[Oxaliplatin in gastro-intestinal tract cancer except colorectal cancer]

Abstract

In a few years, oxaliplatin became a standard treatment of colorectal cancer not only in metastatic situation but also in the adjuvant setting. In the others gastro-intestinal malignancies such as oesophageal, stomach, pancreatic, liver and biliary tract cancers, the effectiveness of the current chemotherapies is unfortunately most often disappointing. Several teams thus decided to evaluate oxaliplatin, essentially in polychemotherapy regimens and sometimes in combination with radiotherapy. Many clinical trials are in progress, others will begin soon. Nevertheless, the results of the first studies already presented are promising, especially the gemcitabine and oxaliplatin combination on 2 days schedule in treating patients with advanced pancreatic, biliary tract and the fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin in treating patients with advanced gastric cancer.