Author/Editor		Štabuc, Borut
Title		Systemic treatment of colon cancer
Type		članek
Source		Gastroenterolog
Vol. and No.		Letnik 8, št. Suppl 2
Publication year		2004
Volume		str. 277-86
Language		eng
Abstract		Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a second only to lung cancer as a leading cause of death from cancer. CRC alone accounts for around 200,000 deaths in Europe and represents a significant health problem. Although about fifty percent of patients are cured by surgery alone, the other half will eventually die due to metastatic disease, which includes approximately 25% of patients who have evidence of metastases at the time of diagnosis. Surgical resection of the primary tumor and regional lymph nodes is the only curative therapy for CRC. However, adjuvant chemotherapy in stage III. colon cancer following curative resection has been shown to reduce the risk of recurrence by 19-40% and of death by 16-33%. 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin given for six months may represent the best adjuvant treatment available today. The contribution of levamisole to adjuvant treatment seems to be marginal, if any. The benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for the patients with Dukes B colon cancer is less clear.
Descriptors		COLORECTAL NEOPLASMS FLUOROURACIL CHEMOTHERAPY, ADJUVANT LEUCOVORIN PLATINUM COMPOUNDS NEOPLASM STAGING SURVIVAL ANALYSIS THYMIDYLATE SYNTHETASE CLINICAL TRIALS