Colorectal Cancer Research

Novel chemotherapy and biological agents for metastatic colorectal cancer, combined with surgical advances in liver resection, have resulted in a dramatic increase in survival for patients with advanced disease, according to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. It is the first study in the last 20 years to examine the survival rates for metastatic colorectal cancer, and finds that the median overall survival is now more than 30 months, compared to eight months for patients diagnosed before 1990. Five-year survival of patients diagnosed with the disease after 2004 is more than 30%. Over the past decade, the concept that specific metastatic liver lesions could be surgically removed has become more widely accepted as practice. Thus, more emphasis is now placed on identifying candidates for resection of their liver metastases. In the study, researchers found not only a significant improvement in overall survival for metastatic colorectal cancer patients, but also demonstrated that the degree and rapidity of the improvement is of a magnitude that is rarely seen in metastatic cancers. Many of these patients are not necessarily disease-free, but living with their cancer with a high quality of life. For some patients, the goal of making metastatic colorectal cancer a chronic condition is closer to becoming a reality. Looking at when these changes in colon cancer survivorship occurred, the study showed two distinct time periods that reflect the impact of both hepatic resections and the availability of new novel therapies. Beginning in 1998 and even more by 2000, physicians started performing higher volumes of hepatic resections, and that coincides with the initial increase in survival. The second stage of improvement began around 2004, simultaneous to the approval of many more chemotherapy and biological agents cetuximab, bevacizimab, and oxaliplatin.