Effect of Adjuvant Chemotherapy on Survival of Elderly Patients With Stage III Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Background/aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant chemotherapy in elderly patients with stage III colorectal cancer in a real-world setting.

Patients and methods: A total of 165 patients of ≥70 years of age with stage III colorectal cancer who underwent a curative operation between 2008 and 2020 were enrolled in this study.

Results: Among septuagenarians, the relapse-free and overall survival rates in the single-agent therapy group and the combination therapy group were significantly better than those in the group treated by surgery alone. However, no significant differences were observed in the relapse-free and overall survival rates of the single-agent therapy group and the combination therapy group. Among octogenarians in whom all regimens were single-agent therapy, adjuvant chemotherapy tended to improve the relapse-free and overall survival rates but not the time to recurrence or cancer-specific survival.

Conclusion: Single-agent adjuvant chemotherapy may be a useful treatment option for septuagenarians with stage III colorectal cancer. However, the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in octogenarians was not shown in this study.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; adjuvant chemotherapy; stage III colorectal cancer.