Paclitaxel Treatment Options in Massachusetts

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 whether cisplatin plus fluorouracil are more effective than paclitaxel plus cisplatin in treating patients with advanced head and neck cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of two combination chemotherapy regimens in treating patients with advanced 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. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known which combination chemotherapy regimen is more effective for non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of carboplatin plus paclitaxel with or without tirapazamine in treating patients who have stage IIIB or stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies can locate tumor cells and either kill them or deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining monoclonal antibody therapy with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel in treating patients who have advanced 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. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of paclitaxel in treating patients with advanced, refractory, or recurrent cervical or vaginal cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Androgens can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. Drugs such as goserelin, leuprolide, flutamide, or bicalutamide may stop the adrenal glands from producing androgens. Combining chemotherapy with hormone therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy plus hormone therapy in treating patients who have metastatic prostate cancer. 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 which combination chemotherapy regimen is more effective for urinary tract cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of cisplatin plus gemcitabine with or without paclitaxel in treating patients who have stage IV urinary tract cancer. Read Less

Randomized phase II trial to study the effectiveness of chemotherapy with paclitaxel and the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab followed by chemotherapy in treating women who have stage II or stage IIIA breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Monoclonal antibodies can locate tumor cells and deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Combining monoclonal antibody therapy with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. 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 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: 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 in treating patients who have stage III or stage IV ovarian epithelial 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. 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. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells and decrease the need for surgery. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy followed by observation or surgery to remove the bladder (cystectomy) in treating patients who have stage II or stage III cancer of the urothelium. 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