Quality of life, compliance, safety and effectiveness in fit older metastatic colorectal patients with cancer treated in first-line with chemotherapy plus cetuximab: A restrospective analysis from the ObservEr study

Abstract

The current data suggest that fit older patients with mCRC can be safely treated with a cetuximab-based therapy, as QoL and safety profile do not seem to be affected by age. In addition, age did not impact the choice of chemotherapy to be associated to cetuximab and treatment compliance.

Assessment of drug utilization pattern in patients undergoing chemotherapy for various types of metastatic cancers in a tertiary care government hospital

“…In the present study among 100 patients 63% (63) are male and 37% (37) female patients whereas in Mugada et al, study 44.66% (67) are male and 55.33% (83) are female. 11 In Siddiqua et al male population was more, 54% and 46% of patients were found to be females. 15 The main objectives of drug utilization evaluation are identification of the problems in medicine use, analysis of problem, analysis of the consequences of such problem.…”

An editorial on the TAILOR trial—further support for the addition of cetuximab to FOLFOX-4 in the treatment of RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer

“…Additionally, statistical significance for PFS time was demonstrated in patients less than 65 years of age but not in patients 65 years of age or older, a result likely secondary to the disproportionate number of participants in the younger age category (303 patients aged <65 vs. 90 patients aged ≥65). In a similar study, however, no difference was seen in PFS time between patients <70 years and those ≥70 years, a valuable result since >40% of CRC cases are diagnosed in patients aged 70 years or older (9).…”

“…However, as evidenced in the ObservEr trial, these skin reactions did not compromise the quality of life (QoL) of patients receiving cetuximab with chemotherapy (10). Furthermore, the addition of cetuximab to chemotherapy had comparable incidences of AEs and impact of QoL in patients grouped into those less than 70 years of age and those ages 70 years and older (9). In the FOLFOX-4 plus cetuximab arm, 19.1% of patients experienced serious AE resulting in 39.2% of patients in that group discontinuing chemotherapy, while in the FOLFOX-4 arm alone, 13.1% of patients had serious AE resulting in 27.1% discontinuing therapy.…”

Systematic Review of Treatments for Colorectal Metastases in Elderly Patients to Guide Surveillance Cessation Following Hepatic Resection for Colorectal Liver Metastases

“…The age cutoff of 65 years was used to define elderly patients in all the studies: 65 years and above (n = 4), 70 years and above (n = 16), or 75 years and above (n = 13). The key findings related to chemotherapy usage from the 33 studies we reviewed were that in comparison to younger patients, elderly patients received: less chemotherapy overall in 6/6 studies (100%), 25,40,77,88,89,94 less targetted therapy in 4/4 studies (100%), 25,85,93,99 lower dose chemotherapy in 3/4 studies (75%) 77,79,85 but not significantly different in 1/4 studies (25%), 70 and, significantly less combination alongside more single agent chemotherapy. 77,81,85,93 Elderly patients also experienced higher toxicity in 6/19 studies (32%) 71,85,98 but not significantly different in 13/19 studies (68%), 40,70,72,73,75,77,[82][83][84]86,89,91,92 and, more hospitalizations in 2 reporting studies (100%).…”

“…The key findings related to chemotherapy usage from the 33 studies we reviewed were that in comparison to younger patients, elderly patients received: less chemotherapy overall in 6/6 studies (100%), 25,40,77,88,89,94 less targetted therapy in 4/4 studies (100%), 25,85,93,99 lower dose chemotherapy in 3/4 studies (75%) 77,79,85 but not significantly different in 1/4 studies (25%), 70 and, significantly less combination alongside more single agent chemotherapy. 77,81,85,93 Elderly patients also experienced higher toxicity in 6/19 studies (32%) 71,85,98 but not significantly different in 13/19 studies (68%), 40,70,72,73,75,77,[82][83][84]86,89,91,92 and, more hospitalizations in 2 reporting studies (100%). 85,91 The key chemotherapy outcomes were that elderly patients experienced:worse overall response rate in 1/13 studies (8%) 71 but not significantly different in 12/13 studies (92%), 70,74,75,77,78,[82][83]…”