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Over 1,650 Australians are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. In most cases, surgery will remove the tumour but it is possible that the cancer will return as a result of undetectable disease (micrometastases). The cancer will return and be incurable in the majority of patients, more than 1600 Australians die of the disease every year. This study compares the impact of adding chemotherapy to the surgery alone (the current standard of care). The study will also compare the effectiveness of two different types of chemotherapy. Surgical resection of a pancreas tumour is the current standard of care for this disease. It is possible that people treated with chemotherapy after their tumour has been surgically removed may live longer before their disease returns and may liver longer overall. This has been shown to be true in other in cancers; eg. breast and bowel. The side effects of chemotherapy are important and can be severe in some people. Recent studies in advanced pancreatic cancer have suggested that the new drug gemcitabine may be more effective than other drugs. For this reason, the trial compares the outcomes in people treated with gemcitabine to those treated with an older drug 5FU, which has been shown to improve survival in an earlier study by the European group. This trial will determine if chemotherapy in addition to surgery increases disease-free and overall survival. If it does, it should become standard practice. This study is an important international initiative that will provide unique information about effectiveness of these treatments and their impact on quality of life from the patient's perspective. This study and the previous European study are the largest of their type ever done. 900 people will take part. This study is being conducted in Australia by the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials in collaboration with the Australian Hepatobilary Association and the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre.

Breast cancer usually first spreads to lymph nodes in the axilla (armpit). Sentinel node biopsy is a way of finding and removing the lymph nodes most likely to contain cancer. Women found to have cancer in their sentinel nodes usually undergo an axillary clearance. This involves removal of most lymph nodes in the armpit but can cause side effects such as lymphoedema (arm swelling) and other problems. This international phase III trial will determine if an axillary clearance is warranted for women who have only small clumps of cancer cells, called micrometastases, found in the sentinel lymph nodes.

The DaVINCI trial closed to recruitment on 31st January 2008. 89 patients were recruited from Australia and New Zealand

There are 32 active sites.

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of maintenance chemotherapy in women with hormone non-responsive breast cancer. Who is it for? You may be eligible join this study if you are a woman with receptor-negative primary breast cancer and are in adequate health to begin or continue with induction chemotherapy. Trial details Participants in this trial will be randomly (by chance) allocated to one of two groups. Participants in one group will undergo induction chemotherapy followed by maintenance chemotherapy. Maintenance chemotherapy involves taking one 50mg cyclophosphamide tablet daily for one year and two 2.5mg methotrexate tablets twice a day on days 1 and 2 of every week for one year. Participants in the other group will undergo induction chemotherapy only. This will be administered at the doctor's discretion. Participants will be regularly assessed over the duration of the trial to determine whether maintenance chemotherapy delays tumor recurrence and prolongs survival.

The proposed project addresses the major problem of chronic disability caused by occupational back pain and its escalating associated costs. This is a randomised, assessor blinded two-arm trial that tests the efficacy of the provision of evidence-based information regarding barriers to return to work and injury management recommendations to the treating doctor and insurer case managers, in reducing the number of sick days lost for workers with back pain when compared to usual care.

To evaluate whether testing levels of BNP in patients presenting with shortness of breath has an impact on the management of these patients in the emergency department