A prospective randomized controlled trial comparing 4-weekly versus 3-weekly adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine after curative resection of biliary tract cancer.

345 Background: Resection of biliary tract cancer, employing pancreatoduodenectomy and major hepatectomy, is highly aggressive. Thus, postoperative gemcitabine cannot be administered employing a routine dosage protocol. We theorized that a 3-weekly protocol (days 1 and 8, every 3 weeks) of gemcitabine as adjuvant chemotherapy would be superior to the usually administered 4-weekly protocol (days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks). Methods: The outcomes of 6 cycles of the 4-weekly protocol and 9 cycles of the 3-weekly protocol were compared in a prospective randomized clinical setting. The primary endpoint was the treatment completion rate, while secondary endpoints were adverse events and recurrence-free survival. Results: We enrolled a total of 27 patients. Only two patients (14%) on the 4-weekly protocol and three (23%) on the 3-weekly protocol (p=0.8099) completed treatment with no omissions and/or dose modifications. Most of the remaining patients (70%) experienced grade 3/4 neutropenia. Relative dose intensities were 72% and 78%, respectively, with the 4-weekly and 3-weekly protocols. Recurrence-free survival rates did not differ significantly between the two protocols. Conclusions: Contrary to our hypothesis, the 3-weekly protocol did not produce superior results in terms of completion, adverse events or recurrence-free survival rates as compared to the standard 4-week protocol.