[Current state of therapy for gastrointestinal tumors]

For many years, the treatment of malignant gastrointestinal tumors has been disappointing. However, recent results have shown an improvement in the rate of remissions and survival, especially in the treatment of gastric, pancreatic and localized rectal carcinoma. The therapy of cancer of the colon still remains unsatisfactory: the rate of remissions could be increased, but survival remains unaltered. Adjuvant chemotherapy is under investigation in many quarters but cannot yet be recommended as an established method of treatment.