Bevacizumab plus irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin (FOLFIRI) as the second-line therapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, a multicenter study

Poor prognosis is associated with patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. To seek effective methods, we examine the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab plus FOLFIRI as a second-line chemotherapy in Chinese patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). A total of 55 patients with previous failure of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy were included in this study, from October 2010 to February 2012. All patients received bevacizumab (5 mg/kg) plus FOLFIRI every other week until disease progression or intolerable toxicity occurred. The response rate was 31 %, and the disease-controlled rate was 76.4 %. The median progression-free survival was 6 months, and the median overall survival was 17 months. Adverse events (AEs) related to chemotherapy were mild to moderate. Only the incidence of grade 3-4 neutropenia reached to 25.5 %. The incidence of AEs related to bevacizumab was low. These AEs included grade 3-4 toxicities of hypertension and proteinuria 5.4 and 3.6 %, respectively. Bevacizumab plus FOLFIRI is an effective and safe regimen as a second-line treatment for patients with mCRC in China.