A Comparative Study of Treatment Toxicities Between FOLFOX 4 and Modified FOLFOX 6 in Iranian Colorectal Cancer Patients

Colorectal cancer is one major health problem and cancer-related cause of death in cancer patients in countries such as Iran where the most cases are diagnosed in advanced stages.
To evaluate the incidence and severity of toxic effects in colorectal cancer patients who have been treated with two different schedules of combination of oxaliplatin and bolus/infusional 5-fluorouracil with leucovorin (FOLFOX) and to compare them.
Medical records of 458 patients with colorectal cancer treated with FOLFOX 4 and modified FOLFOX 6 regimen between 2005 and 2014 were reviewed. Data from 96 eligible patients were analyzed. Fifty-six patients (58.3%) received FOLFOX 4 and 40 patients (41.7%) received modified FOLFOX 6.
The study included 96 patients, 39 of whom were males (40.6%) and 57 of whom were females (59.4%). The median age was 62 years (range: 38 - 87 years). The follow up duration was between 16 - 109 months with a median of 62 months. There was a statistically significant incidence rate of grade ≥ 1 toxicity of diarrhea as gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity between FOLFOX 4 and modified FOLFOX 6 as the two regimens (P = 0.034), but there was not a statistically significant incidence rate of grade ≥ 1 toxicity of stomatitis as GI toxicity between the two regimens (P = 0.27). We observed a highly statistically significant incidence rate of grade ≥ 1 toxicity of neutropenia as hematologic toxicity between FOLFOX 4 and modified FOLFOX 6 as the two regimens (P We showed that in colorectal cancer patients treated with modified FOLFOX6. Some of hematological and non-hematological complications were more than FOLFOX4 and they can be concerned.