Dr. Heinemann on the Use of Depth of Response and RECIST in CRC

Volker Heinemann, MD, PhD, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, compares the use of depth of response and RECIST criteria to measure responses in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

The general goal, says Heinemann, is to find a surrogate parameter that can be measured early on and which relates a patient's response to overall survival. Through the use of depth of response, oncologists can, in fact, find early tumor shrinkage in patients with CRC, and relate that to prolonged survival.

Depth of response goes one step beyond the RECIST criteria, according to Heinemann. RECIST differentiates responses with categories like partial and complete responses, whereas depth of response is a continuous parameter. Therefore, says Heinemann, depth of response allows oncologists to more precisely demonstrate how effective a treatment was for a particular patient.