Aminocaproic acid (AMICAR) in advanced colorectal carcinoma

We treated 20 patients with measurable histologically confirmed colorectal adenocarcinoma with aminocaproic acid (AMICAR). There were 11 males and 9 females with a median age of 63 years. All 20 patients had received prior chemotherapy. The majority of monitoring lesions were distributed between lung and liver. We evaluated 12 patients in this series for response. Three patients had stable disease and nine patients had progressive disease. All patients were evaluable for toxic effects, the most common being nausea and vomiting. AMICAR given orally at 210 mg/kg of actual body weight/day is not an effective single agent in the treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma. In view of previously published animal data the role of AMICAR in the adjuvant setting for colorectal carcinoma still needs to be determined.