Gemcitabine and oxaliplatin combination chemotherapy in 30 patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma

摘要

Objective: To evaluate the activity and safety of combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus oxaliplatin (GEMOX regimen) in patients of advanced pancreatic carcinoma. Methods: 30 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer were enrolled into this study. All patients received gemcitabine 1000 mg/m~2, given by 30-minute intravenous infusion, on days 1 and 8 of each 21-day cycle. Oxaliplatin 100 mg/m~2 was administered as a 2 h infusion on day 1 of each 21 day. Clinical outcomes for patients treated with two cycles of chemotherapy were evaluated according to WHO criteria. Results: All 30 patients were eligible for effectiveness and safety analysis. Objective response rate was approximately 20.0%. Clinical benefit response (CBR) was a composite of assessment of pain, performance status and body weight. The pain relief rate, improvement rate of performance status and body weight were 53.3%, 46.7% and 36.7%, respectively. The main adverse effects were bone marrow depression, peripheral nerve toxicity and gastrointestinal reaction. There was no treatment-related death during the chemotherapy. Conclusion: The high response rate with low toxicity observed in this study suggests that GEMOX regimen may be an effective alternative curative treatment for patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma and can be used more extensively in clinical practice.