Capecitabine and mitomycin C may be an effective treatment option for third-line chemotherapy in advanced colorectal cancer

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: We evaluated the activity in terms of time to progression (TTP) of mitomycin C and capecitabine in patients with advanced colorectal cancer who progressed after 2 lines of chemotherapy. METHODS: Patients with advanced colorectal cancer undergoing third-line chemotherapy after failure of 5-FU with CPT-11 or oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regimens were treated with capecitabine and mitomycin C. RESULTS: Sixty-one patients were enrolled in this study. The median age was 55 years (range, 26-78 years) and the male:female ratio 21:40. We observed partial remissions in 5 patients (8%), stable disease in 25 patients (40%) and progression of disease in 31 patients (52%). Median TTP was 3 months and median survival was 6 months. Global toxicity was mild and entirely acceptable. Grade 3-4 hematological toxicity occurred in 12 patients and grade 3-4 nonhematological toxicity in 5 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of capecitabine and mitomycin C could represent an effective and manageable treatment option for colorectal cancer patients failing previous chemotherapy regimens.