Active clinical trials for "Pancreatic Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Biological therapies, such as tumor necrosis factor, may stimulate the immune system in different ways and stop tumor cells from growing. Studying tumor necrosis factor in samples of tumor tissue and healthy tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn how tumor necrosis factor works in tumor tissue and healthy tissue. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying tumor necrosis factor in patients undergoing surgery for primary cancer or metastatic cancer .

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Erlotinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Monoclonal antibodies, such as panitumumab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Panitumumab may also stop the growth of pancreatic cancer by blocking blood flow to the tumor. PURPOSE: This randomized phase II trial is studying how well giving panitumumab together with gemcitabine and erlotinib works compared to giving gemcitabine and erlotinib alone in treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

For patients who have one or two metastases in the brain, the tumor(s) can often be removed with surgery to relieve symptoms from the tumor(s) and to improve survival. However, about half of all patients who have the tumor(s) removed with surgery will develop regrowth (recurrence) of the tumor. To prevent this regrowth of tumor, some patients receive radiation to the entire brain (whole brain radiation) after surgery. This involves daily treatment for about two to three weeks, and may cause long-term neurological problems, such as memory loss. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is sometimes used instead of surgery to treat brain metastasis. This involves the use of a special head frame and sophisticated computer programs that enable us to deliver a high dose of radiation to a small focused area of the brain in only one treatment. Research has shown that the results of treatment with SRS are as good as surgical removal of the tumor. SRS and surgical resection are considered the standard options for the treatment of brain metastases. This Phase II clinical trial is studying the combination of these two techniques. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of SRS following surgical removal of brain metastases. The outcomes we will be looking at are tumor regrowth after treatment and side effects of treatment.

The primary objective of this study is to compare tumor response rate of the test arm(gemcitabine+S-1) with the control arm(gemcitabine alone) in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer

The purpose of the trial is to test the efficacy of combining conventional chemoradiotherapy with radiosurgery for locally advanced pancreas cancer.

This is an open-label, non-randomized Phase II study to evaluate immunochemotherapy in patients with R0 OR R1-resected pancreatic cancer.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the activity of MORAb-009 when added to a standard regimen of gemcitabine in patients with previously untreated unresectable stage 3 or 4 pancreatic cancer.

This randomized phase II trial is studying three different schedules of gemcitabine hydrochloride and tanespimycin to see how well they work in treating patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine hydrochloride and tanespimycin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells

The aims of this protocol are: To study the safety and tolerability of the combination of etanercept and gemcitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: To estimate the anti-tumor effect as measured by the proportion of patients free of disease-progression at six months after treatment initiation.

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies, such as cetuximab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Specialized radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Giving cetuximab together with 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving cetuximab together with radiation therapy works in treating patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer that cannot be removed by surgery.