Randomized clinical trials in colon cancer

Surgery remains the mainstay of treatment for colon cancer and surgical resection alone results in 5-year survival in more than 60% of patients. However, the use of fluorouracil (5-FU)-based adjuvant chemotherapy for patients at high risk of recurrence further prolongs disease-free survival and has become the standard of care. New areas of research focus on decreasing the surgical trauma with minimally invasive approaches, improving the surgical staging of patients with colon cancer, and improving adjuvant treatment regimens. We review those randomized controlled trials that have most impacted the clinical management of patients with colon cancer in 2009.