Dr. Sohal on Eligibility of Patients with Pancreatic Cancer for Clinical Trials

Davendra Sohal, MD, MPH, oncologist, Cleveland Clinic, discusses the SWOG S1505 trial, which looks at initial findings on eligibility and neoadjuvant chemotherapy experience with mFOLFIRINOX versus gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) for resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Current standard of care for pancreatic cancer is taking the patient to surgery followed by chemotherapy. According to Sohal, this is the first study in the United States that gives patients with pancreatic cancer chemotherapy. Sohal hopes that using chemotherapy upfront will better control systemic disease more aggressively with better outcomes.

In a retrospective study, Sohal and researchers looked at 150 patients to see eligibility. Of the 147 patients, 29% were ineligible due to tumors that were more than resectable disease, per protocol criteria. That was significant in ineligibility rate, according to Sohal, and highlights the need for more objective evaluations of scans before enrolling patients in trials.