Rectal Cancer
Conditions
Keywords
rectal cancer, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, 5-FU, interferon-alpha, Locally advanced resectable rectal cancer (UICC stage II and III)
Brief summary
The primary objective was to improve adjuvant 5-FU chemoradiotherapy in resectable rectal cancer. The investigators hypothesis was that modulation of 5-FU by addition of either FA or INF-alpha may increase overall survival.
Detailed description
Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). For sample size estimation the following assumptions were made: The 5-year OS rate of 5-FU was estimated to be 58%. Our intention was to detect an increase in the 5-year OS rate by one of the additives of at least 10% with a power of 80% and a level of significance of 5% in comparison to 5-FU (one-sided). Hypotheses were analyzed as pair wise comparisons between the treatment options. This resulted in a target sample size of 280 patients per group and a total of 840 patients.
Interventions
DRUGFolinic Acid, interferon-alpha
5-FU, 450 mg/m² i.v. for 60 min, weekly for 52 weeks postoperatively Folinic acid, 200 mg/m² i.v. 10 min, weekly for 52 weeks postoperatively 6x10 (high6) I.U. as subcutaneous self injection 3x weekly. Training of self injection was initiated on day 28 (duration until week 52)
Sponsors
Medac GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)
Roche (Grenzach-Wyhlen, Germany)
University of Ulm
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Eligibility was defined as potentially curative en-bloc resection (R0) of an adenocarcinoma of the rectum with a lower tumor edge within 12 cm from the anal verge determined by rectoscopy, a pathologic UICC stage II (pT3/4pN0M0) or III (pT1-4pNposM0) with examination of at least 12 lymph nodes, a white blood count ≥ 3,500/µl, a platelet count ≥ 100,000/µl, a ECOG performance status of 0 or 1, and written informed consent.
Exclusion criteria
* Ineligible were patients not fulfilling these criteria or having a history of cancer except for adequately treated superficial basal or squamous cell skin cancer or in situ carcinoma of the cervix, getting previous radio- or chemotherapy, pregnant or nursing women, other having severe concomitant diseases limiting life expectancy or not allowing chemotherapy, and with social conditions not allowing a 5-year follow-up.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| overall survival | 5-year |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| recurrence-free survival | 5-year |
| Toxicity (WHO) | 5-year |
Countries
Germany
Outcome results
None listed