Irinotecan in 14 cases wtih advanced colorectal cancer as second-line treatment / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Purpose:To investigate the efficacy and adverse effects of irinotecan, a novel and potent inhibitor of topoisomerase Ⅰ, for second line treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.Methods:14 patients who previously failed with fluorouracil treatment received single drug irinotecan 300 mg/m 2 intravenously every 3 weeks . All patients had received adjuvant therapy containing fluorouracil. Two patients had received pelvic radiotherapy.Results:Nine patients had received three cycles and five patients completed six cycles . Ten cases had stable disease, and four with progressive disease were observed among the 14 patients. The common treatment related adverse events were cholinergic syndrome (92.9%) ,delayed diarrhea (78.6%) and neutropenia (78.6%) . Grade Ⅲ side effects occurred in several patients: two nausea/ vomiting , two delayed diarrhea and one neutropenia / leucytopenia . Only one patient developed grade Ⅳ diarrhea.Conclusions: Irinotecan is an active drug in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer with acceptable toxicity.