Dexamethasone Treatment Options in Michigan

RATIONALE: Bortezomib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth and by blocking blood flow to the cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as dexamethasone, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving bortezomib together with dexamethasone may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving bortezomib together with dexamethasone works in treating patients with multiple myeloma that has relapsed or has not responded to treatment. Read Less

RATIONALE: SU5416 may stop the growth of prostate cancer by stopping blood flow to the tumor. Dexamethasone may be effective in slowing the growth of prostate cancer cells. It is not yet known whether SU5416 or dexamethasone is more effective in treating progressive prostate cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase II trial to compare the effectiveness of SU5416 with that of dexamethasone in treating patients who have progressive prostate cancer that has not responded to hormone therapy. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug and giving the drugs in different combinations may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of standard combination chemotherapy treatment with more intensive combination chemotherapy in treating children with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy in treating children who have relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy in treating patients who have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or acute lymphocytic leukemia. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy in treating patients who have acute B-lymphoblastic leukemia or recurrent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as arsenic trioxide and dexamethasone, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Ascorbic acid may help arsenic trioxide work better by making cancer cells more sensitive to the drug. Bortezomib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Thalidomide may stop the growth of cancer cells by stopping blood flow to the cancer. Giving arsenic trioxide and ascorbic acid together with bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone may stop the growth of and kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of arsenic trioxide when given together with ascorbic acid, bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone in treating patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma or plasma cell leukemia. Read Less

Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of radiation therapy following chemotherapy in treating children with CNS relapse from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more cancer cells. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two multi-agent chemotherapy regimens using different dosages of cytarabine to eliminate all detectable leukemia. Read Less

This is a Phase III trial designed to demonstrate that casopitant (GW679769) plus dexamethasone and ondansetron is more effective in the prevention of vomiting than dexamethasone and ondansetron alone following the administration of moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. Read Less

This is a phase I study of perifosine in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The current protocol will enroll patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma requiring second or third line therapy. Six patients each will be treated with at one of 4 dose levels in a phase 1 study. All patients will receive perifosine, lenalidomide and dexamethasone of each 28 day cycle. The doses of perifosine and lenalidomide will be varied in each group. The dose of dexamethasone will remain constant. Read Less

Patients are being asked to take part in this research study because they have multiple myeloma which has relapsed after (come back), or is refractory to (unaffected by), initial therapy. For patients who have relapsed or are refractory to therapy, there is no agreed upon standard treatment. Treatment options include chemotherapy and, for some patients, bone marrow transplants. None of the available treatments are curative and investigators are continually looking for more effective treatments. This study involves treatment with a new combination of standard drugs: VELCADE, Doxil, and Dexamethasone. Preliminary results from a study using a combination of VELCADE with Doxil showed high response rates (disease reduction). Two other studies showed that an addition of Dexamethasone to VELCADE in patients not responding to VELCADE alone improved response rate. The proposed combination of all three drugs may improve efficacy and response. VELCADE is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in multiple myeloma. Doxil is not approved for use in multiple myeloma but is an approved drug for use in patients with some other cancers. Several published clinical trials provide evidence that Doxil is an active agent in multiple myeloma and it is used in treatment combinations for multiple myeloma in general practice. Dexamethasone is approved for use in multiple myeloma. The combination of all three drugs is experimental (not FDA approved). The goals of this study are to determine if this new combination therapy with VELCADE, Doxil and Dexamethasone is an effective treatment, and also to determine the side effects that occur when this combination treatment is given. Read Less