FOLFIRINOX in treatment of pancreatic cancer: a single-institutional experience / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To review the clinical efficacy and safety of the FOLFIRINOX (oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin, fluorouracil) regimen in treatment of pancreatic cancer.Methods:The clinical data of 31 patients with pancreatic cancer who were treated with the FOLFIRINOX regimen from July 2016 to December 2019 at the Department of General Surgery, China-Japan Friendship Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. For the 20 males and 11 females who were enrolled into this study, their age ranged from 29 to 80 years (mean 56.9 years). The FOLFIRINOX regimen was used as neoadjuvant therapy in 12 patients, postoperative therapy in 10 patients with liver-metastases, and postoperative adjuvant therapy in 9 patients (as second-line chemotherapy in 7 patients and as first-line chemotherapy in 2 patients). The clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of chemotherapy were evaluated.Results:In this study, 8 patients received the modified FOLFIRINOX regimen. Of the remaining 23 patients who received the standard FOLFIRINOX regimen, 10 (43.3%) were converted to the modified regimen because of adverse events. On clinical efficacy evaluation after neoadjuvant therapy 5 patients achieved partial remission (PR), 3 stable disease (SD) and 4 progression disease (PD). The disease control rate (DCR) was 66.7% (8/12). For 10 patients got remission of abdominal pain, 5 patients underwent surgical resection. For the 10 patients with liver-metastases, 6 achieved PR, 1 SD, 3 PD. For 7 patients got disease control. For 8 patients had remission of abdominal pain, 1 patient underwent surgical resection. For the 7 patients who received second-line chemotherapy, 2 achieved PR and 5 PD. No tumor recurrence or metastases were found in the two patients after the first-line chemotherapy. Adverse events above grade three in all the patients included neutropenia in 12 patients (38.7%), leukopenia in 7 patients (22.6%) and thrombocytopenia in 1 patient (3.2%).Conclusions:The FOLFIRINOX regimen was efficacious with a high DCR rate and controllable adverse events. Balancing its efficacy and safety showed this regimen to be beneficial to patients with pancreatic cancer.