Paclitaxel in Treating Patients With Unresectable Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Histologically or cytologically confirmed epithelial carcinoma of the pancreas
• •* Unresectable\* locally advanced or metastatic disease NOTE: \*Documented by high-quality contrast-enhanced CT scan
• •No known or clinical evidence of CNS metastasis
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Age
• •18 and over
• •Performance status
• •ECOG 0-1
• •Life expectancy
• •Not specified
• •Hematopoietic
• •Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm\^3
• •Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
• •Hepatic
• •SGOT or SGPT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• •Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times ULN
• •Renal
• •Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN
• •Other
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Negative pregnancy test
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• •No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ
• •No unstable or serious medical condition
• •No psychiatric disorder that would preclude giving informed consent
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •Biologic therapy
• •Not specified
• •Chemotherapy
• •No prior chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer
• •* Prior fluorouracil as a radiosensitizer allowed
• •Endocrine therapy
• •Not specified
• •Radiotherapy
• •More than 6 weeks since prior radiotherapy for pancreatic cancer
• •* Disease must have progressed after completion of radiotherapy
• •Surgery
• •More than 14 days since prior major surgery and recovered
• •Other
• •More than 30 days since prior investigational agents