Preoperative chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer: a comparison between intravenous 5-fluorouracil and oral capecitabine.
BACKGROUND
Capecitabine provides an attractive alternative to intravenous (IV) 5-flourouracil (5-FU) in chemoradiation regimes for rectal cancer by avoiding the need for intravenous access and inpatient stay. We aimed to compare retrospectively the efficacy of concurrent capecitabine with IV 5-FU in preoperative pelvic chemoradiation schedules for rectal cancer in our centre.


METHODS
Patients treated from January 2005 to June 2007 were included. Information was collected on patient characteristics; treatment details; pathological response to treatment; recurrence and survival. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS V17.


RESULTS
All patients had pelvic radiation. Ninety-nine patients were treated with capecitabine and 97 with 5-FU. The two groups were well matched for age, sex and TNM stage. There were significantly more PS (performance status) 0 patients in the capecitabine group (51%vs 30%) (P = 0.001). Of the 99 patients in the capecitabine group, 91 (92%) were able to undergo surgery with 84 (93%) achieving R0 resection. In the 5-FU group, these proportions were 87 (90%) and 70 (80%). The difference in the rate of R0 resection was statistically significant (P = 0.024). The APR rate was 35% in the capecitabine group compared with 47% in the 5-FU group (P = 0.06). There was no significant difference in pathological complete response (pCR) rates between capecitabine (14%) and 5-FU(12%). A higher pCR rate (30%) was observed in patients who underwent a brachytherapy boost (P = 0.051). There were three local recurrences in the whole patient group, (capecitabine 1; 5-FU 2). Thirty-five patients had distant metastases, 14 in the capecitabine and 21 in the 5-FU group. There was no significant difference in the risk of recurrence between the two groups. Six patients in each group had grade 3 toxicity with diarrhoea being more common with capecitabine.


CONCLUSIONS
Preoperative chemoradiotherapy with capecitabine for rectal cancer is efficacious and comparable to 5-FU (IV). It is more convenient, is well tolerated and avoids the need for inpatient admission.
Ramani
V S
VS
Department of Clinical Oncology, Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology, Bebington, Wirral, UK. rramvsagar@aol.com
Sun Myint
A
A
Montazeri
A
A
Wong
H
H
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000069287:Capecitabine; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy / Q000379:methods; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000517:prevention & control; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000069287:Capecitabine; D005472:Fluorouracil