Open Access

Christine Koch, Anna M. Schwing, Eva Herrmann, Markus Borner, Eduardo Díaz-Rubio, Efrat Dotan, Jaime Feliu, Natsuko Okita, John Souglakos, Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau, Rainer Porschen, Miriam Koopman, Cornelis J. A. Punt, Aimery de Gramont, Christophe Tournigand, Stefan Zeuzem, Jörg Trojan

• Background: The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate efficacy and safety of first-line chemotherapy with or without a monoclonal antibody in elderly patients ( ≥ 70 years) with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), since they are frequently underrepresented in clinical trials. Results: Individual data from 10 studies were included. From a total of 3271 patients, 604 patients (18%) were ≥ 70 years (median 73 years, range 70–88). Of these, 335 patients were treated with a bevacizumab-based first-line regimen and 265 were treated with chemotherapy only. The median PFS was 8.2 vs. 6.5 months and the median OS was 16.7 vs. 13.0 months in patients treated with and without bevacizumab, respectively. The safety profile of bevacizumab in combination with first-line chemotherapy did not differ from published clinical trials. Materials and Methods: PubMed and Cochrane Library searches were performed on 29 April 2013 and studies published to this date were included. Authors were contacted to request progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) data, patient data on treatment regimens, age, sex and potential signs of toxicity in patients ≥ 70 years of age. Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests that the addition of bevacizumab to standard first-line chemotherapy improves clinical outcome in elderly patients with mCRC and is well tolerated.