• Efficacy in terms of stabilization or improvement by 1 point on Katz's Activities of Daily Living scale [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• Toxicity [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  
• Percentage of patients who receive the first 3 treatment courses at a lower dose and the percentage of patients who receive all 6 treatment courses at both lower and higher doses [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Efficacy as defined in RECIST criteria [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Pharmacokinetics [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Determine the efficacy of capecitabine and oxaliplatin as first-line treatment, as defined by stabilization or improvement by 1 point on Katz's Activities of Daily Living scale, in older patients with metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Secondary

• Determine the toxicity of this regimen in these patients.
• Determine the percentage of patients who receive the first 3 courses of this regimen (at lower doses) and the percentage of patients who receive all 6 courses of this regimen (at both lower and higher doses).
• Determine efficacy of this regimen, as defined by RECIST criteria, in these patients.
• Determine the pharmacokinetics of this regimen in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter, open-label, nonrandomized study.

Patients receive oral capecitabine* once daily on days 1-14 and oxaliplatin* IV on day 1. Treatment repeats every 21 days for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

NOTE: *The doses of both capecitabine and oxaliplatin are increased in courses 4-6 in the absence of unacceptable toxicity

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 60 patients will be accrued for this study.