Efficacy and safety of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced colorectal cancer

PurposeThe incidence of colorectal cancer in elderly patients has increased markedly in China. This study was aimed to analyze the efficacy and tolerance of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced colorectal cancer.MethodsWe carried out a retrospective analysis using date of 41 advanced colorectal cancer patients who received oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy with an age of 65 years or above.ResultsAmong 41 enrolled patients, 24 received XELOX and 17 received FOLFOX. The overall response rate was 36.6%, the disease control rate was 73.2%, including 15 partial response, 15 stable disease and 11 progressive disease. The median progression-free survival and median overall survival was 7.5 months (95%CI: 6.54 ∼ 8.46 months) and 23.0 months (95%CI: 15.35 ∼ 30.64 months) respectively. Patients with lower CEA level (CEA ≤ 5 ng/ml) before treatment get a longer median progression-free survival than other patients (7.5 months vs 7.0 months; P = 0.026), but the overall survival differences did not reach statistical significance. The toxicity was tolerable, the main 3 or 4 grade hematological and non-hematological toxicities were neutropenia (n = 6,14.6%) and diarrhea (n = 2,4.8%). No treatment-related death was found.ConclusionsThe oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy was efficacy and safety in elderly patients with advanced colorectal cancer, and should be considered as an effective treatment for Chinese elderly patients.