Onkologie
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Adjuvant radio-chemotherapy in stage II-III rectal cancer with 24-hour infusion of high-dose 5-fluorouracil and folinic acid: evaluation of feasibility.
Postoperative radio-chemotherapy has been established as standard treatment for stage II and III rectal cancer patients in the last decade. To improve the efficacy of this therapy, we decided to evaluate continuous 24-hour infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) with folinic acid (FA) in combination with local radiation versus standard bolus 5-FU/FA with local radiation in a randomized study. Here we report on the first 28 patients to receive the experimental treatment. ⋯ The high rate of premature treatment dropout indicate that the chosen schedule of weekly high-dose 5-FU/FA continuous infusion and combined postoperative radiotherapy should not be recommended for further use in postoperative adjuvant treatment.