Carboplatin Treatment Options in United Kingdom

RATIONALE: 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. Combining chemotherapy with peripheral stem cell transplant may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells. Monoclonal antibodies can locate tumor cells and either kill them or deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Combining isotretinoin and monoclonal antibodies may kill any remaining tumor cells following surgery. It is not yet known which treatment regimen is more effective in treating neuroblastoma. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying how well combination chemotherapy with or without filgrastim before surgery, high-dose chemotherapy, and radiation therapy followed by isotretinoin with or without monoclonal antibody work in treating patients with neuroblastoma. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Giving combination chemotherapy before surgery may shrink the tumor so it can be removed during surgery. Giving more chemotherapy after surgery may kill any remaining tumor cells. It is not yet known which chemotherapy regimen after surgery is most effective in treating Wilm's tumor. PURPOSE: Phase III trial to study the effectiveness of chemotherapy before and after surgery in treating children who have Wilm's tumor. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Giving chemotherapy drugs before surgery may shrink the tumor so that it can be removed. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well neoadjuvant chemotherapy works in treating young patients who are undergoing surgical resection for high-risk hepatoblastoma. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to determine the safety and efficacy of combretastatin combined with paclitaxel and carboplatin in the treatment of anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC). Read Less

About 7500 patients are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer each year in the UK of which less than a quarter have resectable disease at diagnosis. There is a general lack of consistency in the standard of care for patients across UK hospitals. Patients are either treated with a) chemotherapy followed by surgical removal of the tumour, or b) chemoradiotherapy followed by removal of the tumour by surgery, as part of their standard of care. Recent research supports the latter treatment, as chemoradiotherapy maybe more effective at shrinking the tumour and preventing the disease from spreading than taking chemotherapy alone. However, there is no definitive way of identifying which treatment is best without a clinical trial. Evidence suggests that the effect of the chemoradiotherapy currently used as standard practice may be improved and the side effects reduced by using a different chemoradiotherapy combination. In this trial, eligible patients will receive 2 cycles of the same chemotherapy before being randomised to receive two different chemoradiotherapy regimens (carboplatin and paclitaxel verses oxaliplatin and capecitabine) both of which have shown promising results in previous studies. Patients will then have their tumour removed. The best chemoradiotherapy regimen will then be taken forward to a Phase III trial in which chemoradiotherapy will be compared with chemotherapy alone. The efficacy of the regimens will be measured by counting the number of patients who i) remain free from cancer, ii)have local or distant spread of their cancer, iii) are successfully recruited and iv) experience toxicities. A specific set of toxicity criteria will be used to monitor any treatment induced side-effects and provide justification for any necessary dose modifications or withdrawal of treatment. 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 is a way to kill more tumor cells. Combining radiation therapy with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effect of two combination chemotherapy regimens followed by radiation therapy in treating patients with 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: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of platinum-based chemotherapy with or without paclitaxel in treating patients with relapsed ovarian epithelial cancer. 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. It is not yet known which combination chemotherapy regimen is more effective for treating ovarian epithelial cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of carboplatin plus paclitaxel with that of carboplatin plus docetaxel in treating patients who have 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. Combining more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of adjuvant therapy using platinum-based chemotherapy drugs with no adjuvant therapy in treating patients with early stage invasive 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. Combining more than one chemotherapy drug with surgery and/or radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying surgery followed by different regimens of combination chemotherapy given together with radiation therapy and/or additional surgery to compare how well they work in treating patients with soft tissue sarcoma. 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. It is not yet known whether chemotherapy is more effective than radiation therapy for testicular cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of carboplatin with that of radiation therapy in treating patients who have stage I testicular 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: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of carboplatin plus vincristine in treating children and adolescents with low grade glioma. Read Less