Tailoring the colorectal cancer disease assessment to the treatment strategy

The treatment options for metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) continue to evolve with over 10 therapies now approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this indication. These include cytotoxic chemotherapeutics, biologics targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor, and most recently the approval of the immunotherapeutic agents pembrolizumab and nivolumab for mismatch repair-deficient cancers. Additional agents targeting the BRAF mutant subtype of CRC are likely to be approved in the near future. This growing number of treatment options for patients increases the demand for accurate disease assessments to allow for further treatment in the setting of benefit, and also discontinuation or change in the treatment strategy in the setting of resistance.

The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST v1.1)1 is the standard response criteria used in oncology clinical trials and is loosely followed in standard clinical practice. For CRC, this is most commonly done with...

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