Consolidation chemotherapy with capecitabine after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in high-risk patients with locally advanced rectal cancer:Propensity score study

BACKGROUND The effects of consolidation chemotherapy(CC) in neoadjuvant therapy in locally advanced rectal cancer(LARC) have been explored. However, the optimal neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy(NCRT) and surgery interval, regimen, and cycles of chemotherapy remains unclear.AIM To evaluate the effects of one to two cycles of CC with capecitabine on high-risk patients with LARC without extending NCRT and surgery interval.METHODS We retrospectively evaluated high-risk patients with LARC, who were defined as having at least one of the following factors by magnetic resonance imaging: depth of invasion beyond the muscularis propria of more than 5 mm(c T3c-c T3d), T4, meso-rectal fascia or extramural vascular invasion positive, and treatment date between January 2015 and July 2019 in our center. Patients were divided into the CC and non-CC group according to whether they received CC(capecitabine 1000 mg/m^(2) twice daily from days 1 to 14 every 21 d) after NCRT. Propensity score matching(PSM) and inverse probability of treatment weight(IPTW) were used to balance the differences between the two groups. The main outcome was the complete response(CR) rate.RESULTS A total of 265 patients were enrolled: 136 patients in the CC group and 129 patients in the non-CC group. The median interval was 70 d(range, 37-168). The CR rate was 24.3% and 16.3%(P = 0.107) in the CC and non-CC groups’ original samples, respectively. After PSM and IPTW, the CR rate in the CC group was higher than that in non-CC group(27.6% vs 16.2%, P = 0.045;25.9% vs 16.3%, P = 0.045). The median follow-up was 39.8 mo(range, 2.9-74.8), and there were no differences in 3-year non-regrowth disease-free survival nor overall survival in the original samples(73.2% vs 71.9%, P = 0.913;92.3% vs 86.7%, P = 0.294), PSM(73.2% vs 73.5%, P = 0.865;92.5% vs 89.3%, P = 0.612), and IPTW(73.8% vs 72.1%, P = 0.913;92.4% vs 87.4%, P = 0.294). There was also no difference in grade 2 or higher acute toxicity during neoadjuvant therapy in the two groups(49.3% vs 53.5%, P = 0.492).CONCLUSION One to two cycles of CC with capecitabine after NCRT was safe and increased the CR rate in highrisk LARC but failed to improve the long-term outcomes.

More than two courses of pre-transplant consolidation therapy benefits patients with acute myeloid leukemia in the first complete remission who underwent human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling allografts:a multicenter study

Background:Although the need for consolidation chemotherapy after successful induction therapy is well established in patients with acute myeloid leukemia(AML)in first complete remission(CR1),the value of consolidation chemotherapy before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation remains controversial.Methods:We retrospectively compared the effect of the number of pre-transplant consolidation chemotherapies on outcomes of human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling stem cell transplantation(MSDT)for patients with AML in CR1 in multicenters across China.In our study,we analyzed data of 373 AML patients in CR1 from three centers across China.Results:With a median follow-up of 969 days,patients with≥3 courses of consolidation chemotherapy had higher probabilities of leukemia-free survival(LFS)(85.6%vs.67.0%,P<0.001)and overall survival(89.2%vs.78.5%,P=0.007),and better cumulative incidences of relapse(10.5%vs.19.6%,P=0.020)and non-relapse mortality(4.2%vs.14.9%,P=0.001)than those with≤2 courses of consolidation chemotherapy.Pre-transplantation minimal residual disease-negative patients with AML in CR1 who received MSDT with≥3 courses of consolidation chemotherapy had a higher probability of LFS(85.9%vs.67.7%,P=0.003)and a lower cumulative incidence of relapse(9.6%vs.23.3%,P=0.013)than those with≤2 courses.Conclusion:Our results indicate that patients with AML in CR1 who received MSDT might benefit from pre-transplant consolidation chemotherapy.