The Impact of Positive Resection Margins on Survival and Recurrence Following Resection and Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Objective And Background: Local and distant disease recurrence are frequently observed following pancreatic cancer resection, but an improved understanding of resection margin assessment is required to aid tailored therapies.

Methods: Analyses were carried out to assess the association between clinical characteristics and margin involvement as well as the effects of individual margin involvement on site of recurrence and overall and recurrence-free survival using individual patient data from the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC)-3 randomized controlled trial.

Results: There were 1151 patients, of whom 505 (43.

A phase I and pharmacokinetic study of capecitabine in combination with radiotherapy in patients with localised inoperable pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this phase I study was to determine the safety, toxicity, maximum tolerated dose, and pharmacokinetics of capecitabine when administered concurrently with radiotherapy in patients with localised, inoperable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Methods: Eligible patients, with adequate performance status and organ function, were treated in escalating dose cohorts with capecitabine, administered 7 days a week, twice daily, and radiotherapy (50.4 Gy in 28 fractions over 38 days).

Pancreatic cancer hENT1 expression and survival from gemcitabine in patients from the ESPAC-3 trial.

Background: Human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1) levels in pancreatic adenocarcinoma may predict survival in patients who receive adjuvant gemcitabine after resection.

Methods: Microarrays from 434 patients randomized to chemotherapy in the ESPAC-3 trial (plus controls from ESPAC-1/3) were stained with the 10D7G2 anti-hENT1 antibody. Patients were classified as having high hENT1 expression if the mean H score for their cores was above the overall median H score (48).

Effect of adjuvant chemotherapy with fluorouracil plus folinic acid or gemcitabine vs observation on survival in patients with resected periampullary adenocarcinoma: the ESPAC-3 periampullary cancer randomized trial.

Context: Patients with periampullary adenocarcinomas undergo the same resectional surgery as that of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Although adjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to have a survival benefit for pancreatic cancer, there have been no randomized trials for periampullary adenocarcinomas.

Objective: To determine whether adjuvant chemotherapy (fluorouracil or gemcitabine) provides improved overall survival following resection.

Comparison of an inflammation-based prognostic score (GPS) with performance status (ECOG-ps) in patients receiving palliative chemotherapy for gastroesophageal cancer.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare an inflammation-based prognostic score (Glasgow Prognostic Score, GPS) with performance status (ECOG-ps) in patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy for palliation of gastroesophageal cancer.

Methods: Sixty-five patients presenting with gastroesophageal carcinoma to the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow between January 1999 and December 2005 and who received palliative chemotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy were studied. ECOG-ps, C-reactive protein, and albumin were recorded at diagnosis.

Acute small bowel toxicity and preoperative chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer: investigating dose-volume relationships and role for inverse planning.

Purpose: The relationship between volume of irradiated small bowel (VSB) and acute toxicity in rectal cancer radiotherapy is poorly quantified, particularly in patients receiving concurrent preoperative chemoradiotherapy. Using treatment planning data, we studied a series of such patients.

Methods And Materials: Details of 41 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer were reviewed.