Oxaliplatin based treatments as adjuvant chemotherapy treatment in colon cancer patients

This study investigated the effectiveness of a 3-month oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy treatment after surgery in patients with stage 3 colon cancer. Researchers suggested 6-months of treatment is associated with better outcomes.

The current standard treatment for stage 3 colon cancer patients is surgery followed by 6-months of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy treatment. This treatment has high costs and is associated with high rates of peripheral sensory neuropathy (PSN; numbness of arms and legs). Reduction of the treatment duration without loss of the effectiveness could reduce side effects and costs, but it is not clear whether shorter treatment would affect outcomes.

This study investigated the effectiveness of 3-month treatment with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in stage 3 colon cancer patients who underwent surgery. This study included 2010 patients, randomized to receive 3 (group 1) or 6-months (group 2) of treatment. Of these patients 90% received mFOLFOX6 and 10% received CAPOX. The average follow-up time was 4.3 years.

94% of patients treated for 3 months completed treatment against 78% treated for 6 months. 3-year disease-free survival (DFS; time from treatment to disease progression) was 72% for those treated with mFOLFOX6 for 3 months and 76% for those treated for 6 months. 3-year DFS was similar in patients treated with CAPOX for 3 months (72%) or 6 months (71%). 

Moderate PSN was seen in 8% of patients treated for 3 months and 25% of patients treated for 6 months.   

This study concluded that the 6-month treatment of mFOLFOX6 is associated with a better disease-free survival when compared to the 3-month treatment.