title: Optimizing the management of metastatic colorectal cancer.
abstract: The prognosis of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer has significantly improved in the last few years, with the introduction into the clinical practice of new cytotoxic treatments, the availability of non-cross resistant agents after the front-line treatment failure, and the combination of targeted agents (i.e., the inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor pathways) with conventional drugs. All these options must be incorporated into a complex strategy of management, in which a customized management according to the disease status, with an intensified induction approach followed by maintenance (and reinduction), should be investigated.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Oncology, Department of Gastro-Intestinal Tract Tumours, National Tumour Institute, Via M. Semmola, Naples, Italy. pasqualecomella@libero.it
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Comella
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casaretti
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avallone
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Franco
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D066246:ErbB Receptors