were observed.
RESULTSThirty-six patients were valuable and 5 patients were excluded from this series due to various reasons. Eleven patients (30.1%) had a partial response and another 11 patients (30.1%) experieced stable disease with a clinical benefit rates of 61.1%. The median overall survival time and time to progression were 10 months and 6 months, respectively. The one-year survival rate was 40.0%. The adverse events including nausea, diarrhea and hand-foot syndrome, fatigue, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia were frequently observed, which were usually in grade I or II, rarely in grade III and none in grade IV (NCI-CTC).
CONCLUSIONOur results show that the regimen of gemcitabine combined with capecitabine is effective and well tolerated in patients with unresectable relapsed or metastatic carcinoma of the biliary tract.
