Surgery of colorectal metastasis in the Optimox 1 study. A GERCOR Study

Abstract

3522 Background: Surgery of metastasis can cure arround 20% of metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC) patients. The Optimox 1 study achieved a response rate over 50% with FOLFOX therapy in patients (pts) with initially unresectable metastasis which allowed to perform surgery in a significant number of pts (JCO 2006). We report here the results in pts who underwent surgery of metastasis (met). Methods: From jan 2000 to june 2002, 620 previously untreated patients with unresectable metastasis were randomized between FOLFOX4 every two weeks until progression (arm A), or FOLFOX7 for 6 cycles, maintenance without oxaliplatin for 12 cycles and reintroduction of FOLFOX7 (arm B). 101 pts were resected with a curative intent, 57 in arm A and 45 in arm B. Results: Patients characteristics were (arm A/B %): metachronous metastasis 77/51, liver met 82/91, lung met 16/11, other met 7/4, PAL < 3 ULN: 98/97, normal LDH: 52/51. 8% of pts achieved a complete response, 72% a partial response, 16% a stable disease. 89 pts had a single resection, 12 had a two-stage surgery. One patient died in arm B. Eleven pts who relapsed had a second surgery. Resection was radical (R0) for 71 pts (43 in arm A and 28 in arm B), 15 were R1 (margin invasion) and 15 were R2. R0/R1 patients had a median overall survival (OS) of 51 mo in arm A and 38 mo in arm B. Median disease-free survival (DFS) since surgery was 12 mo in arm A and 9 mo in arm B, with no statistical difference. 32% of R0/R1 pts were alive with no progression at 3 years in arm A and 20% in arm B. Median time from randomization to surgery was 8 mo. No difference was found between patients resected before 8 mo (n = 50) and after (n = 37) in OS (39 vs 45 mo, p = .67) nor in DFS (11.6 vs 9.5 mo, p = .24). Neither in pts resected before and after 6 mo in OS (p = .77) and DFS (p = .44). Conclusions: FOLFOX treatment allowed 14 % of unresectable patients to be rescued by surgery. There was no additional benefit to perform surgery after 6 months of therapy compared to early surgery. [Table: see text]