Abstract
Cancers of the esophagus, stomach, and pancreas have been successfully treated recently with combinations of radiosensitizing chemotherapy and irradiation. New approaches building onto 5-fluorouracil chemoradiation include capecitabine (Xeloda) and irradiation. Capecitabine is an oral 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) prodrug that is more convenient than using infusional 5-FU, appears to have a similar therapeutic profile, and can be combined with daily irradiation. The addition of a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor is being investigated in upper gastrointestinal cancer sites because there is a high degree of overexpression of COX-2 in these cancers.
MeSH terms
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Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / therapeutic use*
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Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*
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Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use
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Capecitabine
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Celecoxib
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Combined Modality Therapy
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Cyclooxygenase 2
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Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors
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Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
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Deoxycytidine / analogs & derivatives*
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Deoxycytidine / therapeutic use
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Esophageal Neoplasms / drug therapy*
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Esophageal Neoplasms / metabolism
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Esophageal Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
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Fluorouracil / therapeutic use
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Humans
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Isoenzymes / antagonists & inhibitors*
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Isoenzymes / metabolism
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Membrane Proteins
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Pancreatic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
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Pancreatic Neoplasms / metabolism
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Pancreatic Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
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Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases / metabolism
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Pyrazoles
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Radiation-Sensitizing Agents / therapeutic use*
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Stomach Neoplasms / drug therapy*
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Stomach Neoplasms / metabolism
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Stomach Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
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Sulfonamides / therapeutic use
Substances
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Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal
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Antineoplastic Agents
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Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors
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Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors
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Isoenzymes
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Membrane Proteins
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Pyrazoles
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Radiation-Sensitizing Agents
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Sulfonamides
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Deoxycytidine
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Capecitabine
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Cyclooxygenase 2
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PTGS2 protein, human
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Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases
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Celecoxib
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Fluorouracil