Comparison between intravenous and oral postoperative adjuvant immunochemotherapy in patients with stage III colorectal cancer.

This study aimed to retrospectively assess the efficacy of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in 77 patients who underwent curative resection for stage III colorectal cancer. They were treated by intravenous administration of 5FU + LV (FL-IV group, 38) or oral administration of UFT + PSK (oral group, 39). The 3-year relapse-free (3Y-RFS), 5-year relapse-free (5Y-RFS) and 5-year overall survival (5Y-OS) were calculated for each group, and clinical results and adverse events (AEs) were compared between the two groups. The 3Y-RFS, 5Y-RFS and 5Y-OS were 65.8, 62.7 and 72.3%, respectively, in the FL-IV group and 63.3 (p=0.7957), 56.3 (p=0.7088) and 60.4% (p=0.5293), respectively, in the oral group. These parameters showed no significant differences between the two groups. As AEs, grade 3 leucopenia, nausea/vomiting, and general fatigue were noted in one patient each (2.6%) in the FL-IV group. Grade 3 or more severe AEs were not noted in the oral group. These results suggest that oral immunochemotherapy is one of the options of postoperative adjuvant therapy for stage III colorectal cancer, because it imposes no financial burden on patients and results in high quality of life.