Radiation Therapy, Pemetrexed Disodium, and Carboplatin in Treating Patients With Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer That Can Be Removed By Surgery

Overview

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as pemetrexed disodium and carboplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Pemetrexed disodium may also stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving radiation therapy together with pemetrexed disodium and carboplatin before surgery may make the tumor smaller and reduce the amount of normal tissue that needs to be removed. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving radiation therapy together with pemetrexed disodium and carboplatin works in treating patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer that can be removed by surgery.

OBJECTIVES: Primary \* Determine the pathologic complete response rate of radiotherapy, pemetrexed disodium, and carboplatin when administered prior to esophagectomy in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer. Secondary * Determine the activity, in terms of clinical response rate and adverse event profile of radiotherapy, pemetrexed disodium, and carboplatin when administered prior to esophagectomy. * Determine the overall survival, time-to-progression, and time-to-treatment failure for patients receiving the above combined modality treatment. * Determine the surgical outcome for all patients who undergo esophagectomy. * Determine the time-to-disease recurrence and disease-free survival for patients who have a curative resection. * Determine quality of life of patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients undergo radiotherapy once daily, 5 days a week, for 5 ½ weeks and concurrently receive pemetrexed disodium IV over 10 minutes and carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 22. Treatment continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients who are eligible will undergo esophagectomy between 4-12 weeks after completion of radiotherapy. Quality of life is assessed at baseline, immediately prior to day 22 of chemotherapy, and within 2 weeks prior to surgery. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically for approximately 4 years. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 50 patients will be accrued for this study.