European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer
Chairman: Professor John P. Neoptolemos
Co-Secretary: Professor Marcus W. Büchler
Co-Secretary: Professor Claudio Bassi
Senior ESPAC Trial Co-Ordinator: Emily Owen
Senior ESPAC Statistician: Deborah Stocken
Trial Advisor : Janet Dunn
The European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC) Trials
The aim of the initial trial was to try and establish whether giving chemoradiotherapy immediately after surgery, or chemotherapy for six months or a combination of both could improve the long-term survival from surgery. The trial was thought impossible to complete, as it was seeking to recruit at least 280 patients - the previous largest adjuvant trial (from the USA) comprised only 43 patients. The ESPAC-1 adjuvant trial received the support of Cancer Research UK, and was organized from the CR-UK Trials Unit in Birmingham jointly with the Liverpool Trials Centre. The trial was not only successfully completed but the group has expanded, taking on a series of further studies, details being available through the web links below:
ESPAC 1
ESPAC 3
For further information please contact the ESPAC trials coordinator
Publications
Neoptolemos JP, Dunn JA, Moffitt DD, Almond J, Link K, Beger H, Bassi C, Falconi M, Pederzoli P, Dervenis C, Fernandez-Cruz, Lacaine F, Pap A, Spooner D, Kerr DJ, Friess H and Büchler M, for the members of the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC). ESPAC-1: A European, Randomized Controlled Study of Adjuvant Chemoradiation and Chemotherapy in Resectable Pancreatic Cancer. Lancet 2001; 358: 1576-85.
Neoptolemos JP, Stocken DD, Dunn JA, Almond J, Berger HG, Pederzoli P, Bassi C, Dervernis C, Fernandez-Cruz L, Lacaine F, Buckels J, Deakin M, Adab F, Sutton R, Imrie C, Ihse I, Tihanyi T, Olah A, Pedrazzoli S, Spooner D, Kerr DJ, Friess H, Büchler MW for the members of the European Study Group for Pancratic Cancer (ESPAC). Influence of resection margins on survival for patients with pancreatic cancer treated by adjuvant chemoradiation and/or chemotherapy within the ESPAC-1 randomized controlled trial. Annals of Surgery 2001; 234: 758-768.
Neoptolemos JP , Stocken DD, Friess H, Bassi C, Dunn JA, Hickey H, Beger H, Fernandez-Cruz L, Dervenis C, Lacaine F, Falconi M, Pederzoli P, Pap A, Spooner D, Kerr DJ, Büchler MW for the members of the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC). A randomized trial of chemoradiotherapy and chemotherapy after resection of pancreatic cancer. New England Journal of Medicine 2004 ; 350(12):1200-1210.
Stocken DD, Büchler MW, Dervenis C, Bassi C, Jeekel H, Klinkenbijl JHG, Bakkevold KE, Takada T, Amano H, Neoptolemos JP on behalf of the Pancreatic Cancer Meta-analysis Group. Meta-analysis of randomised adjuvant therapy trials for pancreatic cancer. British Journal of Cancer 2005 92(8):1372-81.
Stocken DD, Olah A, Friess H, Buckels J, Hickey H, Dervenis C, Dunn JA, Deakin M, Carter R, Ghaneh P, Neoptolemos JP, Büchler MW. The Influence of Surgical Resection and Post-operative Complications on Survival following Adjuvant Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer in the ESPAC-1 Randomized Controlled Trial. Digestive Surgery 2005 (in press).