Description Module

Description Module

The Description Module contains narrative descriptions of the clinical trial, including a brief summary and detailed description. These descriptions provide important information about the study's purpose, methodology, and key details in language accessible to both researchers and the general public.

Description Module path is as follows:

Study -> Protocol Section -> Description Module

Description Module


Ignite Creation Date: 2025-12-25 @ 2:22 AM
Ignite Modification Date: 2025-12-25 @ 2:22 AM
NCT ID: NCT00745134
Brief Summary: This randomized phase II trial studies how well radiation therapy and capecitabine with or without curcumin before surgery works in treating patients with rectal cancer. Drugs such as curcumin may make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as capecitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving chemotherapy with radiation therapy before surgery may make the tumor smaller and reduce the amount of normal tissue that needs to be removed. It is not yet known whether chemotherapy and radiation therapy is more effective with or without curcumin when given before surgery in patients with rectal cancer.
Detailed Description: PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To evaluate the efficacy of a combination of capecitabine and radiation therapy with or without curcumin in locally advanced rectal cancer as assessed by pathological complete response rate. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine downstaging, local control, disease-free survival and overall survival rates. II. To determine serum and rectal tumor tissue pharmacology of curcumin and its metabolites in the above patients and its correlation with clinical response. III. To identify surrogate molecular markers for curcumin effects. IV. To correlate serum cytokine levels with quality of life in patients receiving this therapy. OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. ARM I: Patients undergo radiation therapy 5 days a week for a total of 28 fractions. Patients also receive capecitabine orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on the days of radiation therapy and curcumin PO BID in weeks 1-11.5. ARM II: Patients undergo radiation therapy and receive capecitabine as in Arm I. Patients also receive placebo PO BID in weeks 1-11.5. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 1 month.
Study: NCT00745134
Study Brief:
Protocol Section: NCT00745134