Gemcitabine therapy in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer

Advanced, unresectable pancreatic cancer is an extremely aggressive disease. The 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only less than 5%. Current therapeutic options for patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease are limited. This analysis is a retrospective evaluation of the efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine regimen as first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Seventeen chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced or recurred pancreatic cancer were consecutively treated. Gemcitabine was diluted in normal saline and administered intravenously over 1 hour. Gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 was administered once weekly for 3 out of every 4 weeks.

The median age of patients was 55 years (range 44-82 years). Based on RECIST criteria, there were 5 cases of stable disease (45%) and 6 cases of progressive disease (55%) among the 11 assessable patients. The median survival time was 189 days (range, 84 to 409 days), the 1 year survival rate was 18% in all 17 patients. Grade 3-4 toxic side effect was leucopenia only (29%) and was easily managed without infection.

Gemcitabine is well tolerated, but has no objective response in advanced pancreatic cancer.