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The antimetabolite
drug raltitrexed appears to be less desirable than two fluorouracil-based
chemotherapy regimens for treating patients with advanced
colorectal cancer, according to a report in The Lancet.
British
researchers reported that in a study of 905 patients, median
survival time was 302 days for patients on the Lokich chemotherapy
regimen and 294 days for patients on the de Gramont chemotherapy
regimen, but only 266 days for patients receiving raltitrexed.
The researchers
also reported that there were 18 treatment-related deaths
among patients taking raltitrexed as a result of combined
gastrointestinal and haematological toxicity, compared to
two deaths on the Lokich regimen and one on de Gramont regimen
Further,
they said patients' assessment of quality of life during treatment
showed that raltitrexed was inferior to the fluorouracil-based
regimens, especially in terms of providing symptomatic relief
and enabling the patient to function.
"Although
raltitrexed-related toxicity has been reported in all previous
trials, this trial has highlighted the problem because of
the low toxicity of the comparators," the researchers
noted.
Source:
Colorectal
Cancer Week of May 12, 2002
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