A phase II study of irinotecan with bi-weekly, low-dose leucovorin and bolus and continuous infusion 5-fluorouracil (modified FOLFIRI) as salvage therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVE

This phase II study was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of a modified FOLFIRI regimen (irinotecan with bi-weekly, low dose leucovorin (ldLV) and bolus and continuous infusion with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)) as a salvage therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

METHODS

Patients were treated with irinotecan 150 mg/m(2) on day 1 and received ldLV 20 mg/m(2) followed by 5-FU 400 mg/m(2) (bolus) and 5-FU 600 mg/m(2) (22 h continuous infusion) on days 1 and 2 every 14 days.

RESULTS

A total of 36 patients were assigned to treatment. The median patient age was 55 years (range 31-70), and 55.6% (20/36) of the patients had performance status (ECOG) of 0 or 1. The median follow-up duration was 15.5 (range 2.6-36.4) months. Of the 30 patients evaluated for their tumor response, three achieved a partial response, with an overall response rate of 10.0% (95% CI 0.0-21.0%). Eleven patients (36.7%) showed stable disease. The median time to progression was 3.3 (95% CI 2.0-4.6) months, and the median overall survival time was 10.9 (95% CI 6.1-15.7) months. The median number of cycles of modified FOLFIRI treatment was 3 (range 1-9 cycles). Grade III or IV neutropenia was observed in 23 cycles (17.6%), and febrile neutropenia occurred in three cycles (2.3%). Grade III nausea/vomiting was found in one patient (2.8%). There was one episode of UGI bleeding, but there were no treatment-related deaths.

CONCLUSION

The modified FOLFIRI regimen described here appears a safe and feasible salvage therapy in advanced gastric cancer patients.