Survival advantage for irinotecan versus best supportive care as second-line chemotherapy in gastric cancer--a randomised phase III study of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO)
Paper by Peter Thuss-Patience indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 21742485, in European Journal of Cancer (2011), one of the most cited records naming an author with this name at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
Overview
Background: The value of second-line therapy for metastatic gastric cancer is unclear. So far there are no randomised phase III data comparing second-line chemotherapy to best supportive care (BSC). In this prospective, multicenter, open label, randomised phase III study we compared irinotecan to BSC to evaluate the impact on survival of second-line chemotherapy.
Methods: Eligible patients (pts) had metastatic or locally advanced gastro-oesophageal junction or gastric adenocarcinoma, objective tumour progression during or within 6months after first-line chemotherapy and ECOG performance status 0-2. Stratification for time of progression after first-line therapy, ECOG PS and pretreatment secured even distribution of important prognostic factors.
Treatment: Arm A: Irinotecan 250mg/m(2)q3w (first cycle) to be increased to 350mg/m(2), depending on toxicity. Arm B: BSC.
Findings: Between 10/2002 and 12/2006 40 pts were randomised. The study was closed prematurely due to poor accrual. Responsefor arm A (19 pts evaluable): No objective responses, SD 53%, PD 47%. Improvement of tumour related symptoms: Arm A 50% of pts, arm B 7%. Overall Survival: (all events in 40 pts have occurred): The hazard ratio for death was reduced to 0.48 (95%CI 0.25-0.92) in the irinotecan-arm (p=0.012). Median survival arm A: 4.0months (95% CI 3.6-7.5), arm B: 2.4months (95% CI 1.7-4.9).
Interpretation: Irinotecan as second-line chemotherapy significantly prolongs overall survival compared to BSC in the studied pts. Second-line chemotherapy can now be considered as a proven treatment option for metastatic or locally advanced gastric cancer.
Funding: The study was supported by a research grant from Aventis and Pfizer.
Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 21742485 (DOI 10.1016/j.ejca.2011.06.002). Its author list gives "Thuss-Patience PC" with the affiliation "Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Medizinische Klinik m.S. Hämatologie, Onkologie und Tumorimmunologie, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany. peter.thuss@charite.de", which names Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin; that is how the record was matched to Peter Thuss-Patience, and no figure has been checked by an editor.
One of the most cited papers Europe PMC returns for Peter Thuss-Patience at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, so it is a natural starting point for reading their work. The record was linked automatically from the author list and affiliation; read the abstract above and the paper itself before relying on any figure.
- Matched to the person by surname, initials and an affiliation string naming the institution on the Europe PMC record; the summary reproduces the record's abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.
- Two authors sharing a surname, initials and institution cannot be told apart by this method; the person's profile links are the place to confirm authorship.