| Popis: |
In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of the weekly combination of etoposide, leucovorin (LV) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) when administered as second-line chemotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory advanced colorectal cancer (ACC), previously treated with weekly LV+5-FU. Etoposide was administered at 3 different dose levels (DLs), in 3 groups of 20 patients each (total: 60); DL-I: etoposide 80 mg/m(2), DL-II: etoposide 120 mg/m(2), and DL-III: etoposide 180 mg/m(2), in 45 min i.v. infusion, and followed in all levels by LV 100 mg/m(2) i.V. over 1 hour and 5-FU 500 mg/m(2) i.v. bolus. Treatment was administered weekly until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. No patients at DL-I responded, while 2 patients at DL-II and 3 at DL-III had a partial response (PR). Stable disease (SD) rates were as follows; at DL-I: 2, DL-II: 8 and DL-III: 9. More patients in DL-I progressed (n=19) compared to DL-II (n=10) and DL-III (n=8) (p |
