Last Updated: May 18, 2004



NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Chemotherapy drugs are often given after
surgery for colon cancer. New research now indicates that the route
these drugs take in entering the body doesn't affect survival.


Chemotherapy can be injected into veins to deliver the drugs
throughout the body, known as systemic delivery, or into veins that
largely limit delivery to the liver, called intraportal delivery.
Doctors have been unable to reach a consensus regarding which method
is best.

The current findings are based on a study of 1,084 patients who
underwent surgery for colon cancer and were randomly selected to
receive chemotherapy delivered systemically, intraportally, or by
both routes.

The results are published in the Journal of the National Cancer
Institute.

During a follow-up period of more than 8 years, 389 adverse events,
including recurrences, new cancers, or deaths, were observed, Dr.
Roldano Fossati, from Istituto Mario Negri in Milan, Italy, and
colleagues note. A total of 361 patients died.

Despite the different drug routes, the survival rates for the three
groups were similar--about 74 percent, the authors note. Moreover,
the body regions where cancers returned were comparable in the groups.

"To our knowledge, this is the largest study of patients with colon
cancer that has compared the efficacy" of this form of chemotherapy
delivered by these methods, the investigators state.

The main finding is that combining the intraportal and systemic drug
delivery methods did not provide an increase benefit to patients, and
that the results were similar to those seen when the individual
routes were used separately.





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