Adverse Effects of Chemotherapy Regimens Used in Colorectal Cancer Patients in a Referral Cancer Center in North of Iran, 2008-2014

Background: gastrointestinal tract cancers are the most common cancers in iran, especially in the north of the country. different chemotherapy regimens have been used in the treatment of colorectal cancers (crc). considering lack of data, this study aimed to determine the adverse drug reactions (adrs) of chemotherapy regimens used in the treatment of patients with crc. methods: this cross-sectional prospective study was carried out in emam khomeini hospital and tooba clinic, both affiliated to mazandaran university of medical sciences. adrs of chemotherapy regimens were documented based on ctcae version 4.0 (common terminology criteria for adverse events). results: two hundred sixty seven different courses of chemotherapy regimens received by 48 patients were evaluated in terms of adverse events. three more common chemotherapy regimens were folfox (folinic acid, fluorouracil, oxaliplatin), folfiri (folinic acid, fluorouracil, irinotecan) and xelox (capecitabine, oxaliplatin).folfiri and folfox regimens were associated with more nausea and vomiting compared to xelox. the rate of vomiting (p=0.06) and neuropathy were marginally different between regimens, but the rate of hair loss and headache were not. the diarrhea was more common with folfox (p=0.027). neutropenia occurred in14% of folfiri, none of xelox and almost 5% of folfox regimens. mucositis happened in 17.8% and of xelox and folfox regimens, respectively. conclusion: the results of our study showed that the gi adverse events including nausea, vomiting and severe diarrhea were more common with folfiri regimen. mucositis and neuropathy were more common with xelox. hair loss was more common with folfiri followed by xelox and folfox.