Complications of palliative antiangiogenic therapy in patients with colorectal cancer

Introduction: Bevacizumab is an antiangiogenic drug used in the therapy of numerous solid tumours including colorectal adenocarcinoma. The efficacy and safety of bevacizumab has been demonstrated in many multicenter clinical trials. The scope of this paper is to analyze the safety profile of bevacizumab in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer. Aim of the study: Analysis of toxicity and safety of the treatment with bevacizumab patients with colorectal cancer in the metastatic stage. Material and methods: Retrospective analysis of medical records of 42 patients with advanced colorectal cancer treated in the Department of Systemic and Generalized Malignancies, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Institute of Oncology, Kraków Branch, in the period 2007–2014. Results: The median time of treatment with bevacizumab was 6 months. The median duration of progression-free survival (PFS) was 8.5 months. Toxicity of treatment with bevacizumab affected 43 percent of patients. The most common adverse events observed was hypertension and bleeding. In 6 patients (14.3%) the treatment with bevacizumab was interrupted due to adverse events (thromboembolic events, bleeding and gastrointestinal perforation). Conclusions: Bevacizumab is a safe therapeutic option in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, provided that patients are provided close oncological and general medical monitoring.