Capecitabine is a chemotherapeutic agent of the fluoropyrimidine family, indicated in metastatic colorectal cancer and advanced breast cancer. Its main cutaneous adverse effect is hand-foot syndrome (HFS); cases of skin hyperpigmentation, nail changes, and alterations of the mucosas secondary to this drug have also been reported. Capecitabine is converted to 5-fluorouracil by the enzyme thymidi...

PURPOSE To determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of continuous oral capecitabine plus oxaliplatin and pre-operative pelvic radiotherapy (XELOX-RT). PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with clinically unresectable rectal cancer or for whom resection with histologically clear (R0) surgical margins was unlikely received continuous capecitabine (500-825 mg/m2 twice daily, 7 days/week), oxaliplatin...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy and safety of capecitabine maintenance therapy (MT) after initial capecitabine plus docetaxel (XT) chemotherapy in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC). METHODS Fifty-five mTNBC patients treated with XT chemotherapy between May 2007 and June 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. When initial disease control was achieved by the comb...

PURPOSE The concentration of capecitabine peaks at 1-2 hours after administration. We therefore assumed that proper timing of capecitabine administration and radiotherapy would maximize radiosensitization and influence survival among patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 223 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who underwent pr...

PURPOSE This phase III randomized trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00337103) compared eribulin with capecitabine in patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC). PATIENTS AND METHODS Women with MBC who had received prior anthracycline- and taxane-based therapy were randomly assigned to receive eribulin or capecitabine as their first-, second-, or third-line chemoth...

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of metronomic capecitabine chemotherapy in pretreated elderly patients with advanced gastric carsonoma. Patients and Methods: Eligible patients were treated with capecitabine at a fixed dose of 1000mg daily until disease progression or toxicity. Endpoints were overall response rate, safety, progression-free survival...

I n a very important paper published recently in the Hellenic Journal of Cardiology,1 the authors described a 52-year-old female patient with no history and no predisposing factors for coronary artery disease, who developed chest pain with electrocardiographic changes suggesting coronary artery spasm following capecitabine administration for colorectal cancer. The authors of this report attribu...

Capecitabine, an anticancer prodrug, is thought to be biotransformed into active 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) by three enzymes. After oral administration, capecitabine is first metabolized to 5'-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine (5'-DFCR) by carboxylesterase (CES), then 5'-DFCR is converted to 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-DFUR) by cytidine deaminase. 5'-DFUR is activated to 5-FU by thymidine phosphorylase. Altho...

BACKGROUND Capecitabine, an orally administered fluoropyrimidines, is widely used in the treatment of multiple malignancies. It has been extensively evaluated in patients with gastroesophageal carcinoma. Since recent reviews have discussed phase I/II trials (Cancer 107:221-231, 2006; Drugs 67:601-610, 2007), we focus on the impact of the results of the most current phase III trials using capect...

PURPOSE Synergistic/additive cytotoxicity in tumor models and widespread applicability of fluoropyrimidines in solid tumors prompted the study of the combination of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, non-prodrug rapamycin analog ridaforolimus, with capecitabine. PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty-two adult patients were treated. Intravenous ridaforolimus was given once weekly for 3 ...