TACE With Irinotecan Drug-eluting Beads and Intravenous (IV) Cetuximab in Refractory Colorectal Cancer

About half of patients with newly diagnosed colorectal cancer will develop metastatic disease and, however, in spite of the significant progress in the therapeutical strategies for metastatic disease, virtually all patients will eventually succumb to their illness. Based on prior clinical data there is a good rationale for the expectation that the combination of systemic chemotherapy and arterial chemoembolization with drug eluting beads may be effective in the setting of patients with unresectable or chemorefractory liver metastases. The aim of this study is therefore to assess whether the combination of Irinotecan eluting beads and intravenous cetuximab is safe and effective in the treatment of patients with unresectable liver metastases from refractory colorectal cancer and will result in a prolongation of disease control when compared to standard systemic treatment with intravenous irinotecan and intravenous cetuximab. In this patient group, intravenous irinotecan plus intravenous cetuximab may represent the "standard of care", with a previously described activity. The patient group is defined in terms of pretreatment, and the scientific question is whether the way of irinotecan administration by eluting beads in feasible and somehow beneficial.