Preoperative chemotherapy for non-metastatic colon cancer: Colorectal cancer (update)

Excerpt

Localised and resectable non-metastatic colon cancer has traditionally required an aggressive therapeutic approach through complete oncologic resection with post-operative chemotherapy, with extensive surgical resection needed to achieve negative margins. While preoperative chemotherapy is commonly used for localised oesophageal, gastric and rectal cancers, its use is not well-established for colon cancer as of yet. Preoperative chemotherapy has the potential to provide earlier and more effective eradication of occult micrometastatic disease, minimise the extent of surgery and debulk tumours to reduce the frequency of tumour cell shedding during surgery. Therefore, the aim of this review was to determine which people with non-metastatic colon cancer would benefit from preoperative chemotherapy.