RATIONALE: Rofecoxib may stop the growth of cancer by stopping blood flow to the tumor and killing tumor cells that remain after surgery. It is not yet known if rofecoxib is effective in treating colorectal cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to determine the effectiveness of giving rofecoxib after surgery in treating patients who have stage II or stage III colorectal cancer.
OBJECTIVES: * Compare the overall survival of patients with previously resected stage II or III colorectal cancer treated with rofecoxib vs placebo administered for at least 2 years vs 5 years. * Compare the relapse-free survival of patients treated with these regimens. OUTLINE: This is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to participating center, site of disease (colon vs rectum), disease stage (II vs III), age, adjuvant chemotherapy (yes vs no), and type of chemotherapy regimen (1 vs 2 vs 3 vs 4 vs 5). Within 3 months of surgical resection alone or completion of adjuvant radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy after surgical resection, patients are randomized to one of four treatment arms. * Arm I: Patients receive oral rofecoxib once daily for 2 years. * Arm II: Patients receive oral rofecoxib once daily for 5 years. * Arm III: Patients receive oral placebo once daily for 2 years. * Arm IV: Patients receive oral placebo once daily for 5 years. Treatment continues in all arms in the absence of disease recurrence or unacceptable toxicity. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 7,000 patients (1,750 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 5 years.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Radcliffe Infirmary NHS Trust
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
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