Capecitabine Chemotherapy Concurrent with Radiotherapy for Patients with Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Capecitabine chemotherapy concurrent with radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.Methods Twenty-two patients with advanced rectal cancer were given Capecitabine (Xeloda) 1 300 mg·m-2·d-1 orally,twice a day,for two continuous weeks,and then with one week rest,which was a course.This was done twice during the period of radiotherapy.Concomitant radiotherapy to the whole pelvic area was external irradiation TD,and total dose of TD was 60-68 Gy/30-35 F.Results After treatment,among the 22 patients,there 3 (13.6%) reached complete response (CR),13 (59.1%) partial response (PR),2 (9.1%) stable disease (SD),and 4 (18.2%) progressed disease (PD),with a total response rate of 72.7%.One-year local control rate was 68.2% (15/22),one-year survival rate was 81.8% (18/22),and 2-year survival rate was 50% (11/22).The main toxicity were radiation proctitis and bone marrow suppressionConclusion The Capecitabine chemotherapy concurrent with radiotherapy has a better efficacy for locally advanced rectal cancer,and its toxicity is tolerable by the patient.