title: Is more not better?: combination therapies in colorectal cancer treatment.
abstract: The treatment of colorectal cancer has evolved dramatically in recent years with the availability of new chemotherapeutic agents and inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor- and epidermal growth factor-signaling pathways. The incremental benefit of each individual line of therapy for advanced disease is relatively small. Advances in our ability to select patients should improve the cost-effectiveness of our treatment strategies (avoiding unnecessary toxicity in the patients who are unlikely to benefit and accepting the potential for adverse events in the patients who stand to benefit the most from a given regimen).
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, 1600 Divisadero Street, A727, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. Electronic address: emilyb@medicine.ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Emily K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Bergsland
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D019233:Retreatment; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Adjuvant therapy; Combination chemotherapy; First-line therapy; Metastatic colorectal cancer; Optimal sequence; Systemic therapy; Targeted therapy