Management and survival trends in advanced colorectal cancer

Significant improvements in the outcome for patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) have been achieved. The median survival for advanced CRC reported in clinical trials now approaches 2 years, but there is often a question as to whether this partly represents patient selection. We aimed to explore whether the availability of new chemotherapy drugs (irinotecan and oxaliplatin) and surgical advances have affected survival in a normal clinical setting.

A review of the Queen Elizabeth and Lyell McEwin health service prospective CRC database from 1992 to 2004 was carried out to assess outcome differences between two time cohorts (1 January 1992-31 December 1997 and 1 January 1998-31 December 2004).

For all patients (n = 744) overall survival was seen to improve over time and is maintained out to 5 years. There have been a number of trends over time (1992-1997 vs 1998-2004) that have probably contributed to this gain; increased overall chemotherapy use (33% vs 43%); use of combination chemotherapy (i.e. oxaliplatin and irinotecan regimens); increased hepatic resection rates (1.9% vs 10.8%) and increased clinical trial uptake (0.6% vs 14.5%).

This current analysis confirms an improvement in survival over time for advanced CRC and this is seen in unselected patients including those over 70 years of age.