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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2012; 33(01): 42-47
DOI: 10.4103/0971-5851.96968
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Gemcitabine and cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: An Indian experience

Shripad B Pande
Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi, India
,
D C Doval
Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi, India
,
K Pavithran
Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi, India
,
J B Sharma
Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi, India
,
Rashmi Shirali
Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi, India
,
A Jena
Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi, India
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Abstract

Background: Gemcitabine, an anti-metabolite, has some activity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in terms of responses and median survival. Aims: To analyze our experience with the use of gemcitabine in combination with cisplatin in HCC with respect to response, toxicity and survival. Materials and Methods: We studied the records of patients of HCC treated from January 2000 to December 2005 with gemcitabine and cisplatin, and found 24 of them to be evaluable for response, toxicity and survival. Results: Of 24 patients receiving three or more cycles of chemotherapy, six (25%) had a partial response and an additional 12 (50%) had stable disease. The median overall survival (OS) was 7.5 months (95% confidence interval, 4.5-10.5 months) and 1-year survival was 18%. Grade 3 and 4 anemia, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia were observed in, respectively, 17, 17 and 33% patients. The most frequent non-hematologic toxicities were nausea and vomiting and peripheral neuropathy. Conclusion: We report a partial response rate of 25% with stable disease in an additional 50% to three or more cycles of chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin, with a median OS of 7.5 months (95% confidence interval, 4.5-10.5) and acceptable toxicity profile from our single-center retrospective study of 24 patients of HCC. We trust that, in HCC, gemcitabine is a good drug to be the foundation to build the chemotherapeutic or targeted agents′ combinations on.

Keywords

Chemotherapy - cisplatin - gemcitabine - hepatocellular carcinoma - median overall survival - response evaluation criteria in solid tumors - time to progression


Publication History

Article published online:
13 April 2022

© 2012. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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