HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Please continue to pray for my friend with pancreatic cancer

heblaj01 · 10-10-2006, 10:43 PM

Lu Ann,
For possible use by your friend here are 2 links where gemcitabine plus one of the platinum drugs are described as effective against pancreatic cancer.
Even if this combo is not an approved protocol, the two drugs are approved & can be prescribed off label:

http://www.communityoncology.net/jou...s/0307428.html
http://www.communityoncology.net/jou...es/0307428.pdf
Treatment update for metastatic pancreatic cancer
Maureen R. Hewitt, MD, and Kenneth Yu, MD
Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
The treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer continues to be a major unresolved health problem and a therapeutic challenge, with a poor median survival averaging 3–6 months. Disappointing response rates to standard single-agent therapy have led to a search for more effective agents. Early study results with gemcitabine indicate a potential survival benefit in these patients, which is illustrated here in a case report of a 75-year-old man with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who has defied the odds. Chemotherapy with GEMOX (gemcitabine and oxaliplatin) was initiated, and the patient has enjoyed a good quality of life, with long-term disease control (stable disease 21 months after diagnosis).

http://www.cancerselfdefense.com/gemzar.htm
Extract:
The combination of Chemotherapy drugs GEMCITABINE + PLATINUM is not the official "first choice" of the FDA protocol. This article is by a leading lab that tests cancer tumors to determine possible effectiveness of drugs against the cancer cells residing in a given individual, since each strain of cancer in any given person is as unique as the pattern of a snowflake.
Clinical oncologists continue to use sub-optimal dosing schedules for the most important solid tumor drug combination introduced during the past 15 years

from Weisenthal Cancer Lab site

The combination of gemcitabine + platinum (either cisplatin, carboplatin, or oxaliplatin) is the most important drug combination introduced for the treatment of solid tumors in the past 15 years. We have observed clinical responses with this regimen which are, to my knowledge, unprecedented. A complete remission and 6 year history of enduring remission in a patient with unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma metastatic to spleen, kidney, and omentum . A complete remission and greater than 4 year survival in a patient with massive, non-cytoreducible ovarian cancer who had primary progression on platinum/Taxol, followed by progressive disease despite tandem high dose chemotherapy and tandem stem cell transplants at a cost of more than $200,000. A clinical complete remission in a patient with colon cancer metastatic to liver and lungs (large "cannonball" lesions), following failure of adjuvant 5FU/levamisole, 5FU/leucovorin, 9-aminocamptothecin, and biotherapy. A durable, complete remission (lasting years) in a patient with gastric cancer metastatic to nodes and liver. And many others.

10-10-2006, 10:43 PM	#8
heblaj01 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 543	gemcitabine+ platinum drug for pancreatic cancer Lu Ann, For possible use by your friend here are 2 links where gemcitabine plus one of the platinum drugs are described as effective against pancreatic cancer. Even if this combo is not an approved protocol, the two drugs are approved & can be prescribed off label: http://www.communityoncology.net/jou...s/0307428.html http://www.communityoncology.net/jou...es/0307428.pdf Treatment update for metastatic pancreatic cancer Maureen R. Hewitt, MD, and Kenneth Yu, MD Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA The treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer continues to be a major unresolved health problem and a therapeutic challenge, with a poor median survival averaging 3–6 months. Disappointing response rates to standard single-agent therapy have led to a search for more effective agents. Early study results with gemcitabine indicate a potential survival benefit in these patients, which is illustrated here in a case report of a 75-year-old man with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who has defied the odds. Chemotherapy with GEMOX (gemcitabine and oxaliplatin) was initiated, and the patient has enjoyed a good quality of life, with long-term disease control (stable disease 21 months after diagnosis). http://www.cancerselfdefense.com/gemzar.htm Extract: The combination of Chemotherapy drugs GEMCITABINE + PLATINUM is not the official "first choice" of the FDA protocol. This article is by a leading lab that tests cancer tumors to determine possible effectiveness of drugs against the cancer cells residing in a given individual, since each strain of cancer in any given person is as unique as the pattern of a snowflake. Clinical oncologists continue to use sub-optimal dosing schedules for the most important solid tumor drug combination introduced during the past 15 years from Weisenthal Cancer Lab site The combination of gemcitabine + platinum (either cisplatin, carboplatin, or oxaliplatin) is the most important drug combination introduced for the treatment of solid tumors in the past 15 years. We have observed clinical responses with this regimen which are, to my knowledge, unprecedented. A complete remission and 6 year history of enduring remission in a patient with unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma metastatic to spleen, kidney, and omentum . A complete remission and greater than 4 year survival in a patient with massive, non-cytoreducible ovarian cancer who had primary progression on platinum/Taxol, followed by progressive disease despite tandem high dose chemotherapy and tandem stem cell transplants at a cost of more than $200,000. A clinical complete remission in a patient with colon cancer metastatic to liver and lungs (large "cannonball" lesions), following failure of adjuvant 5FU/levamisole, 5FU/leucovorin, 9-aminocamptothecin, and biotherapy. A durable, complete remission (lasting years) in a patient with gastric cancer metastatic to nodes and liver. And many others.