title: [Colorectal cancer: a controllable disease].
abstract: Colorectal cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in western countries. Five years after curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, about 10% more patients with Dukes C colon cancer are free of disease compared to the control group. Several regimens using 5-fluorouracil with folinic acid (5FU/FA) or levamisole are available. For patients with disseminated disease. 5FU/FA based treatments allows a doubling in survival as compared to best supportive care. Moreover, quality of life is significantly improved. New agents are upcoming. Tomudex seems to be equivalent to 5FU/FA but easier to administer. CPT-11 or oxaliplatin have been investigated in second line after failure of 5FU/FA. The available data suggest that median survival is prolonged by ten months, in addition to what was already obtained in first line with 5FU/FA. Colorectal cancer must be revisited. An active approach of our patients should allow to reduce the incidence of the disease, to increase the number of disease free patients 5 years after surgery, to prolong survival and improve the quality of life of those who will develop metastatic disease.
authors.affiliation: Unité de chimiothérapie, Institut J. Bordet, Bruxelles.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bleiberg
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gerard
mesh_terms: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D002955:Leucovorin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011788:Quality of Life
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D002955:Leucovorin; D005472:Fluorouracil