Pharmacy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Pharmacy, including details on drug stores, prescriptions, health care.

Lack of evidence for increased operative morbidity after hepatectomy with perioperative use of bevacizumab: a matched case-control study.

D'Angelica M, Kornprat P, Gonen M, Chung KY, Jarnagin WR, Dematteo RP, Fong Y, Kemeny N, Blumgart LH, Saltz LB

Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York, 10021, USA, dangelim@mskcc.org.

BACKGROUND: Bevacizumab (bev) is a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Perioperative bev is now commonly used in patients undergoing hepatic resection. Little is known, however, about the safety of perioperative bev use in the setting of hepatic resection. METHODS: Computerized pharmacy records were used to identify all patients who received bev between January 2004 and June 2005. Patients who underwent hepatectomy for colorectal metastases and received bev within 12 weeks of surgery were identified and compared with a group of matched historical controls. RESULTS: Thirty-two patients underwent hepatic resection of colorectal cancer metastases and received bev within the specified perioperative period. Sixteen patients received bev before surgery and 24 received bev after surgery. A subset of eight patients received bev both before and after surgery. The median time between bev administration and surgery was 6.9 weeks before (range, 3-15 weeks) and 7.4 weeks after (range, 5-15 weeks). Perioperative complications occurred in 13 patients (40.6%), two of which were considered major complications. There was no statistically significant difference in perioperative morbidity and severity of complications when compared with a set of matched controls. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical experience thus far does not indicate a statistically significantly increased risk of perioperative complications with the incorporation of bev into pre- and/or postoperative treatment paradigms. Given the long half-life of bev and the potential for anti-VEGF therapy to impede wound healing and/or liver regeneration, we continue to favor a window of 6 to 8 weeks between bev administration and surgery.

Published 25 January 2007 in Ann Surg Oncol, 14(2): 759-65.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Pharmacy Research Today. All Rights Reserved.