What can be done to improve the results in colorectal cancer?

It is seldom even under the best of circumstances that more than half the patients suffering from colorectal cancer are cured by conventional surgical management, and the results are often much worse. Attempts to improve this state of affairs have followed 4 main directions, which are here critically examined: 1. earlier (presymptomatic) diagnosis; 2. more radical surgery; 3. adjuvant radio- and chemotherapy; and 4. more meticulous follow-up using CEA monitoring and occasional "second-look" operations.