Fluoropyrimidines helpful after colon cancer surgery

Adjuvant therapy with oral fluorinated pyrimidines improves survival after resection of early-stage colorectal surgery, Japanese researchers have shown. Moreover, as Dr. Junichi Sakamoto told Reuters Health, the approach is “attractive because of its ease of administration and good tolerability.”

Dr. Sakamoto of Kyoto University and colleagues came to this conclusion after a meta-analysis of 3 randomized trials involving 5233 patients with stage I to III colorectal cancer. Adjuvants used included oral fluorouracil (FU), HCFU (carmofur), and tegafur, uracil and FU (UFT). In comparison with no oral therapy, use of such drugs reduced the risk of death by 11% and the risk of death or recurrence by 15%, the researchers report in the February 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. They suggest “these benefits may be more pronounced with HCFU and UFT than with oral FU,” although the difference did not reach not statistical significance. There was no significant heterogeneity between trials and the risk reduction was independent of tumor stage, tumor site and patient age and sex.Thus, Dr. Sakamoto concluded, the meta-analysis “showed that oral fluoropyrimidines improve disease-free survival and survival of early stage colorectal cancer, supporting the use of these agents after resection of early-stage disease”.(Source: J Clin Oncol 2004;22:484-492: Reuters Health: David Douglas: March 2004: Oncolink)