Protocol EA2234: A Randomized Phase II/III Trial of Intraperitoneal Paclitaxel Plus Systemic Treatment vs Systemic Treatment Alone in Gastric Carcinomatosis - STOPGAP II

Summary

This study is being done to answer the following questions: Can we lower the chance of your gastric cancer from growing or spreading by administering paclitaxel chemotherapy directly into your abdominal cavity in addition to chemotherapy given through a vein in your arm? Will administering paclitaxel chemotherapy directly into your abdominal cavity, in addition to chemotherapy given through a vein in your arm help you live longer? We are doing this study because we want to find out if this approach is better or worse than the usual approach for your gastric cancer. The usual approach is defined as care most people get for gastric cancer. If you decide to take part in this study, you will first receive a surgical procedure called a diagnostic laparoscopy. This will help the study doctors learn more about your gastric cancer. Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive surgery for which you will be placed under general anesthesia. Then the surgeon will make small incisions (5mm) on your belly through which a camera and thin instruments are introduced to evaluate the abdomen. This procedure takes about 1 hour to complete. Your study group will be assigned during the surgery. The study groups are described further in the 'What are the study groups?' section below. If you are placed into the study group 1, you will not have an intraperitoneal port (a small device which is placed under the skin and fat of your upper abdomen and a tube that is placed into the abdomen). If you are placed into the study group 2, you will have an intraperitoneal port placed. The reason is that in addition to standard chemotherapy, which is given through a vein in your arm, this port will be used to deliver the medication paclitaxel directly inside your abdomen when you are ready to start study treatment. It is important to know that you will not know your study group until after the surgery is over. This is because information that is learned during the surgery will help determine which study group you are put in. Once you have fully healed from this surgery, you will start study treatment. Depending on which study group you are assigned, you will either receive a standard chemotherapy regimen (the regimen will be chosen by you and your doctor) if you are in study group 1, or paclitaxel through a tube in your belly plus chemotherapy given through a vein in your arm if you are in study group 2. All participants will get treatment for three (3) months after which you will undergo reevaluation. If the disease is under control or responding to treatment, you may continue the assigned treatment until your disease gets worse, the side effects become too severe, or you may be offered a surgical procedure to remove the cancer if the amount of disease is low and can be completely removed as determined by a surgeon. There is a very small chance that during the laparoscopy surgical procedure, the doctor might find something called "intra-abdominal adhesions". These are areas where the stomach has healed previously and created scar tissue. If this scar tissue prevents the surgeon from being able to place a port in the correct area, you would be ineligible to receive the study treatment. If this happens, you may still receive standard of care therapy after your surgery, but you will not be able to continue on the study. If you have more questions about this, you can ask your surgeon or the study team to help. After you finish your study treatment, your doctor or study team will watch you for side effects. They will continue to follow your condition every three (3) months during the first two (2) years, then every six (6) months until year 5. You may be reevaluated with Chest/Abdomen/Pelvis scans every three-six (3-6) months for up to five (5) years if decided by your doctor.

Detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. In the phase II portion, to determine the progression free survival (PFS) from randomization. II. In the phase III portion, to determine overall survival (OS) from randomization. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: I. To compare the safety and tolerability of the intraperitoneal chemotherapy + systemic therapy regimen vs the systemic therapy alone regimen. OUTLINE: STEP 0: Patients undergo diagnostic laparoscopy within 4 weeks of study registration. STEP 1: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms at the time of Step 0 diagnostic laparoscopy. ARM A: Patients receive standard of care systemic therapy per physician's choice. Patients with stable disease or a response after 12 weeks may continue to receive standard of care treatment in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo blood sample collection and computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) throughout the study and may undergo additional diagnostic laparoscopies as clinically indicated. ARM B: Patients undergo placement of an intraperitoneal port. Patients receive leucovorin calcium intravenously (IV) over 15-30 minutes, fluorouracil IV push, paclitaxel IV over 1-2 hours and paclitaxel intraperitoneally (IP) on days 1 and 8 of each cycle. Cycles repeat every 21 days for up to 4 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients with stable disease or a response after 12 weeks may continue to receive treatment in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo blood sample collection and CT and/or MRI throughout the study and may undergo additional diagnostic laparoscopies as clinically indicated. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 2 years then every 6 months for up to 5 years after Step 1 randomization.

Arms & interventions

• DrugStandard of Care Chemotherapy

  The most common regimens are FOLFOX, CAPOX, FLOT, CF, and CX. Other local institutional standard of care regimens as well as targeted agents for gastric/GEJ adenocarcinoma are allowed.

• ProcedureBiospecimen Collection

  Plasma is to be submitted at baseline and every three months for the first year or until progression, whichever comes first. For patients who have progression, their last plasma sample should be at time of progression.

• ProcedureComputed Tomography

  Restaging imaging with CT and/or diffusion weighted MRI with contrast will be obtained after completion of 12 weeks (+/- 2 weeks) of assigned treatment (restaging will occur at this timepoint, regardless of if the patient completed all 4 cycles or not). At this point, patients with stable disease or a response will continue assigned treatment. In the absence of radiological or clinical progression, if clinically indicated by treatment team, patients may undergo diagnostic laparoscopy to assess surgical candidacy at which time a PCI assessment and biopsies of peritoneal nodules, peritoneal lavage could be performed. Cytoreduction can be offered to patients with a PCI \< 7 and if complete cytoreduction is feasible based on treating surgeon's discretion. If deemed a candidate for surgical cytoreduction, surgery should be performed within 6 weeks of the last study treatment in both arms.

• ProcedureDiagnostic Laparoscopy

  After induction of general anesthesia, administration of preoperative antibiotics and placement of appropriate laparoscopic ports, peritoneal lavage will be performed by instillation of 200 ml of normal saline in the left upper quadrant and allowed to dwell for 5 minutes after which it will be aspirated for cytology. Extent of peritoneal disease burden will be ascertained as per the Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI) scoring system as outlined in Appendix V.

• ProcedureIntraperitoneal Port Placement

  Patients assigned to Arm B will undergo placement of indwelling tunneled intraperitoneal port with Teflon cuff following Step 1 randomization and during the diagnostic laparoscopy procedure.

• ProcedureMagnetic Resonance Imaging

  Restaging imaging with CT and/or diffusion weighted MRI with contrast will be obtained after completion of 12 weeks (+/- 2 weeks) of assigned treatment (restaging will occur at this timepoint, regardless of if the patient completed all 4 cycles or not). At this point, patients with stable disease or a response will continue assigned treatment. In the absence of radiological or clinical progression, if clinically indicated by treatment team, patients may undergo diagnostic laparoscopy to assess surgical candidacy at which time a PCI assessment and biopsies of peritoneal nodules, peritoneal lavage could be performed. Cytoreduction can be offered to patients with a PCI \< 7 and if complete cytoreduction is feasible based on treating surgeon's discretion. If deemed a candidate for surgical cytoreduction, surgery should be performed within 6 weeks of the last study treatment in both arms.

• DrugIntraperitoneal Paclitaxel

  Patients on Arm B will start systemic therapy + intraperitoneal paclitaxel as early as the day after Step 1 randomization and must start within 30 calendar days (including holidays) after Step 1 randomization as per the schedule shown in the table below. Therapy will be administered on Days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle for 4 cycles.

Outcome measures

Eligibility criteria