Revista medico-chirurgicală̆ a Societă̆ţ̜ii de Medici ş̧i Naturaliş̧ti din Iaş̧i
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Rev Med Chir Soc Med Nat Iasi · Oct 2003
Review[Systemic treatment of colorectal cancers--factual standards and perspectives].
Adjuvant therapy has been shown to reduce recurrence and improve survival in patients with stage III colo-rectal cancer (CRC). However, the use of adjuvant therapy is still much debated in stage II disease. Fluorouracil (5-FU) and folinic acid (FA) are currently the standard adjuvant drug combination. ⋯ The oral fluoropyrimidines capecitabine and UFT/FA seem to have a comparable activity to intravenous bolus 5-FU/FA in the first line treatment of metastatic CRC. New agents acting on novel targets are under development. Epidermal growth factors inhibitors, vascular endothelial growth inhibitors, and cyclo-oxygenase 2 inhibitors might play a role in the future in the treatment of CRC.