Abstract
In Switzerland, physicians do not have national guidelines for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patient care and utilize international versions for management recommendations. Moreover, information about adherence to these guidelines and real-world practice patterns in Switzerland or other countries is lacking. The Screening and COnsensus based on Practices and Evidence (SCOPE) program were designed by an international expert panel of gastrointestinal oncologists to gather real-world insights in the current clinical setting to manage patients with mCRC who have received prior treatment. We sought to understand general practice patterns, the influence of molecular diagnostics (e.g., testing for KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, and MSI), tumor sidedness, and patient-centric factors on treatment selection utilizing in-person surveys and three hypothetical patient case scenarios. Here, we describe and evaluate the Swiss data from the SCOPE program within the context of an international viewpoint and discuss the findings of our analysis. In general, we find that the real-world clinical decisions of Swiss physicians (SWI) closely follow international (INT) recommendations and guidelines, largely paralleling their regional and international counterparts in using the two approved treatments in the third- and fourth-line settings, namely trifluridine-tipiracil and regorafenib. Finally, our data suggest a tendency toward the use of trifluridine-tipiracil (SWI: 79%; INT: 66%) over regorafenib (SWI: 18%; INT: 18%) as the preferred third-line treatment choice in mCRC patients regardless of KRAS status.