Continuous transarterial infusion chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-Fluorouracil for advanced pancreatic carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Pancreatic carcinoma is one of the most malignant tumors of the alimentary system, with relatively high incidence rates. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of two regimens for advanced pancreatic carcinoma: continuous transarterial infusion versus systemic venous chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil. METHODS: Of the 48 patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma receiving chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil, 24 received the selective transarterial infusion, and 24 the systemic chemotherapy. For the continuous transarterial infusion group (experimental group), all patients received gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2,given by 30-minute transarterial infusion, on day 1 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles, and a dose of 600 mg/ m2 5-fluorouracil was infused on days 1~5 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles. For the systemic venous group (control group), gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil were infused through a peripheral vein, a dose of 1000 mg/m2 gemcitabine being administrated over 30 min on days 1 and 8 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles, and a dose of 600 mg/m2 5-fluorouracil was infused on days 1~5 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles. The effectiveness and safety were evaluated after 2 cycles according to WHO criteria. RESULTS: The objective effective rate in transarterial group was 33.3% versus 25% in the systemic group, the difference not being significant (P=0.626). Clinical benefit rates(CBR) in the transarterial and systemic groups were 83.3% and 58.3%, respectively (P=0.014). The means and medians for survival time in transarterial group were higher than those of the systemic group (P<0.005). at the same time, the adverse effects did not significantly differ between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Continuous transarterial infusion chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil could improve clinical benefit rate and survival time of patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma, compared with systemic venous chemotherapy. Since adverse effects were limited in the transarterial group, the regimen of continuous transarterial infusion chemotherapy can be used more extensively in clinical practice. A CT and MRI conventional sequence can be used for efficacy evaluation after chemotherapy in pancreatic carcinoma.

Study on poly(L-lactide-co-trimethylene carbonate): synthesis and cell compatibility of electrospun film.

The biomedical applications of poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) were limited by its high crystallinity. In this paper, the copolymerization of trimethylene carbonate (TMC) and l-lactide (LLA) was carried out to improve the flexibility of PLLA. The effects of feeding dose, reaction temperature and polymerization time were investigated, and the copolymers were characterized with (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared reflection, gel permeation chromatography differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis and x-ray diffraction. The copolymers were electrospun to form porous films to study their cell compatibility. The results showed that the composition of the copolymer was nearly the same as that in the feeding dose, and the molecular weight of the copolymer decreased with increasing TMC content. The decrease in the reaction temperature and polymerization time would increase the molecular weight, but the composition deviates from the feeding dose. NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblast cells were cultured on the electrospun films. The morphology and proliferation of the cells were studied. The results implied that the cell compatibility of poly(l-lactide-co-trimethylene carbonate) copolymer was much better than that of the PLLA homopolymer.