Abstract
97 Background: The median age of death from gastroesophageal (GO) cancer is 77 years. Palliative chemotherapy can improve survival and quality of life. Current standard combination regimens have been developed in trials involving patients of median age under 65 years with predominantly good performance status (PS). In light of audit and survey evidence of widespread use of arbitrarily modified chemotherapy schedules in frail and elderly patients, better evidence is needed to guide treatment. Based on our experience with the MRC FOCUS trial in colorectal cancer, 321GO aimed to test the feasibility of a randomised trial comparing chemotherapy in frail and elderly patients with advanced GO cancer. Methods: Patients with advanced GO cancer considered unfit for full-dose 3-drug chemotherapy, were randomly allocated (1:1:1) to 3, 2 or 1 drug chemotherapy at 80% dose of standard regimens with EOX: epirubicin 40mg/m2 d1, oxaliplatin 104mg/m2 d1, capecitabine 500mg/m2 bd x21d, OX: oxaliplatin 104mg/m2 d1, capecitabine 500mg/m2 bd x21d or X: capecitabine 1000mg/m2 bd d1-14, then 7 day rest. The primary endpoint for feasibility required 45 patients to be recruited over 18 months. Secondary endpoints included tolerability, treatment benefit and compliance with detailed health and quality of life (QoL) assessment. Results: 55 patients were recruited over an average of 18 months for each of the six recruiting centres; 17 to EOX, 19 to OX and 18 to X. The median age was 75. 37 (66%) patients were of WHO PS 0 or 1 and 18 (33%) were of PS 2. After 6-weeks, 12 (71%), 9 (47%) and 9 (50%) patients in the EOX, OX and X arms had experienced a treatment delay, dose reduction, grade 3 toxicity or stopped treatment. Treatment benefit (no radiological progression or clinical deterioration) at 12 weeks was seen in 8 (47%), 11 (58%) and 3 (16%) patients for EOX, OX and X respectively. Compliance with baseline health and QoL assessment was 98% at baseline and 69% at 12 weeks. Conclusions: A phase III trial randomising frail or elderly patients with advanced GO cancer to alternative chemotherapy regimens is feasible. EOX was associated with greater toxicity compared with OX; X offered no improvement in tolerability over OX.
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