After nearly 50 years of research, three agents are recommended for use as the platform in colorectal cancer: 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), irinotecan (Camptosar, Pfizer), and oxaliplatin (Eloxatin, Sanofi-Synthelabo). Survival has been correlated with exposure of the patient to all three agents. Despite extending the median survival time for advanced colon cancer to more than 20 months, however, it i...

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death. The mainstay of chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients for the past 40 years has been fluorouracil (5-FU). Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) is a novel platinum compound with promising activity in colorectal cancer. As a single agent, oxaliplatin has produced response rates of 12% to 24% in patients with previously untreated advanced colo...

Richter's transformation, or Richter's syndrome, is an uncommon clinicopathological condition observed in about 5% to 10% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). "Richter's transformation" refers to the development of aggressive lymphoma during the course of CLL. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma occurs in the majority of cases of Richter's transformation. Clinically, patients with Ric...

Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) is a novel platinum compound that has activity in a wide variety of tumors. Several hypersensitivity reactions distinct from laryngopharyngeal dysesthesia have been described. We retrospectively analyzed 169 consecutive patients who received oxaliplatin for esophageal or colorectal cancer between 1/1/00 and 7/31/02 and reviewed any significant adverse reactions labeled as...

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide, with almost 20% of all patients presenting with metastatic disease at the time of their diagnosis. The treatment regimens and options of metastatic colorectal cancer have significantly changed in the last 10 years, leading to an improvement of response rates to about 50%, progression-free survival of about 10 mont...

The use of adjuvant chemotherapy following resection for all patients with stage III colon cancer is now part of the standard of care around the world. Recent trials have led to changes in the standard regimens, which now include the use of oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) for most patients with stage III colon cancer. The addition of oxaliplatin has resulted in a 23% reduction in the risk of recurrence ...

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Approximately 30% to 40% of patients with colorectal cancer have locoregionally advanced or metastatic disease on presentation and cannot be cured with surgical therapy. After many years without significant change, systemic therapy for colorectal cancer is rapidly evolving. The past decade has seen t...

A large number of patients with colorectal cancer have relatively early disease, and thus, adjuvant therapy has the potential to save lives. In stage III patients, there has been a steady improvement in 3-year disease-free survival with the use of 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (5-FU/LV) regimens and capecitabine (Xeloda); Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., Nutley, NJ, http://www.rocheusa.com) regimens. A medi...

Pemetrexed (Alimta) is an antifolate that is effective in the inhibition of multiple enzyme targets including thymidylate synthase, dihydrofolate reductase, and glycinamide ribonucleotide formyl transferase. The compound has been evaluated in several phase I trials, both as single agent and in combination with other cytotoxic agents. The initial schedule selected for further investigation in ph...

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death. The mainstay of chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients for the past 40 years has been fluorouracil (5-FU). Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) is a novel platinum compound with promising activity in colorectal cancer. As a single agent, oxaliplatin has produced response rates of 12% to 24% in patients with previously untreated advanced colo...