Development of and clinical experience with capecitabine (Xeloda) in the treatment of solid tumours.

The oral fluoropyrimidine capecitabine (Xeloda) delivers 5-FU to the tumour site, thereby limiting the side effects and other complications associated with intravenous (i.v.) 5-FU. As an oral drug, capecitabine is preferred to 5-FU by many patients as it can be conveniently taken at home. In first-line metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC), capecitabine results in superior response rates and equivalent progression-free and overall survival compared with i.v. 5-FU/LV. There is also increasing evidence for replacing i.v. 5-FU with capecitabine in combination with other anticancer agents (e.g. oxaliplatin and irinotecan) in MCRC and in the adjuvant treatment of early stage colon cancer. In anthracycline-pretreated metastatic breast cancer (MBC), adding capecitabine to docetaxel improves survival, time to progression (TTP) and response rates beyond docetaxel. Single-agent capecitabine is also effective in pretreated MBC and is a promising first-line therapy. Capecitabine has a favourable safety profile, the most frequent adverse events being hand-foot syndrome, stomatitis and diarrhoea. Because capecitabine is orally administered, it is possible to intervene promptly with dose interruption/reduction to resolve adverse events without impacting on efficacy. The increasing availability of capecitabine in the home-based setting requires careful consideration of the role of the oncology nurse, who is the key link between the patient and clinician for effective and efficient management.