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Effect of pentoxifylline on colon cancer patients treated with chemotherapy (Part I)
Amichay Meirovitz1, Lea Baider1, Tamar Peretz1
1Department of Oncology, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Background:
Cancer progression is associated with significant systemic clinical manifestations including cachexia induced weight loss and anorexia. Pentoxifylline (PTX) is a drug that has been shown to have multiple beneficial effects in cancer patients through its anti-inflammatory properties.
Main Objective:
To evaluate PTX effects on colon cancer patients treated with chemotherapy.
Patients And Methods:
Forty metastatic colon cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were enrolled in this randomized study. 17 patients were treated with a full dose of PTX (400 mg TID), 9 patients with a reduced dose PTX (200 mg TID) and 23 served as controls (no PTX).
Results:
Follow-up evaluations of patients included the following: physical examination; leukopenia determination; weight determination; stomatitis determination; and survival rate. Patients treated with PTX (both full and reduced doses), experienced a significant increase in weight and a reduction in stomatitis relative to the control group. Treatment with PTX also significantly increased patient survival rate. All patients treated with PTX, had a median overall survival (OS) rate of 20.4 months as compared to 13.2 months in the control group.
Conclusions:
PTX treatment of colon cancer patients, in addition to chemotherapy, significantly improved survival rates, induced weight gain and reduced stomatitis occurrence -all important parameters of cachexia.
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