Retrospective comparative study between gemcitabine/cisplatin and gemcitabine/capecitabine in the treatment of metastatic carcinoma of gallbladder

Introduction: Metastatic carcinoma of gallbladder is a disease with a dismal prognosis. Chemotherapy is mainstay of treatment. Gemcitabine/cisplatin is used as first-line chemotherapy. In some study, gemcitabine/capecitabine has been used with good result. A retrospective study has been performed to compare efficacy between these two chemotherapeutic regimens.Materials and Methods: The objective of this study was to compare tumor control rate, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicity between these two chemotherapeutic regimens. In arm A, patients received gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1 and on day 8) and cisplatin (75 mg/m² on day 1). In arm B, patients received gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1 and on day 8) and capecitabine (1000 mg/m² BD from day 1 to day 14). Response evaluation has been done by response evaluation criteria in solid tumor criteria. Results: A total of 55 (25 in arm A and 30 in arm B) patients were included in the study. Tumor control rate was 88% in arm A and 86.7% in arm B. PFS in arm A was 7.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.19–8.21 months) and 7.58 months (95% CI: 6.66–8.5 months) in arm B. OS in arm A was 10.8 months (95% CI: 9.51–12.09 months) and 11.57 months (95% CI, 10.3–12.84 months) in arm B. These differences between the two arms were not statistically significant. Conclusion: There is no statistically significant difference between gemcitabine/cisplatin and gemcitabine/capecitabine regarding disease control rate, PFS, and OS in the treatment of metastatic carcinoma of gallbladder. Hence, gemcitabine/capecitabine can also be used as first-line chemotherapy in metastatic carcinoma of gallbladder.