Monday, May 08, 2006

Gemcitabine and cisplatin in advanced biliary tract cancer.


Title
A Phase II study of gemcitabine and cisplatin in advanced biliary tract cancer.



Source
Cancer. 106(6):1339-46, 2006 Mar 15.



BACKGROUND:
The authors performed a Phase II study of combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with inoperable biliary tract cancer to evaluate efficacy and toxicity of this combination. In addition, the correlation between the CA 19-9 response and clinical outcome was analyzed.




CONCLUSION:
The combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin in inoperable biliary tract cancer was tolerable for most patients and showed modest response rates. The role of CA 19-9 monitoring as a surrogate biomarker in patients with BTC treated with gemcitabine chemotherapy should be further investigated.