Discussion: adjuvant therapy for colon cancer

Author(s):

A/Professor Peter Gibbs MBBS MD FRACS — Author
Dr Margaret Lee — Co-author
Dr Jeanne Tie — Co-author
Professor Timothy Price MBBS, DHlthSc (Medicine), FRACP — Co-author
Cancer Council Australia Colorectal Cancer Guidelines Working Party — Co-author

Cite this page

A/Professor Peter Gibbs MBBS MD FRACS, Dr Margaret Lee, Dr Jeanne Tie, Professor Timothy Price MBBS, DHlthSc (Medicine), FRACP, Cancer Council Australia Colorectal Cancer Guidelines Working Party. Guidelines:Colorectal cancer/Discussion adjuvant therapy colon cancer . In: Clinical practice guidelines for the prevention, early detection and management of colorectal cancer. Sydney: Cancer Council Australia. [Version URL: https://wiki.cancer.org.au/australiawiki/index.php?oldid=173092, cited 2023 May 28]. Available from: https://wiki.cancer.org.au/australia/Guidelines:Colorectal_cancer.

Last modified:
7 November 2017 23:39:17

Unresolved issues[edit source]

The failure of oxaliplatin to show a benefit in adjuvant therapy for elderly patients is not well understood. The discordance between clinical trial outcomes for oxaliplatin treatment in elderly patients when given in adjuvant therapy, and when given in the treatment of metastatic disease, cannot be explained based on current data.

The role of adjuvant therapy for patients with stage II colon cancer has not been well defined.

Studies currently underway[edit source]

ECOG E5202, comparing adjuvant FOLFOX alone with FOLFOX plus bevacizumab in patients with high-risk Stage II colon cancer, was closed prematurely due to the lack of benefit from the addition of oxaliplatin in other studies. No outcome data have yet been reported.

Future research priorities[edit source]

Future research priorities include:

improved risk stratification for patients based on existing and emerging tumour tissue and blood prognostic markers
real-time markers of adjuvant therapy benefit.

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