摘要Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of capecitabine maintenance therapy in metastatic colorectalcancer(mCRC) patients.Methods: From June 2001 to November 2006,after they had achieved clinical response from first-line chemotherapy,patients with mCRC in our hospital received two different treatment strategies.Thirty-three patients in maintenance group were treated with capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 po bid dl-14,g21d.Fifty-two patients in non-maintenance group did not receive any further chemotherapy.Results: Patients in maintenance group and non-maintenance group both received FOLFOX,FOLFIRI and XELOX as first-line therapy.The median chemotherapy cycles the two groups received were the same(6 vs 6).The response rates of first-line chemotherapy were 33.3% in maintenance group and 32.7% in non-maintenance group.Patients in maintenance group received 3-9 cycles of capecitabine therapy(median cycle 4).29/33(87.9%)patients in maintenance group and 47/52(90.4%) in non-maintenance group received following second-line chemotherapy,and no patients underwent targeted therapy.The median survival time and TTP were 40.4 months (95%CI: 24.2-56.6) and 9.0 months(95%CI: 6.7-11.3) in maintenance group,as compared with 21.5 months (95%CI: 14.9-28.0,P=0.015) and 6.5 months(95%CI: 4.4-8.5,P=0.007) in non-maintenance group.No severe adverse event was observed in the capecitabine maintenance group.Conclusion: mCRC patients could benefit from capecitabine maintenance therapy by prolonging survival time and TTP.