• Eric François, Jean-François Berdah, Emmanuel Chamorey, Gérard Lesbats, Eric Teissier, Jean-François Codoul, Jean-Luc Badetti, Christophe Hébert, and Véronique Mari.
• Centre Antoine-Lacassagne, 33 Ave de Valombrose, 06189, Nice Cedex 2, France. eric.francois@cal.nice.fnclcc.fr
• Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol. 2008 Nov 1; 62 (6): 931-6.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a combination of folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and irinotecan (FOLFIRI 1) administered every 2 weeks in a population of elderly subjects with advanced colorectal cancer.Patients And MethodsPatients with metastatic colorectal cancer included in this study were aged at least 70 years, with a performance status of 0/1, without geriatric syndrome and without previous palliative chemotherapy. They received irinotecan [180 mg/m(2) intravenous (iv) infusion over 90 min] followed by folinic acid (400 mg/m(2) iv over 2 h), then 5FU (400 mg/m(2) iv bolus) and 5FU (2,400 mg/m(2) continuous iv infusion for 46 h) every 2 weeks.ResultsForty eligible patients were included. The median age was 77.3 years (range 70-84.7). The objective response rate was 40% and the stabilisation rate was 45%. Median progression-free survival was 8 months, overall survival was 17.2 months and cancer-related specific survival was 20.2 months. In total, 300 cycles of chemotherapy were administered with a median number of eight cycles per patient (range 1-18). Tolerance was good; grade 3/4 toxicities included diarrhoea (15%), asthenia (15%), nausea/vomiting (7.5%) and neutropenia (7.5%). One toxic death was observed due to grade 4 diarrhoea.ConclusionThe FOLFIRI 1 regimen is a valid therapeutic option for elderly patients in good clinical condition.

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