RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as capecitabine and gemcitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Specialized radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) together with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving capecitabine together with gemcitabine followed by capecitabine and radiation therapy works in treating patients with cholangiocarcinoma of the gallbladder or bile duct.

OBJECTIVES:

• To estimate the stratum-specific (R0 and R1) and overall 2-year survival probabilities of patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma treated with adjuvant chemotherapy comprising capecitabine and gemcitabine hydrochloride, followed by capecitabine and radiotherapy. (R0 stratum closed as of 12-15-11)
• To estimate the 2-year stratum-specific and overall disease-free survival and local disease-free survival of patients treated with this regimen.
• To assess the frequency and severity of toxicity in patients treated with this regimen.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to margin of resection (negative [R0] vs microscopically positive [R1]). (R0 stratum closed as of 12-15-11)

• Adjuvant chemotherapy: Patients receive oral capecitabine every 12 hours on days 1-14 and gemcitabine hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 8. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
• Chemoradiotherapy: Beginning in week 13, patients receive oral capecitabine every 12 hours on days 1-7. Patients also undergo concurrent three-dimensional or intensity-modulated radiotherapy on days 1-5. Treatment repeats weekly for 5-6 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

After completion of study therapy patients are followed periodically for up to 5 years.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histopathologically confirmed extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma of the gallbladder or bile duct, meeting at least 1 of the following criteria:

  • Pathological T2-4 disease
  • Pathological N1 disease
  • Positive margins (any T or N )

• Must have undergone potentially curative radical resection with negative (R0) or microscopically positive (R1) margins within the past 56 days and recovered (R0 stratum closed as of 12-15-11)

• No distant metastatic disease as indicated by a CT scan or MRI of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis within the past 42 days

  • Positive resected regional lymph nodes allowed

• No ampullary cancer

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Zubrod performance status 0-1

• ANC > 1,500/μL

• Platelet count > 100,000/μL

• Serum creatinine < 1.5 mg/dL

• Total bilirubin < 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)

• SGOT or SGPT < 2.5 times ULN

• Not pregnant or nursing

• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

• Able to swallow enteral medications and no requirement for a feeding tube

• No intractable nausea or vomiting

• No gastrointestinal (GI) tract disease resulting in an inability to take oral medication, malabsorption syndrome, requirement for IV alimentation, prior surgical procedures affecting absorptions. or uncontrolled inflammatory GI disease (e.g., Crohn disease, ulcerative colitis)

• No uncontrolled intercurrent illness including but not limited to any of the following:

  • Ongoing or active infection
  • Symptomatic congestive heart failure
  • Unstable angina pectoris
  • Cardiac arrhythmia
  • Myocardial infarction or cerebrovascular accident within the past 3 months
  • Uncontrolled diarrhea
  • Psychiatric illness or social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements

• No prior malignancy except for adequately treated basal cell (or squamous cell) skin cancer, in situ cervical cancer, or other cancer from which the patient has been disease-free for 5 years

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• No prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy for this disease
• No prior upper abdominal radiotherapy