Impact of early tumor shrinkage on quality of life in patients treated with first-line cetuximab plus chemotherapy for unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer: results of Phase II QUACK trial

Table 1 Correlation of clinicopathologic characteristics with ETS in 128 metastatic colorectal cancer patients

Variables		ETS < 20%		ETS > 20%		P value
	Total No.	No.	(%)	No.	(%)
Total No.	128	46	(35.9)	82	(64.1)
Age (years)
Mean ± SEM		64.6 ± 1.5		65.3 ± 1.2		NS (.689)^a
< 70	83	28	(60.9)	55	(67.1)	NS (.481)
> 70	45	18	(39.1)	27	(32.9)
Gender
Male	87	32	(69.6)	55	(67.1)	NS (.772)
Female	41	14	(30.4)	27	(32.9)
ECOG PS
PS0	107	38	(82.6)	69	(84.1)	NS (.822)
PS1 or PS2	21	8	(17.4)	13	(15.9)
EORTC QLQ-C30 (Mean ± SEM)
GHS/QoL	128	60.1 ± 3.3		61.8 ± 2.5		NS (.688)^a
Social functioning	127	83.7 ± 3.1		82.1 ± 2.3		NS (.681)^a
Physical functioning	127	80.4 ± 2.9		87.5 ± 2.2		NS (.051)^a
Role functioning	123	83.0 ± 3.8		87.4 ± 2.9		NS (.359)^a
Cognitive functioning	127	81.9 ± 2.7		84.6 ± 2.0		NS (.422)^a
Emotional functioning	128	78.1 ± 2.6		79.1 ± 2.0		NS (.779)^a
Tumor location
Colon	83	26	(56.5)	57	(69.5)	NS (.140)^a
Rectum	45	20	(43.5)	25	(30.5)
Differentiation
well/mode	121	41	(89.1)	80	(97.6)	.044
poor	7	5	(10.9)	2	(2.4)
Number of metastatic lesions
1	46	18	(39.1)	28	(34.1)	NS (.573)
≥ 2	82	28	(60.9)	54	(65.9)
Serum CEA (ng/ml)
< 5	24	10	(22.2)	14	(17.9)	NS (.565)
≥ 5	99	35	(77.8)	64	(82.1)
Primary tumor
Absence	85	31	(67.4)	54	(66.7)	NS (.934)
Presence	42	15	(32.6)	27	(33.3)
Chemotherapy backbone
mFOLFOX6	82	27	(58.7)	55	(67.1)	NS (.343)
FOLFIRI	46	19	(41.3)	27	(32.9)
Tumor response
CR/PR	73	10	(21.7)	63	(76.8)	< .001
SD	43	24	(52.2)	19	(23.2)
PD	12	12	(26.1)	0	(0)
Conversion surgery
Absence	89	39	(88.6)	50	(71.4)	.031
Presence	25	5	(11.4)	20	(28.6)
Second line
Absence	29	13	(29.5)	16	(23.2)	NS (.451)
Presence	84	31	(70.5)	53	(76.8)

Abbreviations: ETS early tumor shrinkage, ECOG PS Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status, EORTC QLQ-C30 European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30; GHS/QoL global health status/quality of life, CR complete response, PR partial response, SD stable disease, PD progressive disease
NS not significant, SEM standard error of the mean.
^a unpaired Student’s t test; the remaining variables, Fisher's exact test

ISSN: 1471-2407