Paclitaxel Treatment Options in Maryland

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 and giving drugs in different ways may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known whether intravenous two-drug combination chemotherapy is more effective than intravenous and intraperitoneal infusions of three-drug combination chemotherapy for treating primary peritoneal or stage III epithelial ovarian cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of intravenous two-drug combination chemotherapy with intravenous and intraperitoneal three-drug combination chemotherapy in treating patients who have primary peritoneal or stage III epithelial ovarian cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Paclitaxel and cisplatin may increase the effectiveness of radiation therapy by making the tumor cells more sensitive to radiation. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining radiation therapy with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase I/II trial to study the effectiveness of radiation therapy to the pelvis plus paclitaxel and cisplatin in treating patients who have cervical 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 I trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy consisting of liposomal doxorubicin, paclitaxel, and carboplatin in treating patients who have untreated ovarian, peritoneal, or fallopian tube 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. It is not yet known which chemotherapy regimen is more effective for ovarian or peritoneal cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of two regimens of paclitaxel plus cisplatin in treating patients who have residual disease after surgery to remove stage III or stage IV ovarian cancer or primary peritoneal 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. Drugs such as efaproxiral may make the tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. It is not yet known if chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy is more effective with or without efaproxiral in treating non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy with or without efaproxiral in treating patients who have 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. Combining chemotherapy with peripheral stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy plus peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating patients who have metastatic 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 II trial to study the effectiveness of paclitaxel in treating patients who have recurrent or persistent ovarian epithelial cancer or primary peritoneal cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from tumor tissue may make the body build an immune response and kill tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of vaccine therapy in treating patients who have stage III or stage IV ovarian epithelial cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Peripheral stem cell transplantation may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy used to kill tumor cells. It is not yet known whether chemotherapy alone is more effective than chemotherapy plus peripheral stem cell transplantation for ovarian epithelial cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of paclitaxel and carboplatin with that of carboplatin, mitoxantrone, and cyclophosphamide followed by peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating patients who have persistent stage III or stage IV ovarian epithelial cancer. Read Less

Two new cancer treatment drugs called targeted therapies will be added to standard treatment for head and neck cancer to see if an improvement can be made in the effectiveness of treatment for this type of cancer. Treatment will include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and targeted therapy taken over a period of 4 months. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Chemoprotective drugs such as dimesna may protect normal cells from the side effects of chemotherapy. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of dimesna in treating patients with solid tumors who are receiving cisplatin and paclitaxel. 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. It is not yet known if surgery plus combination chemotherapy is more effective than surgery alone for non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of surgery with or without combination chemotherapy in treating patients who have non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less