Systemic Management of Colorectal Cancer

Advances have been made in the systemic treatment of colorectal cancer, with approximately 12 chemotherapy or biologic agents approved for use as a single agent or in a combination. However, numerous gaps in our understanding of the disease remain, such as the lack of benefit with biologics in the adjuvant setting, the absence of biomarkers for most systemic therapies, and the reason why left-sided and right-sided tumors behave differently. At the 22nd NCCN Annual Conference, Dr. Wells A. Messersmith presented several impactful updates to the 2017 NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Colon Cancer and reviewed the outcomes with a host of therapies used for both early-stage and metastatic disease.