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. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of DHA-paclitaxel in treating patients who have metastatic pancreatic cancer. Read Less

This study is for patients who have Stage IIIb or Stage IV NSCLC and have never had chemotherapy before for their disease. The first phase of the study recently completed and for the second phase of the study patients are randomly assigned to receive either paclitaxel and carboplatin or paclitaxel and carboplatin and study drug (STA 4783). Treatment will be every 3 weeks for 6 cycles. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known if paclitaxel is more effective with or without carboplatin in treating stage IV breast cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of paclitaxel with or without carboplatin in treating women who have stage IV breast 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 DHA-paclitaxel in treating patients who have locally advanced, metastatic, or unresectable kidney 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 with recurrent or refractory head and neck 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 DHA-paclitaxel in treating patients who have metastatic colorectal 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 DHA-paclitaxel in treating patients who have metastatic prostate cancer that has not responded to hormone therapy. Read Less

2-Drug Combination Chemotherapy Followed by Radiotherapy. Paclitaxel, TAX, NSC-125973; Cisplatin, CDDP, NSC-119875; followed by chest irradiation using 4-15 MV photons. Read Less

This study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of micellar paclitaxel for treating severe psoriasis. Paclitaxel in another formulation (Taxol) is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in patients with cancer. This drug can decrease growth of cancer cells and of new blood vessels. Because patients with psoriasis have an increase in skin cell and blood vessel growth, paclitaxel may also improve their condition. The dose of drug used in this study is much lower than those used to treat cancer patients and is expected to cause relatively few side effects. Patients 18 to 70 years of age with psoriasis lesions affecting at least 20% of their skin may be eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with a history and physical examination, blood and urine tests, electrocardiogram, and possibly an exercise stress test. Participants will receive six intravenous (through a vein) infusions of paclitaxel over a 6-month period. Each infusion will take about 2 hours. Patients will stay in the clinic for observation for at least 1 hour before going home and will return to the clinic for follow-up examination and tests one week after each infusion. However, on weeks 0 and 8 visit will last for approximately 8 hours and will require a return to the clinic the following morning. Blood collection will be performed during the week 0 and 8 visits to determine how fast Micellar Paclitaxel is eliminated from your body. Approximately 2 teaspoons of blood will be taken prior to the infusion, twice during the infusion, and eight times during the 22 hours following the infusion for a total of eleven samples. These return visits will last approximately 1-2 hours. Patients will have the following procedures: 1. A skin biopsy (removal of a small tissue sample for microscopic examination) will be done at the first visit (week 0) and again at weeks 6, 14 and 22. The area of the biopsy will be numbed with an anesthetic, and a small circle of skin about the width of a pencil eraser and half as deep will be cut and lifted away. Stitches will be placed and removed 1 to 2 weeks later. 2. A history and physical examination will be done at every visit. Patients will be interviewed about changes in their skin condition and about treatment side effects and will be examined by a nurse or physician. 3. Blood and urine samples will be collected at frequent intervals (nearly every visit) to test for side effects. 4. Photographs of the skin will be taken at the first visit and at several later visits to document changes in psoriasis. 5. A blood sample will be drawn for genetic testing to look for gene changes in people with psoriasis. 6. An electrocardiogram will be taken at the last visit. This will be done at week 24 and compared to the screening EKG. 7. Gonadal toxicity monitoring will be started with all patients entered into the protocol as of May 2001. Blood will be drawn to measure Inhibit A for females and Inhibit B for males at weeks 0, 6, 14, and 22. Read Less

Two days prior to planned surgery, paclitaxel is infused IV over 24 hours. Patients will undergo cytoreductive surgery, to debulk tumor. Scope of procedure will vary with each patient, including a spectrum of possible procedures, such as splenectomy, liver resection, pancreatic resection or bowel resection. After cytoreductive surgery, continuous hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion (CHPP) surgery with cisplatin will begin by placing an influx and efflux catheters via abdominal wall. Perfusion rate of cisplatin is 1.5 L/min and the duration is 90 min. Postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy will begin 24 hours after CHPP surgery. Dose escalation will proceed after patients at a given dose level receive 3 courses. In order to properly evaluate hematoxicity, a minimum of 3 weeks will be required before dose escalation. MTD is either the dose level immediately below the level at which 2 of 6 patients in a cohort experience nonhematologic dose limiting toxicity (DLT) or when 4 of 6 patients experience hematologic DLT. Two to 4 months after surgery, laparotomy will be conducted to determine response to treatment. If tumor size is decreased, patients will undergo a second treatment course identical to the same techniques and chemotherapy agents. Read Less

This is a dosage escalation study to estimate the maximum tolerated dose of drug resistance inhibitor PSC 833 given in combination with paclitaxel. Groups of 3 to 6 patients receive continuous-infusion paclitaxel for 5 days and oral PSC 833 for 6-7 days, following paclitaxel on the first course, then beginning 3 days prior to paclitaxel on subsequent courses. Stable and responding patients are re-treated every 21 days, with paclitaxel dose adjusted to maintain an absolute neutrophil count less than 500 for no more than 4 days. Read Less

This is a pilot feasibility trial of AC (Adriamycin, cyclophosphamide) chemotherapy with G-CSF (filgrastim) followed by infusional Taxol (paclitaxel) as adjuvant treatment for patients with high risk stage II and stage III breast cancer. Cycles will be 14 days in duration. After 3 fourteen day cycles of AC with filgrastim, patients will be treated with 3 fourteen day cycles of 96 hour infusional paclitaxel. The goal of this study will be to assess the toxicity and feasibility of administering dose-intensive AC chemotherapy followed by infusional paclitaxel in 14 day cycles. Read Less