Phase II study of short-time infusion of oxaliplatin in combination with capecitabine (XELOX30) in patients with progressive colorectal cancer after irinotecan and 5-fluorouracil (FU) treatment

3562 Background: Oxaliplatin (Ox) in combination with FU or Capecitabine (Xel) prolong median survival as first and second line therapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer (ACRC). Ox induces acute, cold-induced neuropathy in most patients. The incidence is claimed to be infusion rate-dependent and therefore a 2 hour infusion is recommended, but in a prior pilot study (Pfeiffer et al, Acta Oncol 2003; 42: 832) a 30 minutes infusion could be given without additional neuropathy. Methods: For practical and economic reasons, but also for patient's convenience, we performed this phase II study to examine XELOX30 (Xel 1000 mg/m2 orally twice daily days 1–14 and Ox 130 mg/m2 as 30 minutes infusion day 1) in patients with progressive colorectal cancer after therapy with irinotecan and FU. Neuropathy was graded 0–3 using the Ox-specific scale. Other adverse events were graded using NCI-CTC. Results: From Nov 2002 to Sept 2003, 69 patients with ACRC were included and treated with XELOX30. Median age was 62 y...