Value and cost of follow-up after adjuvant treatment of patients with Dukes' C colonic cancer.
BACKGROUND
The clinical value and costs of different diagnostic tools used to identify potentially curable recurrent disease in patients treated adjuvantly for curatively resected Dukes' C colonic cancer were examined.


METHODS
The study group comprised 496 patients treated with chemotherapy over a 1-year interval. Follow-up consisted of interim history, physical examination, liver ultrasonography or computed tomography (CT), measurement of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels, chest radiography and colonoscopy.


RESULTS
Two hundred and thirteen patients had recurrent disease (median follow-up 43 months). Forty-two patients with recurrence (20 per cent) were treated with curative intent (median survival 38 months; 5-year survival rate 40 per cent). Recurrence was identified by liver ultrasonography or CT (n = 14), evaluation of symptoms (n = 12), colonoscopy (n = 8), CEA measurement (n = 3), chest radiography (n = 2), physical examination (n = 1) and other modalities in two patients. The mean cost of diagnostic procedures per curative resected recurrence for patients amenable to salvage surgery was US$9011. Of all treatable recurrences, 12 of 42 were identified by evaluation of symptoms only. Ultrasonography and colonoscopy identified 22 recurrences at a cost of US$11 790 per patient, while routine follow-up by CEA measurement, chest radiography and physical examination identified a further six at a cost of US$19 850 per patient.


CONCLUSIONS
Potentially curable recurrences were detected primarily by liver imaging and colonoscopy. The yield of CEA measurement, chest radiography and physical examination was relatively low; such methods were expensive and should not be recommended in the routine follow-up of these patients.
Bleeker
W A
WA
Departments of Surgery and Internal Medicine, University Hospital Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Mulder
N H
NH
Hermans
J
J
Otter
R
R
Plukker
J T
JT
D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D002955:Leucovorin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007978:Levamisole / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010808:Physical Examination; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000191:economics; D014463:Ultrasonography
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D007978:Levamisole; D002955:Leucovorin; D005472:Fluorouracil