ESPAC 3 Clinical Trial
At the moment, surgery to remove diseased tumours remains the best hope for curing people with pancreatic cancer. About 15% of people with pancreatic cancer are eligible to have surgery, and although there have been great improvements in the surgery itself survival rates, even with adjuvant therapy, still remain poor with only 15% to 20% alive at five years. Past research shows that chemotherapy may improve survival rates in people with pancreatic cancer following surgery.
The ESPAC 3 Clinical Trial aims to work out the best chemotherapy treatment to improve survival rates in people with pancreatic cancer after surgery. The previous ESPAC 1 trial established that chemotherapy with Fluorouracil in patients with adenocarcinoma, the most common form of pancreatic cancer, improved survival at five years, compared to no treatment. This trial tests whether a newer form of chemotherapy with the drug Gemcitabine is superior to it.
The trial opened to patient recruitment in October 2002 and recruitment ceased in April 2008. The ESPAC 3 trial recruited 1,577 patients worldwide and includes patients with adenocarcinoma and other types of pancreatic cancer. The AGITG is running the ESPAC 3 trial in Australia and New Zealand and recruited 133 people to the trial. It is the largest study of adjuvant therapy in pancreas cancer ever performed.
Study Chairs
Doctor Rob Padbury
HPB Surgeon, Flinders Medical Centre, SA, Australia
Conjoint Professor David Goldstein
Medical Oncologist, Prince of Wales Hospital, NSW, Australia
Funding
- National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) via the University of Sydney
- Cancer Council New South Wales
- Cancer Council Queensland
- Cancer Council South Australia
- Cancer Council Victoria
Collaborating Group
European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (United Kingdom)
Schema
