THE AIM of this study was to compare the efficacy and toxicity of S-1 to an oral combination regimen of tegafur and uracil (UFT) with leucovorin (LV) in metastatic colorectal carcinoma (CRC) patients.
Patients and methods: Fifty-two patients were treated with either S-1 (80 mg/m2/d), administered for 28 days every 42 days, or UFT (300 mg/m2/d) and LV (90 mg/d), administered for 28 days every 35 days. The clinical results were compared retrospectively.
Results: There were no statistically significant differences in overall response between the two patient groups. The overall response rate was 11.8% in the S-1 group, and 11.1% in the UFT/LV group. No statistically significant difference in-time- to progression (TTP) or survival time was observed between the treatments. The median survival time was 29 months with S-1 and 12 months with UFT/LV.
Conclusion: The oral S-1 provided similar safety and efficacy, compared to UFT/LV for metastatic CRC.