Study: Alternating Chemotherapy Drugs Effective and Well-Tolerated

Italian researchers report that alternating the chemotherapy drugs irinotecan and 5-fluorouracil appears to be "well tolerated" and as effective in treating advanced colorectal cancer patients as administering both drugs together.

The researchers, reporting in the journal Oncology, said they tested the alternating schedule of irinotecan and 5-fluorouracil in combination with leucovorin, a compound similar to folic acid, in 35 patients aged 18 to 80 with metastatic colorectal cancer.

They reported four complete and nine partial responses to the treatment, with a one-year survival rate for the patients of 68 percent. Overall survival was 18.5 months. No toxic deaths occurred.

"Our alternating schedule ... is a well-tolerated outpatient treatment as front-line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer with comparable efficacy to regimens with both drugs given together," the researchers concluded..

Other Sources: Oncology