Objective
The aim of our study was to investigate if common toxicities are correlated to objective response rate (ORR) in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients treated by irinotecan based regimens.
Methods
Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate correlations between common toxicities and binary ORR in 106 mCRC patients from a prospective cohort treated with irinotecan based regimens.
Results
The most frequent severe toxicities (Grade 3/4) were as follows: neutropenia (27.4%), diarrhea (16.9%), leucopenia (12.6%), vomiting (3.2%) and thrombocytopenia (2.1%). Thrombocytosis was observed in 25 (26.3%) patients. ORR was 25.3%. Thrombocytopenia (P = 0.014), line of chemotherapy (P = 0.028) and thrombocytosis (P = 0.033) were correlated with ORR in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, thrombocytopenia (odds ratio [OR] = 8.600, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.705–43.385, P = 0.009) and first line chemotherapy (OR = 5.155, 95% CI = 1.153–23.256, P = 0.032) positively related to ORR.
Conclusion
Thrombocytopenia may be an indicator of ORR in mCRC patients treated by irinotecan plus 5-fluorouracil/capecitabine. Evidence is not strong enough to prove that irinotecan based regimens-induced diarrhea, leucopenia, neutropenia or vomiting is associated with ORR.