B2 colon cancer: Is there a role for adjuvant chemotherapy? Mansoura experience

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the benefit of adjuvant 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy in .patients with Dukes' B2 colon cancer, using event-free survival [EFS] and overall survival [OS] as primary end points. Patients and Methods: One hundred patients with Dukes' B2 colon cancer, attending the outpatient clinics of Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Department, Mansoura University Hospitals, during the period from January 1998 to December 2002, were reviewed retrospectively for comparing patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy following radical surgery and those who were under follow-up. With a median follow-up of 79.5 months, the 5-year EFS and OS in the adjuvant chemotherapy arm were 101.6 and 103.3 months respectively, compared to 94.8 and 99.3 months in the control arm respectively, both were statistically insignificant. Our study does not support the routine use of adjuvant 5-fluorouracil plus leucovorin chemotherapy in all patients with Dukes' B2 colon cancer, as true benefit