Therapeutic effects of bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy regimens on metastatic colorectal cancer

Objective: To investigate the effects of bevaeizumab combined with chemotherapy regimens on short-term efficacy, safety and short-term survival of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Methods: We made a retrospective analysis of efficacy and patient's survival and adverse events of bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy regimens for 51 mCRC patients treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from June 2008 to December 2013. Results: Of the 51 patients with mCRC, 4 patients achieved complete response, 13 achieved partial response (PR), 15 had stable disease (SD) and 19 had progressive disease (PD), with an effective ness rate (ER) of 33.33% and disease control rate (DCR) of 62.75%. First- and second-line treatment or different chemotherapy regimen combined with bevacizumab did not significantly differ in ER (P>0.05). However, DCR of 32 patients who received first-line treatment of chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab was superior to that of the others who received second-line treatment of chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab (P=0.019). The median PFS of 32 patients who received first-line treatment of chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab was higher than that of the others who received second-line treatment of chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab (P<0.001); however, there were no significant difference in OS (P=0.08). The different chemotherapy of bevacizumab combined with FOLFOX regimen, FOLFIRI regimen, XELOX regimen or XELIRI regimen differed significantly in median PFS and OS (P<0.001). The adverse events related to bevacizumab included hypertension (7 cases, 13.73%), skin eruption (6 cases, 11.76%), proteinuria (2 cases, 3.92%) and bleeding (2 cases, 3.92%), most of which could be alleviated by drug treatment. Conclusion: Bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy regimen is effective and well tolerated in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The first-line treatment is superior to the second-line one for PFS and DCR, and chemotherapy regimens based on beacizumab combined with irinotecan have a better therapeutic effect.