Objective: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Methods: Patients naïve to chemotherapy who had histologically or cytologically confirmed metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma were entered. Gemcitabine was given at a dose of 1000 mg/m2 over 30 min on days 1, 8 and 15, and cisplatin was given at a dose of 80 mg/m2 over 150 min on day 1, in 28-day cycles.
Results: A total of 38 patients were enrolled in this study between August 2001 and December 2003. There were no complete responses and 10 partial responses, resulting in an overall response rate of 26% (95% CI: 13.4-43.1%]. Twenty-one patients (55%) had stable disease, whereas 7 (18%) had progressive disease. The median time to progression was 4.2 months and the median overall survival was 7.5 months with a 1-year survival rate of 24%. Grade 3-4 toxicities included neutropenia in 26 patients (68%), thrombocytopenia in 19 (50%), anorexia in 15 (39%) and nausea in nine (24%). There was only one episode of neutropenic fever and there were no significant bleeding episodes or treatment-related deaths.
Conclusion: The combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin administered by this schedule produced a good response rate associated with moderate but manageable toxicities in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.