Toxicity Evaluation of Oral Adjuvant Chemotherapeutic Drugs UFT Versus UFT-E in the Colorectal Cancer

Hong, Hyoun Kee; Cho, Yeong Kyu; Kim, Hee Cheol; Yu, Chang Sik; Kim, Tae Won; Lee, Je Hwan; Kim, Jin Cheon

Abstract

PURPOSE
Oral UFT is known to be a safe and effective antineoplastic regimen for adjuvant chemotherapy of colorectal cancer. As it sometimes produces upper gastrointestinal symptoms such as anorexia, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, medication should be stopped transiently or dosage reduced. UFT-E, an enteric coated granule of UFT was introduced to reduce UGI toxicity. We analyzed the toxicity of UFT and UFT-E prospectively for the purpose of comparison between the two types.
METHODS
The toxicity of UFT and UFT-E were evaluated in 83 patients (UFT; 45, UFT-E; 38) with colorectal cancer who underwent curative surgery according to the WHO toxicity criteria. All patients were selected consecutively with patients' approval and by the "Institutional Review Board, Asan Medical Center".
RESULTS
The toxicity incidence in UFT-E group was slightly less than that in UFT group without statistical significance. The severity of toxicity seemed to be mild within grade 1 or 2 and most of them toxicity self-limiting. The regimen was completely interrupted in 9 patients (20%) in the UFT group, 3 patients (7.9%) in the UFT-E group due to severe UGI symptoms, prolonged leukopenia, derrangement of liver function and skin rash.
CONCLUSIONS
Toxicity rate of UFT-E was not higher than that of UFT. But we cannot prove superiority of UFT-E on UGI toxicity. Oral UFT-E can be administered safely on an outpatient basis without lethal toxicity requiring hospitalization.