Purpose
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of FOLFOX4 using “wait and go” strategy in treating metastatic colorectal cancer.
Methods
The conventional FOLFOX4 was repeated every 2 weeks. We waited until the recovery of symptoms from persistent neurotoxicity within an added period of 2 weeks, before performing the next cycle (“wait and go” strategy).
Results
We enrolled 58 patients, in whom a total of 481 cycles were administered (median 8 per patient; range 1–16). Toxicity was evaluated in 58 patients and response in 55. The major toxic effect was grade 3/4 neutropenia (33%). Painful paresthesia or persistent functional impairment was observed in 4 patients (7%). The response rate was 40% (95% confidence interval; 27.1–52.9%). The median progression-free survival time was 10.2 months, the 1-year survival rate was 89%, and the median overall survival time was 27.6 months.
Conclusions
These findings indicate that this “wait and go” strategy reduces the frequency of persistent neuropathy while maintaining efficacy against metastatic colorectal cancer.