[Adjuvant therapy for colon cancer]

Surgery alone may fail to cure a considerable number of locally advanced colon cancers. Clinical trials have shown a statistically significant if modest benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in node-positive patients. In node-negative cancers, however, the data available to date do not fully support routine use of adjuvant treatment. Combinations of 5-fluorouracil are most commonly used, but current trials are exploring several new drugs with proven efficacy in metastatic colon cancer for use in the adjuvant setting. Given the considerable advances in our knowledge of the molecular biology of colon cancer, it can be expected that molecular markers will soon establish themselves as diagnostic tools to improve the selection of candidates for this treatment modality. Colon cancer has clearly moved from an exclusive surgeons' stronghold to a disease where a multimodal approach will provide better and more promising results.