Adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer: evidence on improvement in survival

Abstract

Clear progress has been made in the adjuvant treatment of colon cancer. Until very recently, the absolute benefit for survival obtained with the administration of 6 months' FU/LV compared with control was about 6%. Fluoropyrimidines have been shown to be at least as active and can replace intravenous FU/LV in stage III colon cancer. Based on the results of the MOSAIC and NSABP C-07 trials, the addition of oxaliplatin to FU/LV improves disease-free survival and FOLFOX for 6 months can be recommended as adjuvant treatment for patients with stage III colon cancer. The benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II disease is limited and it should be proposed in patients with high-risk features. Adjuvant treatment of colon cancer improving and the use of genetic/molecular markers with the new targeted therapies may further improve survival.