Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish Journal of Cancer, cilt.34, sa.4, ss.139-145, 2004 (Scopus)
The benefit and tolerability of adjuvant chemotherapy for surgically treated colorectal cancer is less well defined in elderly patients. We reviewed data of 51 patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer between October 1993 and December 2002, and were ≥65 year-old at the first cycle of chemotherapy. Fifty-one elderly patients with colorectal cancer received 5-FU based adjuvant chemotherapy. Twenty-four patients (47.0%) had stage II, 25 (49.0%) had stage III, and 2 (3.9%) had stage IV disease (completely resected liver metastasis). Fourteen patients (27.5%) were treated with bolus 5-FU, while 37 patients (72.5%) were treated with infusional 5-FU. The most commonly observed grade 3-4 toxicities were myelosuppresion (17.6%) and diarrhea (15.6%), and they were more frequently seen in patients who received 5-FU bolus regimens (p<0.001 and p<0.005, respectively). The 3-year DFS and OS rates were 77.7% and 83.5%, respectively. Twenty-nine patients who were ≥70-year-old were also evaluated. The most commonly grade 3-4 toxicities observed in this age group were myelosuppresion (6.9%) and diarrhea (6.9%), and they occurred in patients who received 5-FU bolus regimens. In survival analyses, the 3-year DFS and OS were 80% and 80.7%, respectively. In elderly patients, the use of 5-FU based adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer was well tolerated, and advanced age is not an obstacle for the adjuvant chemotherapy of colorectal cancer.