Study: Chemotherapy before surgery lowers the likelihood of colon cancer relapse.

The patients who had chemotherapy before surgery had a considerably lower risk of having their cancer return than those who received all of their chemotherapy after surgery, according to follow-up evaluations.

Giving chemotherapy to colon cancer patients before surgery lowers their risk of the condition recurring, according to the findings of a clinical trial supported by Cancer Research UK.

The FOxTROT trial found that providing chemotherapy to colon cancer patients before rather than after surgery decreased their risk of the disease recurring after two years by 28%.

Also Read | Here Are Some Facts About Alcohol That You Must Know

Chemotherapy before surgery

The study, which was overseen by researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Leeds, involved 1,053 patients with colon cancer from 85 institutions in the UK, Denmark, and Sweden.

In the trial, patients with colon cancer were split into two groups. The first group underwent surgery, 6 weeks of chemotherapy, and then another 18 weeks of chemotherapy. The second group had the conventional course of treatment for colon cancer, which included 24 weeks of chemotherapy after the initial operation.

The patients who had chemotherapy before surgery had a considerably lower risk of having their cancer return than those who received all of their chemotherapy after surgery, according to follow-up evaluations.

According to scientists, the NHS and other healthcare systems around the world may quickly embrace the practice of providing chemotherapy to colon cancer patients before surgery. This therapy could help hundreds of thousands of colon cancer patients annually, including at least 5,000 in the UK.

Dr Laura Magill, an associate professor at the University of Birmingham’s Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, stated:

After surgery, up to 1 in 3 patients with colon cancer may experience a recurrence of the disease. To prevent colon cancer from returning, we need novel therapeutic approaches since that number is far too high.

To eliminate any cancer cells that may have spread before surgery, chemotherapy has traditionally been administered following surgery. However, our research demonstrates that administering some of that chemotherapy before surgery increases the likelihood that all cancer cells will be eliminated. 

Also Read | What Is Pee Anxiety? Know About This Condition Here

He feels that the findings could revolutionise how we address colon cancer in the clinic,” the authors write. A growing body of evidence is demonstrating the efficacy of pre-operative chemotherapy in various tumours.

Chemotherapy was administered to 699 trial participants in total before surgery. After receiving a colon cancer diagnosis in 2016, Leeds resident Geoff Hoggard enrolled in the study.

Professor Matthew Seymour, who does research on gastrointestinal cancer at the University of Leeds, said:

When it comes to treating colon cancer, timing is important. The straightforward action of moving chemotherapy forward, giving it before rather than after surgery, has some amazing results

Chemotherapy administered before surgery could prevent cancer recurrences without the use of pricey new medications or technologies. Finding that individuals who underwent chemotherapy before surgery saw fewer surgical problems was extremely encouraging.

The researchers are currently conducting two more clinical trials, called FOXTROT-2 and FOXTROT-3, to see if chemotherapy before surgery is beneficial for older patients as well as to see if adding more chemotherapy medications before surgery further lowers the risk of cancer recurring. Depending on which patients are most likely to benefit from novel types and combinations of chemotherapy if these studies are successful, patients may receive more individualised cancer therapies.

Professor Dion Morton, a surgeon at the University of Birmingham, said that Cancer therapies can be prohibitively expensive in many parts of the world. By studying a treatment that might be applied to as many people as possible, we aimed to move in the opposite direction.

FAQs

Also Read | There Is a Psychological Reason You Fear Being by Yourself