Cisplatin and gemcitabine in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer (ABC) and persistent jaundice despite optimal stenting: Effective intervention in patients with luminal disease

A Lamarca, S Benafif, P Ross, J Bridgewater, J W Valle

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    INTRODUCTION: The advanced biliary tract cancer (ABC)-02 study established cisplatin and gemcitabine (CisGem) as a reference 1(st)-line regimen for patients with advanced/metastatic biliary tract cancer; patients with bilirubin 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) were excluded and there are few extant data for systemic treatment in the context of elevated bilirubin. METHODS: Patients with ABC, receiving CisGem with a baseline bilirubin of 1.5 x ULN were eligible for this retrospective analysis; response, toxicity and survival data were collected. RESULTS: Thirty-three patients of 545 screened; median age 59 years, range 23-79; 58% male, 58% with metastases (79% in the liver) of performance status (PS) 0 (33%), 1 (64%) or 2 (3%) were eligible. The median baseline bilirubin was 55 mumol/L (range 32-286); due to biliary tract obstruction (BTO, 76%) or liver metastases (LM, 24%). Toxicity was comparable to the ABC-02 study; bilirubin normalised in 64% during chemotherapy/follow-up. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.9 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 4.4-9.0) and median overall survival (OS) 9.5 months (95% CI: 5.7-12.8). Patients with BTO had a longer PFS and OS than those with LM (7.0 versus 2.6 months; p = 0.1633 and 9.8 versus 4.4 months, hazard ratio (HR) 0.74; p = 0.465, respectively); not statistically significant (due to small sample size). Normalisation of bilirubin and completion of eight CisGem cycles were associated with longer OS (11.4 versus 2.9 months, HR 0.49; p = 0.08 and 15.2 versus 5.4 months, HR 0.12 p <0.001, respectively). No difference in OS was shown between the bilirubin percentiles (for either PFS or OS). CONCLUSION: For PS 0-1 patients with ABC and high bilirubin due to luminal disease despite optimal stenting CisGem can be used safely with results similar to those in patients with normal bilirubin.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1694-703
    Number of pages990
    JournalEur J Cancer
    Volume51
    Issue number13
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

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