A paper presented at the recent 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium conference reported important evidence that, for colorectal cancer patients getting chemotherapy after surgery, the sooner the better.
For people diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, stage II rectal cancer, or stage II colon cancer showing certain high-risk features, researchers found that each four-week delay in starting chemotherapy after surgery was associated with a 12% lower rate of survival five years later.
Does it hurt to delay chemotherapy after surgery for stage II and III colon cancer?
A new study says it does.
Waiting more than 2 months, doubles the risk that patients will die. Read the rest of this entry »
This has been an amazing year with unexpected findings.
We were all convinced that when we added Erbitux and Avastin to our chemotherapy, it would work in the adjuvant setting, which means with FOLFOX for 6 months after the successful removal of colon cancer.
But it did not work. Neither Avastin nor Erbitux showed any benefit. How is that possible? Read the rest of this entry »
In the plenary session at ASCO this year there was a presentation of a large NASBP trial which tested whether the addition of Avastin® (bevacizumab) to 6 months of FOLFOX would decrease tumor recurrence.
The data suggested that there was no benefit with the addition of Avastin, which was given not only for 6 months along with chemotherapy but 6 months in addition to FOLFOX for a total of 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »
Colon and rectal cancer patients 75 years old and older who are treated with chemotherapy or radiation don’t report any poorer quality of life than older patients who don’t have such therapy. Patients who had chemotherapy said that their physical functioning was better than that reported by those who didn’t receive chemo. Read the rest of this entry »
Together we are Strong
