title: Bevacizumab-based therapy for colorectal cancer: experience from a large Canadian cohort at the Jewish General Hospital between 2004 and 2009.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Before its regulatory approval in Canada, bevacizumab to treat patients with colorectal cancer (crc) was accessed through the Bevacizumab Expanded Access Trial and a special-access program at the Jewish General Hospital. We retrospectively evaluated patient outcomes in that large cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients (n = 196) had metastatic crc, were bevacizumab-naïve, and received bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy at the Jewish General Hospital between 2004 and 2009. We collected patient demographics and clinical characteristics; relevant medical history, disease stage and tumour pathology at diagnosis; type, duration, and line of therapy; grades 3 and 4 adverse events (aes), time to disease progression (ttp), and overall survival (os) from diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median follow-up was 36.0 months. Median ttp was 8.0 months [95% confidence interval (ci): 7.0 to 9.0 months). Median os was 41.0 months (95% ci: 36.0 to 47.0 months). Of the 40 grades 3 and 4 bevacizumab-related aes experienced by 38 patients (19.4%), the most common were thrombocytopenia (n = 17), deep-vein thrombosis (n = 6), pulmonary embolism (n = 4), and hypertension (n = 3).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In an expanded access setting, our data reflect the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab-based therapy in the controlled post-registration clinical trial setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, McGill University Health Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, QC.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bouganim
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mamo
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Wasserman
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Batist
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Metrakos
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chaudhury
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassanain
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kavan
keywords: Bevacizumab; colorectal cancer; efficacy; safety