Oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (FOLFOX) as second-line therapy for patients with advanced urothelial cancer

Abstract

There is currently no standard treatment for metastatic urothelial cancer after failure of cisplatin-based therapy. The present retrospective study investigated the efficacy and safety of oxaliplatin plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin (LV) (FOLFOX) in locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer patients following cisplatin-based treatment. Thirty-three patients who had received one or two cisplatin-based regimens were treated with oxaliplatin (85 mg/m²) as a 2-h infusion on day 1, LV (200 mg/m²) as a 2-h infusion followed by bolus 5-FU (400 mg/m²) on day 1, or a 44-h continuous 5-FU (1,200 mg/m²) infusion. Patients were a mean of 67 years old with two involved organs. Metastases were mostly in the lung (43%), lymph nodes (51%) and liver (46%). Based on an intention-to-treat analysis, nine patients achieved a partial response, with an overall response rate of 27%. Eight (24%) patients had stable disease. Mean progression-free survival was 3 months and mean overall survival was 6.1 months. Toxicity was mild to moderate with grade 3 or 4 neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and neuropathy occurring in 5 (15%), 4 (12%) and 2 (6%) patients, respectively. This study demonstrated that oxaliplatin plus 5-FU/LV was a well-tolerated second-line regimen with moderate activity in patients pretreated with cisplatin-based therapeutics.