Safety Study of Raltitrexed Perfusion in Elderly Patients with Colorectal Cancer and Effect on CEA mRNA in Peritoneal Lavage Fluid.

BACKGROUND: Intraperitoneal chemotherapy is an effective way to kill free tumor cells in the abdominal cavity. The safety and efficacy of raltitrexed perfusion during radical surgery for elderly patients with colorectal cancer are still unclear.

METHODS: In accordance with computer-generated random allocation sequences, 116 elderly patients with colorectal cancer who received radical surgery were randomly grouped into the raltitrexed intraperitoneal perfusion group or the saline intraperitoneal perfusion group from January 2020 to December 2021 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University. t tests and χ2 tests were used to analyze the difference between the two groups of the clinical characteristics, pathological features, perioperative parameters, and carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA in the peritoneal lavage fluid.

RESULTS: No statistically significant differences in postoperative complications after radical surgery were observed between the two groups. No statistically significant differences in peripheral blood indexes were observed between the two groups before surgery or on the first and third days after surgery. One day after radical surgery, the alanine transaminase (54.33 ± 4.93 vs 51.01 ± 5.56) and aspartate transaminase (49.28 ± 4.30 vs 50.99 ± 3.88) in the peripheral blood were higher in the raltitrexed intraperitoneal perfusion group than in the saline intraperitoneal perfusion group. At the same time, no significant difference was found on the third day after surgery. No significant differences in side effects of chemotherapy were observed between the two groups. The positive rate of carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA in the raltitrexed intraperitoneal perfusion group (8.47%) was significantly lower than that in the saline intraperitoneal perfusion group (22.81%) after surgery.

CONCLUSION: Raltitrexed perfusion during radical surgery is safe and feasible for elderly patients with CRC and can reduce the positive rate of carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA in peritoneal lavage fluid, so it can be explored as a treatment option.