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| |  Radiofrequency Ablation Improves Progression-Free Survival in Patients With Colorectal Liver Metastases: Presented at ESMO-GI By Chris Berrie BARCELONA, Spain -- July 5, 2010 -- Radiofrequency ablation in combination with systemic chemotherapy is safe and significantly improves progression-free survival, compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastases, researchers said here at the European Society for Medical Oncology's 12th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (ESMO-GI). "Systemic treatment should be regarded as the standard of care in patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastases," said Theo Ruers, MD, Division of Surgical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on July 3. For the study, patients aged 18 to 80 years with no possibility of radical resection of all tumour lesions were randomised to chemotherapy alone (n = 59) or radiofrequency ablation during laparotomy (89.5%), laparoscopy (1.8%) or percutaneously (7.0%) plus chemotherapy (n = 60), without or with additional resection. Chemotherapy consisted of oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and 5-fluorouracil from 2004 to 2006, with bevacizumab being added in 2006 and 2007. After 6 months, treatment was left to the discretion of the physician. Treatment as radiofrequency ablation included resection in 47.4% of patients. At median follow-up of 4.4 years, 68% of patients in the radiofrequency ablation/chemotherapy group achieved the primary objective of 30-month overall survival, compared with 58.6% of patients in the chemotherapy-alone group -- this did not reach statistical significance (P = .2176). However, "after 3 years, the [survival] curves were quite separated," said Dr. Ruers. For progression-free survival, the benefits of radiofrequency ablation reached significance -- 16.8 versus 9.9 months (P = .0249). Grade 3/4 adverse events were similar between the chemotherapy vs radiofrequency ablation plus chemotherapy group: neutropenia (20.3% vs 27.5%), cardiotoxicity (1.7% vs 9.8%), diarrhoea (16.9% vs 19.6%), and neuropathy (13.6% vs 17.6%). "In the radiofrequency plus systemic therapy arm, it turned out that this therapy was safe and significantly improved progression-free survival compared with systemic therapy alone," concluded Dr. Ruers. Funding for this study was provided by Sanofi-Aventis. [Presentation title: Final Results of the EORTC Intergroup Randomized CLOCC Study (40004) Evaluating the Benefit of Radiofrequency Ablation (RF) Combined With Systemic Therapy for Unresectable Colorectal Liver Metastases. Late-Breaking Abstract O-0029]
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