Study of Irinotecan and Capecitabine Combination Chemotherapy in Patients with Advanced Colorectal Cancer

【Objective】To evaluate the efficacy and side effect of a combination regimen of irinotecan plus capecitabine in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.【Methods】Twenty-four patients with metastatic or recurrent colorectal cancer which had accepted OXA +5-Fu/LV,HCPT+5-Fu/LV regimen chemotherapy after operation received oral capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 twice daily from day 1 to 14 and intravenous irinotecan 150 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8,based on a 3-week cycle.【Results】A total of 108 cycles of chemotherapy(mean 4.5 cycles/case) were administered.There was 1 complete response(4.2%),10 partial responses(41.7%), 10 cases of stable disease(41.7%),and 3 cases of disease progression(12.5%),an overall response rate was 45.8%.The median survival time was 11.2 months.The obvious side effects were neutropenia(62.5%),diarrhoea(58.3%) and hand-foot syndrome(33.3%).There were no treatment-related deaths.【Conclusion】The combination of irinotecan and capecitabine is found to be well tolerated and effective in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.