title: Phase 2 trial of oxaliplatin plus capecitabine (XELOX) as second-line therapy for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To the authors' knowledge, there is no established second-line chemotherapy for patients with pancreatic cancer who have received gemcitabine-based therapy. A phase 2 trial was conducted to explore the efficacy of capecitabine and oxaliplatin (XELOX) in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer previously who were treated with gemcitabine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients aged < or = 65 years who had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0 to 1 received oxaliplatin at a dose of 130 mg/m(2) given on Day 1 and capecitabine at a dose of 1000 mg/m(2) twice daily for 14 days. For patients aged >65 years or with an ECOG PS of 2, the oxaliplatin dose was 110 mg/m(2) on Day 1 and the capecitabine dose was 750 mg/m(2) twice daily for 14 days. The treatment was repeated every 3 weeks. Tumor measurements were performed every 9 weeks and the primary study objective was 6-month overall survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study enrolled 41 patients. Of the 39 evaluable patients, 1 patient had a partial response and 10 patients demonstrated stable disease. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of the overall median survival was 23 weeks (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 17.0-31.0 weeks). Progression-free survival was 9.9 weeks (95% CI, 9.6-14.5 weeks). The 6-month and 1-year survival rates were 44% (95% CI, 31%-62%) and 21% (95% CI, 11%-38%), respectively. The most common grade 3-4 nonhematologic toxicity was fatigue (toxicity was graded using the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria [version 2.0]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination of capecitabine and oxaliplatin is active in gemcitabine-pretreated patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, especially in patients with a good PS and those who have responded to first-line chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Henry Q
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Gauri R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Varadhachary
authors.forename: Joan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Blais
authors.forename: Kenneth R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Abbruzzese
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Wolff