A Review of Clinical Studies and Practical Guide for the Administration of Triplet Chemotherapy Regimens with Bevacizumab in First-line Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. A significant proportion of patients presents with unresectable metastatic disease or develops metachronous metastases following surgical resection of the primary tumor. The prognosis of the disease has improved over the past two decades, with extended multimodality treatment options and the development of increasingly intensified chemotherapy regimens that now typically include targeted biologics. A recent advance in therapy is a treatment regimen composed of three chemotherapeutic agents (i.e., triplet chemotherapy: 5-fluorouracil [5-FU]/leucovorin [LV], oxaliplatin, and irinotecan; FOLFOXIRI) in combination with the vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor bevacizumab. This regimen has been shown to elicit significantly improved objective response rates and median progression-free survival compared with 5-FU/LV and irinotecan in combination with bevacizumab. However, triplet chemotherapy has been associated with increased rates of chemotherapy-related adverse events, and treatment-emergent adverse events should be properly managed to minimize treatment interruption or discontinuation. We present herein a review of clinical studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of FOLFOXIRI with bevacizumab in metastatic colorectal cancer, and propose a practical guide for the management of adverse events associated with the regimen.