[Drug therapy of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer]

In less than a decade, metastatic cancer in the colon or rectum has changed from being primarily a surgically palliated disease to one in which there have been increasing successes with combination chemotherapy and molecular targeted therapy. Without treatment, only half of the patients are alive after six months, and there are almost no survivors after two years. With modern therapy, about half of the patients are now alive after two years and the survival time continues to increase. Instead of being a more or less acute life-threatening disease, metastatic colorectal cancer may exist as a chronic condition for years.