Radioembolization with chemotherapy for liver-dominant colorectal cancer: Time to subsequent treatment and quality of life in the EPOCH trial.

Abstract

114 Background: The primary objective of the EPOCH trial evaluated potential benefit of adding second-line transarterial radioembolization (TARE) with yttrium-90 glass microspheres to chemotherapy compared to chemotherapy alone in patients with liver-dominant metastatic colorectal disease (mCRC). Secondary endpoints included time to deterioration of quality of life (TTDQoL). Methods: EPOCH was a 1:1 randomized, open-label, global, multicenter phase 3 trial. TTDQoL was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-colorectal (FACT-c) questionnaire and defined as the time from randomization to the change from baseline in FACT-c total score ≤ -7 points or date of death and was estimated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Time to subsequent therapy was defined as the time from randomization to the start of subsequent therapy and was estimated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Restricted mean survival time (RMST) analysis was used to estimate the area under Kaplan-Meier curves (AUC) for progression-free survival (PFS), hepatic PFS (hPFS), and TTDQoL, and the difference in AUC estimates between the two arms were assessed. The use of TheraSphere in the USA in the trial was under Investigational Device Exemption from FDA. Results: The EPOCH trial included 428 patients. Both primary endpoints of PFS (HR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.88; 1-sided p=0.0013) and hPFS (HR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.77; 1-sided p<0.0001) were met in the EPOCH study. Median time to subsequent therapy in the TARE plus chemotherapy arm was 21.0 months, compared to 10.1 months in the chemotherapy only arm (HR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.67). TTDQoL before subsequent therapy was reported in 53.5% (115/215) patients in the TARE plus chemotherapy arm, compared to 43.7% of patients in the chemotherapy only arm (93/213). Median TTDQoL was 3.8 months in both the TARE plus chemotherapy arm and the chemotherapy alone arm (1-sided p=0.1513; HR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.65, 1.14). AUC for PFS until 22.1 months was 9.4 months (95% CI: 8.4, 10.4) for the TARE plus chemotherapy arm, compared to 7.4 months (95% CI: 6.6, 8.1) for the chemotherapy only arm (1-sided p=0.0008). AUC for hPFS until 22.1 months was 10.3 months (95% CI: 9.2, 11.3) for the TARE plus chemotherapy arm, compared to 7.4 months (95% CI: 6.7, 8.2) for the chemotherapy only arm (1-sided p<0.0001). AUC for TTDQoL until 18.5 months was 6.6 (95% CI: 5.6, 7.6) for the TARE plus chemotherapy arm, compared to 5.5 (95% CI: 4.4, 6.5) for the chemotherapy only arm (1-sided p=0.0663). Conclusions: These results suggest that the addition of TARE to second-line chemotherapy in patients with liver-dominant mCRC extended PFS, hPFS, and time to subsequent treatment without compromising quality of life. Clinical trial information: NCT01483027.