[Gemcitabine combined with capecitabine in the treatment for 41 patients with relapsed or metastatic biliary tract carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the efficacy of the combination of gemcitabine with capecitabine in the chemotherapy for patients with relapsed or metastatic biliary tract carcinoma.


METHODS
Forty-one patients with unresectable relapsed or metastatic carcinoma of the biliary tract were treated from March 2000 to December 2004. The regimen consisted of intravenous administration of gemcitabine plus oral intake of capecitabine every 3 weeks for more than 2 cycles. The parameters including tumor response, clinical benefit rate,survival and safety were observed.


RESULTS
Thirty-six patients were valuable and 5 patients were excluded from this series due to various reasons. Eleven patients (30.1%) had a partial response and another 11 patients (30.1%) experieced stable disease with a clinical benefit rates of 61.1%. The median overall survival time and time to progression were 10 months and 6 months, respectively. The one-year survival rate was 40.0%. The adverse events including nausea, diarrhea and hand-foot syndrome, fatigue, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia were frequently observed, which were usually in grade I or II, rarely in grade III and none in grade IV (NCI-CTC).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that the regimen of gemcitabine combined with capecitabine is effective and well tolerated in patients with unresectable relapsed or metastatic carcinoma of the biliary tract.
Yu
Zong-Yang
ZY
Department of Oncology, Fuzhou General Hospital, Nanjing Military Command, Fuzhou 350025, China. yuzy527@yahoo.com.cn
Ouyang
Xue-Nong
XN
Chen
Zhang-Shu
ZS
Li
Jie
J
Chen
Xi
X
Xie
Fang-Wei
FW
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic; D000069287:Capecitabine; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000139:chemically induced; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000139:chemically induced; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000139:chemically induced; D012074:Remission Induction; D015996:Survival Rate; D000093542:Gemcitabine
D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000069287:Capecitabine; D005472:Fluorouracil; D000093542:Gemcitabine