ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS: It has recently been proven that postoperative radiotherapy combined with fluorouracil showed an increase of survival and local control in patients with rectal cancer. However, hematological and intestinal toxicity also increased. Experimental and clinical studies showed an increased radiation effect with an acceptable toxicity by delivering drug via a continuous intravenous infusion. METHODOLOGY: From 1988 to 1998, 80 patients radically operated on for stages B2-C rectal cancer were irradiated with 3 fractions of 100 cGy per day to a total dose of 5,600 cGy. 34 out of these 80 patients underwent postoperative radiotherapy alone and 46 received radiotherapy combined with concomitant protracted infusion of fluorouracil at doses of 250 mg/m2 per day. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 54 months, the 5-year overall and disease-free survival were 59% and 54%, respectively, in the combined modality group, as compared to 42% and 34%, respectively, in the radiation alone group. The differences were not significant, but the incidence of local relapse and patients' survival showed a better trend for combined approach. CONCLUSIONS: The data from international literature are in favor of a combined approach, both in preoperative and postoperative treatment of advanced rectal cancer. Adjuvant therapy must be re-evaluated in trials using total mesorectal excision as the standard operative technique.
Subject(s)
Fluorouracil/administration & dosage , Rectal Neoplasms/drug therapy , Rectal Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Adult , Aged , Chemotherapy, Adjuvant , Colectomy/methods , Combined Modality Therapy , Disease-Free Survival , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Maximum Tolerated Dose , Middle Aged , Pilot Projects , Probability , Prospective Studies , Radiotherapy Dosage , Radiotherapy, Adjuvant , Rectal Neoplasms/mortality , Rectal Neoplasms/surgery , Risk Assessment , Survival Analysis , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
It has recently been proven that postoperative radiotherapy combined with fluorouracil affords an increase in survival and local control in patients with rectal cancer. However, haematological and intestinal toxicity also increase. Experimental and clinical studies have shown an increased effect of radiation with an acceptable toxicity by delivering the drug via continuous intravenous infusion. From 1988 to 1998, 80 patients radically operated on for stage B2-C rectal cancer were irradiated with 3 fractions of 100 cGy per day up to a total dose of 5,600 cGy; 34 of these patients underwent postoperative radiotherapy alone and 46 received radiotherapy combined with concomitant protracted infusion of fluorouracil at doses of 250 mg/m2 per day. After a median follow-up of 60 months, the 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates were 59% and 54%, respectively, in the combined modality group, as compared to 42% and 34%, respectively, in the radiation alone group. The differences were non-significant, but the incidence of local relapse and patient survival showed better trends with the combined approach. The international literature data are in favour of a combined approach in both the preoperative and postoperative treatment of advanced rectal cancer. Adjuvant therapy needs to be re-assessed in trials using total mesorectal excision as the standard operative technique.
