Concomitant capecitabine with hepatic delivery of drug eluting beads in metastatic colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Effectiveness and toxicity of transcatheter arterial injection of irinotecan-eluting beads (DEBIRI) with and without concurrent capecitabine in pre-treated patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: An Institutional Review Board-approved, multi-institutional registry from 5/2008 to 8/2013 was reviewed. Patients who received DEBIRI with (X-DEBIRI) or without (DEBIRI) capecitabine were compared.

RESULTS: Twenty-two X-DEBIRI and 149 DEBIRI patients were compared. There was no difference in the two groups with regards to adverse events (p=0.56). During a 3- and 6-month evaluation, the disease control rate (DCR) was similar in both groups. During the 12-month evaluation, there was better DCR in the X-DEBIRI group (p=0.03). Median survival was 13 months in the DEBIRI group and 22 months in the X-DEBIRI group (log-rank test, p=0.217).

CONCLUSION: There is no additional toxicity when adding capecitabine with DEBIRI. Concurrent capecitabine may offer more durable disease control rate compared to DEBIRI-alone. Survival benefit with concurrent capecitabine was not statistically significant but there may be a trend towards improved survival.