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Gemcitabine is a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent for a variety of tumor types. Although this nucleoside analogue antineoplastic agent is similar in structure to cytarabine, central nervous system toxicities have rarely been attributed to gemcitabine. Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) is a rare but increasingly identifiable clinicoradiologic process in cancer patients associated with cytotoxic and immunosuppressive agents. The syndrome is characterized by acute to subacute onset of headache, nausea, vomiting, altered mental status, seizures, stupor, and visual disturbances. The pathophysiology of RPLS continues to remain controversial but likely involves loss of cerebrovascular autoregulation leading to arteriole leakage. Radiologically, posterior occipital white matter edema is noted, with characteristic findings on magnetic resonance imaging. Often the syndrome is reversible with treatment of concurrent hypertension or removal of the causative agent; however, failure to quickly recognize the syndrome and discontinue the offending agent may result in profound and permanent central nervous system dysfunction or death. This article describes a case of RPLS attributed to gemcitabine use for pancreatic cancer. Such a descriptive case serves as a platform for the discussion of the syndrome, proposed mechanisms of central nervous system damage, and review of the currently available literature on the topic. With increased awareness of RPLS by oncologists and other medical providers, cancer patient care may be improved and further insight into this complication of therapy through continued research may be gained.
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PMID:Gemcitabine-induced reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome: a case report and review of the literature. 1805 53

Unfortunately, only a minority of patients with pancreatic cancers are suitable for resection and potential cure. Despite recent advances in systemic treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, the prognosis still remains poor. The median survival of patients in whom pancreatic cancers are surgically unresectable is 6 months. Thus, optimal palliation of symptoms to maximize remaining quality of life is of primary importance to most patients. Common problems include pain, unexplained weight loss, nausea, vomiting, streatorrhea, dyspepsia, depression, and jaundice. Management is directed at the palliation of symptoms. Treatment of patients with locally unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic disease is individualized, considering the patient age, patient wishes, family influence, and insurance constraints. Success in managing progressive symptoms is needed to palliate patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
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PMID:[Supportive care for symptom relief in pancreatic cancer]. 1834 74

In advanced pancreatic cancer, level one evidence has established a significant survival advantage with chemotherapy, compared to best supportive care. The treatment-associated toxicity needs to be evaluated. This study examines the secondary outcome measures for chemotherapy in advanced pancreatic cancer using meta-analyses. A systematic review was undertaken employing Cochrane methodology, with search of databases, conference proceedings and trial registers. The secondary end points were progression-free survival (PFS)/time to progression (TTP) (summarised using the hazard ratio (HR)), response rate and toxicity (summarised using relative risk). There was no significant advantage of 5FU combinations vs 5FU alone for TTP (HR=1.02; 95% CI=0.85-1.23) and toxicity. Progression-free survival (HR 0.78; CI 0.70-0.88), TTP (HR=0.85; 95% CI=0.72-0.99) and overall response rate (RR=0.56; 95% CI=0.46-0.68) were significantly better for gemcitabine combination chemotherapy, but offset by the greater grade 3/4 toxicity thrombocytopenia (RR=1.94; 95% CI=1.32-2.84), leucopenia (RR=1.46; 95% CI=1.15-1.86), neutropenia (RR=1.48; 95% CI=1.07-2.05), nausea (RR=1.77; 95% CI=1.37-2.29), vomiting (RR=1.64; 95% CI=1.24-2.16) and diarrhoea (RR=2.73; 95% CI=1.87-3.98). There is no significant advantage on secondary end point analyses for administering 5FU in combination over 5FU alone. There is improved PFS/TTP and response rate, with gemcitabine-based combinations, although this comes with greater toxicity.
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PMID:Meta-analyses of chemotherapy for locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer: results of secondary end points analyses. 1857 90

PURPOSE: To report our clinical experience with 25 patients receiving concurrent capecitabine and irradiation in the treatment of locally advanced or resected pancreatic cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We reviewed the medical records of patients with pancreatic cancer who received treatment with capecitabine and irradiation for pancreatic cancer and received capecitabine 1200 to 1600 mg/m(2) orally twice daily Monday through Friday with concurrent radiation (5040-5400 cGy, 180 cGy, 5 days/week), followed by a 4-week rest, then 6 to 8 cycles of capecitabine alone 2000 to 2500 mg/m(2) twice daily for 14 days every 3 weeks (surgically resected), and capecitabine 2000 to 2500 mg/m(2) BID for 14 days every 3 weeks until progressive disease (unresected). RESULTS: The population consisted of 14 females and 11 males, with a median age of 64 years (range 37-80 years). Histology was adenocarcinoma in 23 patients and neuroendocrine tumor in 2 patients. One patient had resected tumor, 3 patients were resected with positive margins, 1 patient was resectable with poor performance status prohibiting resection, and 20 patients had unresected locally advanced disease. Median dose of capecitabine concurrent with radiation was 1500 mg/m(2)/day (600-1600 mg/m(2)/day) given orally in two divided doses, 5 days per week on days of treatment with radiation therapy. Patients received a median total radiation dose of 5040 cGy (4500-5040 cGy) over 6 weeks. Eleven patients were continued on capecitabine cycles after treatment with concurrent capecitabine and irradiation. The median number of cycles completed was 3, with one patient completing 8 cycles. Median survival was 14 months, with 18 patients surviving through the end of the study period. Median overall primary tumor response over the study period was -2% (-100%-100%). Five patients were taken to laparotomy after treatment based on radiographic response and two patients were successfully resected. By the end of the study period, there were 4 complete remissions, 2 partial remissions, 6 stable disease, and 13 progressive disease. Grade 3 or 4 toxicity was observed mainly with gastrointestinal symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and anorexia. Three patients had G3 hand-foot syndrome, 1 patient had G3 peripheral neuropathy, 1 patient had G4 gastrointestinal bleed, and 1 patient had G3 radiation enteritis. There was one death directly related to treatment secondary to uncontrolled GI bleeding. CONCLUSION: In patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, concurrent capecitabine and radiation had good survival response in patients and good tumor response. Toxicity of oral capecitabine was well tolerated.
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PMID:Retrospective Analysis of Capecitabine and Radiation Therapy in the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer. 1908 4

This retrospective study analyzes, whether patients suffering from extensive hepatic metastatic disease treated with SIRT can become suitable candidates for RFA.Within 38 months 46 patients (26 female, 20 male; age 32-75 years) bearing an extensive hepatic metastatic disease were treated with SIRT. Patients suffered from metastases of breast cancer (16/46), colorectal cancer (CRC) (21/46), neuroendocrine (3/46), and other primary carcinomas (6/46). The indication for SIRT was otherwise untreatable metastases confined to the liver. Forty-three patients received single-session whole-liver radioembolization treatment using Yttrium90 resin microspheres with a mean activity of 2.13GBq. In 1 patient SIRT was confined to the left and in 2 patients to the right liver lobe. In 3 patients major complications (2/3 gastric ulceration and 1/3 oedematous pancreatitis) and in 24 patients minor complications occurred (acute abdominal/epigastric pain and/or nausea). Follow-up CT and/or MRI were obtained in 44 of 46 patients. In 5 of 44 patients tumor load decreased substantially (3/5 breast cancer, 1/5 CRC and 1/5 pancreatic cancer) making RFA feasible. The patients were referred for RFA after the first 3-month follow-up. RFA of the liver was successful in all cases in terms of complete ablation. In selected patients radioembolization is able to downstage liver metastases to an extent making a subsequent RFA suitable and therefore allows increasing the number of patients with a "complete response" after a minimally invasive therapy.
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PMID:Radiofrequency ablation after selective internal radiation therapy with Yttrium90 microspheres in metastatic liver disease-Is it feasible? 1926 63

Targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway in pancreatic cancer seems to be an attractive therapeutic approach. This study assessed the efficacy of cetuximab plus the combination of gemcitabine/oxaliplatin in metastatic pancreatic cancer. Eligible subjects had histological or cytological diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The primary end point was response according to RECIST. Patients received cetuximab 400 mg m(-2) at first infusion followed by weekly 250 mg m(-2) combined with gemcitabine 1000 mg m(-2) as a 100 min infusion on day 1 and oxaliplatin 100 mg m(-2) as a 2-h infusion on day 2 every 2 weeks. Between January 2005 and August 2006, a total of 64 patients (22 women (34%), 42 men (66%); median age 64 years (range 31-78)) were enrolled at seven study centres. On October 2007, a total of 17 patients were alive. Sixty-two patients were evaluable for baseline and 61 for assessment of response to treatment in an intention-to-treat analysis. Six patients had an incomplete drug combination within the first cycle of the treatment plan (n=4 hypersensitivity reactions to the first cetuximab infusion, n=2 refused to continue therapy). Reported grade 3/4 toxicities (% of patients) were leukopaenia 15%, anaemia 8%, thrombocytopaenia 10%, diarrhoea 7%, nausea 18%, infection 18% and allergy 7%. Cetuximab-attributable skin reactions occurred as follows: grade 0: 20%, grade 1: 41%, grade 2: 30% and grade 3: 10%. The intention-to-treat analysis of 61 evaluable patients showed an overall response rate of 33%, including 1 (2%) complete and 19 (31%) partial remissions. There were 31% patients with stable and 36% with progressive disease or discontinuation of the therapy before re-staging. The presence of a grade 2 or higher skin rash was associated with a higher likelihood of achieving objective response. Median time to progression was 118 days, with a median overall survival of 213 days. A clinical benefit response was noted in 24 of the evaluable 61 patients (39%). The addition of cetuximab to the combination of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin is well tolerated but does not increase response or survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
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PMID:Cetuximab plus gemcitabine/oxaliplatin (GEMOXCET) in first-line metastatic pancreatic cancer: a multicentre phase II study. 1929 97

Nanoparticle formulations for packaging existing drugs have been used to treat cancer. Lipoplatin is a liposomal cisplatin encapsulated into liposome nanoparticles of an average diameter of 110 nm. Lipoplatin has substantially reduced the renal toxicity, peripheral neuropathy, ototoxicity, myelotoxicity as well as nausea/vomiting and asthenia of cisplatin in Phase I, II and III clinical studies with enhanced or similar efficacy to cisplatin. During clinical development, 10- to 200-fold higher accumulation of Lipoplatin in solid tumors compared to adjacent normal tissue was found in patients. Targeting of tumor vasculature by Lipoplatin in animals suggested its antiangiogenesis potential and Lipoplatin was proposed to act like a double-sword: as chemotherapy and an antiangiogenesis drug. Lipoplatin has finished successfully one Phase III non-inferiority clinical study as first-line against NSCLC in its combination with paclitaxel showing statistically significant reduction in nephrotoxicity; two more Phase III studies are in progress, one in NSCLC with gemcitabine also showing noninferiority with reduced toxicity and another in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with 5-fluorouracil. A registrational Phase II/III study against pancreatic cancer is in progress under the orphan drug status granted to Lipoplatin by the European Medicines Agency. Phase II studies are continuing in advanced breast cancer with vinorelbine and gastrointestinal cancers with radiotherapy and 5-fluorouracil. The highlights of the clinical development of Lipoplatin are reviewed.
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PMID:Clinical overview on Lipoplatin: a successful liposomal formulation of cisplatin. 1960 21

Groove pancreatitis is a rare form of chronic pancreatitis affecting the head of the pancreas localized within the pancreatoduodenal groove. Fibrous scar in this specific topography sometimes makes it hard to differentiate from pancreatic cancer preoperatively. The author reports the case of a 44-year-old man with a long history of alcoholic abuse and experienced intermittent epigastric and nausea vomiting for 2 years. Abdominal ultrasound showed an irregular mixed echogenic mass at the pancreatic head. A computed tomography revealed a poorly enhanced solid mass with small low density cystic areas in the groove, thickening and luminal narrowing of the descending part of the duodenum. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated the same mass that was hypointense on T1 weighted images, isointense on T2 weighted images and delayed, progressive inhomogeneous enhancement on dynamic contrast study. MRCP defined a prominent smooth tapering of the common bile duct. Endoscopy disclosed an inflammed sessile mass at the second part of the duodenum. Microscopic examination of the biopsy specimens suggested only chronic inflammation. Then, the patient was treated conservatively and evaluated periodically.
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PMID:Groove pancreatitis: report of one case in Thailand. 1993 51

This phase II trial was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of concurrent gemcitabine and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Patients with localized unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma in the head or body of the pancreas received gemcitabine (1000 mg/m) intravenously over 30 min on days 1, 8, and 15, and concurrent HIFU therapy on days 1, 3, and 5. The treatment was given every 28 days. Thirty-seven (94.9%) of the 39 patients were assessable for response, and two cases of complete response and 15 cases of partial response were confirmed, giving an overall response rate of 43.6% [95% confidence interval (CI), 28.0-59.2%]. The median follow-up period was 16.5 months (range: 8.0-28.5 months). The median time to progression and overall survival for all patients were 8.4 months (95% CI, 5.4-11.2 months) and 12.6 months (95% CI, 10.2-15.0 months), respectively. The estimates of overall survival at 12 and 24 months were 50.6% (95% CI, 36.7-64.5%) and 17.1% (95%CI, 5.9-28.3%), respectively. A total of 16.2% of patients experienced grade 3/4 neutropenia. Grade 3 thrombocytopaenia was documented in two (5.4%) patients. Grade 3 nausea/vomiting and diarrhea were observed in three (8.1%), and two (5.4%) patients, respectively. Grade 1 or 2 fever was detected in 70.3% of patients. Twenty-eight patients (71.8%) complained of abdominal pain consistent with tumor-related pain before HIFU therapy. Pain was relieved in 22 patients (78.6%). In conclusion, concurrent gemcitabine and HIFU is a tolerated treatment modality with promising activity in patients with previously untreated locally advanced pancreatic cancer.
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PMID:Concurrent gemcitabine and high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. 2007 14

Sclerosing mesenteritis (SM), also known as mesenteric lipodystrophy, rarely involves the parenchyma of the pancreas. When SM does involve the pancreas, it can mimic pancreatic carcinoma both clinically and radiographically with pain, obstructive jaundice, a mass lesion, and even the appearance of vascular invasion. We report 6 patients with SM involving the pancreas (mean age 43.2 y, 5 female), and review their clinical presentation, radiographic findings, pathology, and outcome. Five of these 6 patients were originally thought to have a primary pancreatic neoplasm. Initial presenting clinical information was available for each patient: all 6 reported abdominal or epigastric pain, 3 reported weight loss, and 2 reported one or more of the following: back pain, fever, abdominal bloating/distention, nausea with/without vomiting, and anorexia. The lesions formed masses with an infiltrative pattern and all had 3 key histologic features: fibrosis, chronic inflammation, and fat necrosis-without a known etiology. The inflammatory infiltrate was composed of a mixture of lymphocytes, plasma cells, and scattered eosinophils. Of the 5 patients with post-treatment clinical information available, 4 had at least a partial response to treatment with steroids, tamoxifen, azathioprine, resection, or a combination of these, and 1 did not respond. A dramatic response to immunosuppressive therapy is illustrated by the case of a 46-year-old woman who presented with the presumptive diagnosis of an unresectable pancreatic cancer. Distinguishing SM from pancreatic carcinoma is crucial to appropriate management, as patients with SM may benefit from immunosuppressive therapy.
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PMID:Sclerosing mesenteritis involving the pancreas: a mimicker of pancreatic cancer. 2035 87


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