The combination of irinotecan (Camptosar), epirubicin, and capecitabine (Xeloda) has shown an acceptable toxicity profile. In this open-label phase I study, irinotecan was administered IV at a fixed dose of 250 mg/m2 on day 1 in combination with capecitabine at a fixed dose of 1500 mg/m2 for days 2 to 7 and epirubicin starting at a dose of 40 mg/m2 and escalating by 10 mg/m2 in cohorts of three...

Many elderly individuals have substantial life expectancy, even in the setting of significant illness. There is evidence to indicate that elderly individuals derive as much survival benefit as younger patients from standard chemotherapy approaches in advanced colorectal cancer. Effective treatments should not be withheld from older patients on the basis of age alone. Treatment decisions should ...

Should combination or sequential strategies be preferred in colorectal cancer? This was the subject of an evening debate featured at the ASCO GI meeting. The controversy had been sparked by studies published recently in the same issue of The Lancet. The first – the Focus study (Seymour et al., 2007. Lancet 370, 143–152) which compared upfront combination treatment with 5FU (fluorouracil, irinot...

The treatment of advanced colorectal cancer over the past 4 decades has required the use of intravenous chemotherapy, most typically fluorouracil (5-FU). The possibility of providing an alternative to intravenous delivery while at the same time improving the quality of life of patients who require fluorouracil for advanced or adjuvant therapy has provided the stimulus for the development of ora...

PURPOSE Complete or partial loss of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) function has been described in cancer patients with intolerance to fluoropyrimidine drugs like 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or Xeloda. The intention of this population study is to assess and to evaluate gene variations in the entire coding region of the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase gene (DPYD), which could be implicated in DP...

Colorectal adenocarcinoma may demonstrate familial association with cancers at other sites. Herein, we reported a case report with SCC of the skin and colon cancer in the West of Iran. On July 2015, a 44-year man referred to the Clinic of Gastroenterology with complaints of weight loss, anorexia, weakness, lethargy and mild persistent pain of right flank since 2 months ago. After colonoscopy, t...

Recent trials comparing single-agent vs combination therapy in metastatic breast cancer suggest that it may be time to reconsider the belief that combination chemotherapy is the gold standard of treatment. Based on the limited randomized trial data available to date, high-dose chemotherapy with stem-cell rescue should not be viewed as "state-of-the art" treatment for metastatic disease and shou...