Paclitaxel Treatment Options in Iowa

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of paclitaxel in treating women who have recurrent solid tumors. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Computer systems that allow doctors to create a 3-dimensional picture of the tumor to plan treatment may result in more effective radiation therapy. It is not yet known which chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy regimen is more effective in treating non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase II trial to compare the effectiveness of different combination chemotherapy regimens and 3-dimensional radiation therapy in treating patients who have unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining chemotherapy and radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy in treating patients who have limited-stage small cell lung cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase III trial to study the effectiveness of paclitaxel in treating older patients who have solid tumors. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of topotecan and paclitaxel in treating patients who have recurrent or refractory small cell lung cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. It is not yet known if combination chemotherapy is more effective with or without radiation therapy for stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy in treating patients who have stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer that has been surgically removed. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Colony-stimulating factors such as filgrastim may increase the number of immune cells found in bone marrow or peripheral blood and may help a person's immune system recover from the side effects of chemotherapy. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of topotecan, paclitaxel, and filgrastim in treating patients who have previously untreated extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of carboplatin and paclitaxel in treating patients who have metastatic or recurrent unresectable non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy before, during, and after radiation therapy in treating patients who have limited-stage small cell lung cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as ifosfamide, cisplatin, paclitaxel, and vinblastine, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known whether ifosfamide and cisplatin are more effective when combined with paclitaxel or vinblastine in treating germ cell tumors. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and cisplatin to see how well they work compared to vinblastine, ifosfamide, and cisplatin in treating men with progressive or recurrent metastatic germ cell tumors. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of paclitaxel with or without carboplatin in treating patients who have recurrent, stage IIIB, or stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less

The primary purpose of this study is to determine whether breast cancer tumors respond (as measured by pathologic complete response: the absence of microscopic evidence of invasive tumor cells in the breast) to combined chemotherapy of AC(doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) followed by paclitaxel plus trastuzumab or lapatinib or both given before surgery to patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. Trastuzumab will also be given to all patients after surgery. The study will also evaluate the toxic effects of the chemotherapy combination, including effects on the heart, and will determine survival and progression-free survival 5 years after treatment. Also, the study will look at whether there are gene expression profiles in the tumor tissue that can predict pathologic complete response. Read Less