Fotios Loupakis, Chiara Cremolini, Gianluca Masi, Sara Lonardi, Vittorina Zagonel, Lisa Salvatore, Enrico Cortesi, Gianluca Tomasello, Monica Ronzoni, Rosella Spadi, Alberto Zaniboni, Giuseppe Tonini, Angela Buonadonna, Domenico Amoroso, Silvana Chiara, Chiara Carlomagno, Corrado Boni, Giacomo Allegrini, Luca Boni, Alfredo Falcone
BACKGROUND: A fluoropyrimidine plus irinotecan or oxaliplatin, combined with bevacizumab (a monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor), is standard first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer. Before the introduction of bevacizumab, chemotherapy with fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan (FOLFOXIRI) showed superior efficacy as compared with fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI). In a phase 2 study, FOLFOXIRI plus bevacizumab showed promising activity and an acceptable rate of adverse effects...
October 23, 2014: New England Journal of Medicine