Onkológia 6/2009

Chemotherapy for colorectal cancer

Due to different treatment modalities, successful treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer requires multidisciplinary and complex approach. The overall 5-year survival varies from 10 to 40%. This relatively wide interval is dependent on the nature of particular tumor, patient performance and treatment strategy. Despite absence of data from randomized clinical studies, employment of aggressive surgical procedures for metastatic colorectal cancer treatment is widely used. However, in selective group of patients, 5-years survival of 30 – 40 % after metastasectomy was achieved. New findings in the field of conventional chemotherapeutic agents (e.g. Use of oxaliplatiunum in the CRC treatment) as well as discovery of targeted molecules (e.g. bevacizumab) and their introduction into clinical practice have a positive impact on the efficacy of anticancer treatment, prolongation of the PFS, and, thereby, improvement of the overall survival. Despite substantial achievements in the targeting and treatment, the overall prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer remains poor.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, chemotherapy, overall survival