2-year single center clinical experience in patients with colon cancer stage II and III receiving adjuvant chemotherapy

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the most commonly diagnosed gastrointestinal cancer worldwide. For patients without metastatic disease, surgery is the first option used with curative intention, for stage I disease the adequate treatment consists only of surgical excision. In stage III additional adjuvant chemotherapy post-surgery is recommended. In stage II colon cancer, adjuvant treatment remains controversial. We aim to stratify patients according to different criteria, identify those with recurrence within the first year post last cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy and discuss those primary results. Materials and methods: a total of 52 patients who were subject to curative resection of stage II and III colon adenocarcinoma and who were administrated 5 FU based adjuvant chemotherapy were included and were followed for a period of two years. Data analysis was performed. Result: After a mean of 2 years of follow-up, recurrence was identified in 16 patients. None of stage II patients (n=6) and 3 patients in stage III (n=6) experienced recurrence. Patients with Nx cancer (n=30) were detached in separate group. Thirteen of them experienced recurrence (9 patients had relapse within 6 months after surgery – defined as synchronous metastatic disease). Conclusion: Surgery remains the cornerstone of treatment for the majority of colon patients. The selection of optimal chemotherapy for each patient is a complex process and there is a practice evidence gap which remains a significant problem. Our results for relapse are comparable with the reported ones worldwide. The reports suggest that there is still lack of evidence in the adjuvant colon cancer chemotherapy worldwide.