Early Tumor Shrinkage With Cetuximab Correlates With Prolonged Survival In Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Date: Jun-11-2012Early tumor shrinkage in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated first line with the EGFR inhibitor cetuximab (Erbitux) is associated with prolonged survival, show results reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting (1-5 June 2012; Chicago, USA).

Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer taking part in the AIO KRK0104 trial were randomised to capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CAPOX) or irinotecan (CAPIRI) as first-line treatment. A total of 121 patients were evaluated for early tumor shrinkage (defined as a relative change of 20% or more in the sum of the longest diameters of target lesions) at six weeks. Results showed that just over half (63 patients) had early tumor shrinkage.

Early tumor shrinkage correlated with prolonged progression free survival (8.9 vs 4.7 months, hazard ratio 0.37, p
He added that early tumor shrinkage facilitates potentially curative resection. (Kohne C-H et al; ASCO 2012 abstract 3562)

Written by Susan Mayor PhD

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