Efficacy and Safety of Bevacizumab in Combination with Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer – A Real World Study in China

Abstract

Background Large scale randomized trials have demonstrated that bevacizumab in addition to chemotherapy as first-line or second-line treatment has significant survival benefits. We aim to explore the clinical impact of bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy in first-line or second-line in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods The medical records of patients with CRC who received bevacizumab at first or second-line of treatment were collected retrospectively. The primary outcome of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy by survival endpoints i.e. overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) and the secondary outcome was to evaluate its safety by incidence of adverse events (AE). Results Fifty-one patients with CRC had met the selection criteria for treatment with bevacizumab to either cetuximab or FOLFOX or both. The median age was 54 years. During follow-up, ten patients had exhibited progression after treatment while 5 patients died. The median OS and PFS of the overall population were not reached. The Cox proportional regression analysis revealed no significant prognostic factors of OS and PFS for treatment with bevacizumab in various demographic subgroups. The 1-year PFS rates of all 51 patients was 76%. The 1-year and 3-year OS rates for all 51 patients were 95% and 88%, respectively. Toxicities were usually mild in nature, with nausea, vomiting, hand and foot syndrome, neutropenia, asthenia and palpitation being the commonly reported adverse events. Conclusion In this real-world setting, the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy is limited and further research is warranted as to whether bevacizumab with chemotherapy is an optimal treatment as first-line or second-line therapy in Chinese CRC patients.