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Preoperative, Proton- Radiotherapy Combined With Chemotherapy for Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Pancreatic Cancer
Proton Therapy
Interventions
Radiation: Proton Ions
Procedure: Surgical resection of the pancreas (when feasible)
Registration Number
NCT04894643
Lead Sponsor
EBG MedAustron GmbH
Brief Summary

This is an interventional, single arm, open-label, feasibility trial with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel, followed by concomitant proton therapy and capecitabine, followed by re-evaluation and surgery (when feasible) for patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.

Detailed Description

This is an interventional, single arm, open label, feasibility trial of preoperative chemotherapy + concomitant chemo-proton therapy followed by surgery (when feasible) for patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. Aim of this study is to test referral and enrollment procedures as well as technical feasibility. Proton therapy will be delivered in MedAustron, which is a stand alone facility. Pancreatic cancer patients are typically complex cases that require multidisciplinary care. Moreover delivery of high dose of proton therapy to large volumes including the upper abdomen lymphnodes and pancreatic neural plexus is technically challenging, therefore a feasibility study is deemed necessary. Following this study, a larger study will be performed aiming to confirm the ability of preoperative chemotherapy + concomitant chemo-proton therapy to improve resectability and ultimately outcome of borderline resectable pancreatic cancer without increase in toxicity.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
10
Inclusion Criteria
  • Patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of pancreatic cancer
  • Diagnosis of borderline resectable cancer according to the international consensus definition 2017.
  • Negative staging for distant metastasis
  • Blood test within the following limits absolute neutrophil count > 1,500 cells/mm³, platelet count > 100,000 cells/mm³, Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) < 2.5 times the upper limit of normal, total bilirubin < 2.5 times the upper limit of normal if patient had recent biliary stenting, total bilirubin < 1.5 times the upper limit of normal if no biliary stenting was done, serum creatinine within normal range (0.6-1.5 mg/dl) with a creatinine clearance > 30 ml/min (as estimated by Cockroft Gault equation)
  • Age > 18 years
  • Karnofsky index ≥ 70
  • No tumor infiltration of stomach or duodenum
  • The patient is informed of the diagnosis and is able to give informed consent (Ability of subject to understand character and individual consequences of the study protocol)
  • Women of fertile age must have adequate conception prevention measures and must not breast feed
  • Signed Informed Consent (must be available before study inclusion)
Exclusion Criteria
  • Non-exocrine tumors
  • Major medical or psychiatric comorbidities that contraindicate radiation therapy, chemotherapy or surgery
  • Presence of distant metastasis
  • Pregnancy or unwilling to do adequate conception prevention
  • Lactating and unwilling to discontinue lactation
  • Men of childbearing potential not willing to use effective means of contraception
  • Known allergic/hypersensitivity reaction to any of the components of study treatments
  • Previous diagnosis of another neoplasm with worse prognosis as compared with the one in this study
  • Metallic prosthesis or other condition that prevent an adequate imaging for target volume definition
  • Loco-regional conditions that contraindicate radiotherapy e.g. active infections in the area
  • Previous abdominal radiotherapy
  • Prior systemic treatment for pancreatic cancer
  • Hypersensitivity to PACLitaxel, albumin, gemcitabine or to any of the excipients of the chemotherapy
  • Severe hepatic impairment
  • Baseline Neutrophil Counts < 1.5 x 10^9/L
  • Baseline Grade ≥ 2 sensory or motor neuropathy
  • Patient refusal

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Preoperative, proton- radiotherapy combined with chemotherapyNab-PACLitaxelPatients treated with three cycles of chemotherapy with Nab-PACLitaxel (Abraxane®) (125 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution) and Gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution), followed by concomitant chemotherapy with capecitabine (1.660ml/m² on 5 days per week during the radiation therapy) and proton-therapy (with simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) 50.4 Gy Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and 60.2 Gy (RBE) in 28 fractions of 1.8 Gy (RBE) and 2.15 Gy (RBE) 5 days per week), followed by re-evaluation and surgery
Preoperative, proton- radiotherapy combined with chemotherapyProton IonsPatients treated with three cycles of chemotherapy with Nab-PACLitaxel (Abraxane®) (125 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution) and Gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution), followed by concomitant chemotherapy with capecitabine (1.660ml/m² on 5 days per week during the radiation therapy) and proton-therapy (with simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) 50.4 Gy Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and 60.2 Gy (RBE) in 28 fractions of 1.8 Gy (RBE) and 2.15 Gy (RBE) 5 days per week), followed by re-evaluation and surgery
Preoperative, proton- radiotherapy combined with chemotherapySurgical resection of the pancreas (when feasible)Patients treated with three cycles of chemotherapy with Nab-PACLitaxel (Abraxane®) (125 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution) and Gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution), followed by concomitant chemotherapy with capecitabine (1.660ml/m² on 5 days per week during the radiation therapy) and proton-therapy (with simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) 50.4 Gy Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and 60.2 Gy (RBE) in 28 fractions of 1.8 Gy (RBE) and 2.15 Gy (RBE) 5 days per week), followed by re-evaluation and surgery
Preoperative, proton- radiotherapy combined with chemotherapyGemcitabinePatients treated with three cycles of chemotherapy with Nab-PACLitaxel (Abraxane®) (125 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution) and Gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution), followed by concomitant chemotherapy with capecitabine (1.660ml/m² on 5 days per week during the radiation therapy) and proton-therapy (with simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) 50.4 Gy Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and 60.2 Gy (RBE) in 28 fractions of 1.8 Gy (RBE) and 2.15 Gy (RBE) 5 days per week), followed by re-evaluation and surgery
Preoperative, proton- radiotherapy combined with chemotherapyCapecitabinePatients treated with three cycles of chemotherapy with Nab-PACLitaxel (Abraxane®) (125 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution) and Gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1, 8, 15; powder for making a infusion solution), followed by concomitant chemotherapy with capecitabine (1.660ml/m² on 5 days per week during the radiation therapy) and proton-therapy (with simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) 50.4 Gy Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and 60.2 Gy (RBE) in 28 fractions of 1.8 Gy (RBE) and 2.15 Gy (RBE) 5 days per week), followed by re-evaluation and surgery
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Toxicity - Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5.0from enrollment to six months after surgery

Incidence of CTCAE version 5.0 Grade 4 non hematological toxicity from enrollment to six months after surgery

Perioperative Mortality and Complications90 days postoperatively

Incidence of 90-days-perioperative mortality and incidence of Clavien Dindo Grade III complication rate during hospitalization

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Tumor recurrence260 weeks after therapy

local and loco-regional (i.e. in-field) tumor recurrence

Pathologic tumor response260 weeks

Assessment of pathologic tumor response to pre-operative combined proton- chemotherapy (R0 margin and N0, degree of tumor cell necrosis in the resected tumor specimen)

Toxicity - CTCAE v5.0from enrollment to six months after surgery

CTCAE V5.0 toxicity from enrollment to six month after surgery

Quality of Life questionnaire: European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-30)282 weeks

Questionnaire developed to assess the quality of life of cancer patients. A high scale score represents a higher response level. Thus a high score for a functional scale represents a high / healthy level of functioning, a high score for the global health status / quality of life (QoL) represents a high QoL, but a high score for a symptom scale / item represents a high level of symptomatology / problems.

Quality of Life questionnaire: Brief Pain Inventory282 weeks

The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) is a measurement tool for assessing clinical pain.The interference items were now presented with 0-10 scales, with 0=no interference and 10=interferes completely.

Progression free survival260 weeks after therapy

loco-regional progression-free survival

Quality of Life questionnaire: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep)282 weeks

Patient reported Quality of Life (for assessing disease-related symptoms and health-related quality of life). The higher the score the better the Quality of Life.

Overall survival282 weeks

Overall survival

Radiologic response263 weeks after proton therapy

Assessment of radiologic response of pre-operative chemoradiotherapy. Response to preoperative treatment will be scored with the Japan Pancreas Society (JPS) classification which is a synthesis from the Evans and College of American Pathologists classification (Grade 1: poor or no response to Grade 4: complete response)

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

EBG MedAustron GmbH

🇦🇹

Wiener Neustadt, Niederösterreich, Austria

Department of Surgery, LK Wiener Neustadt

🇦🇹

Wiener Neustadt, Austria

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