Fortunately, the outlook for people with advanced or metastatic colon cancer continues to improve. And the latest research on how best to manage advanced disease points to a combination of medications that may lengthen life, and do so with fewer symptoms and side effects.
The chemotherapy medication capecitabine has improved treatment for advanced disease and researchers continue to study how to best combine it with other chemotherapy options to maximize the benefit to patients. The newest study on this topic, conducted in 94 elderly patients, 70 years of age or older, compared capecitabine combined with oxaliplatin (CAPOX) and capecitabine combined irinotecan (CAPIRI).
Researchers found that the two treatment options, CAPOX and CAPIRI, were similarly effective at treating advanced colon cancer in elderly patients, but CAPOX seemed to be better tolerated, with patients experiencing fewer and less severe side effects. The group receiving CAPOX had a median survival time of 19.3 months.
This study highlights the importance of clinical trials in identifying the best treatment options for different groups of patients. If you are interested in clinical trials, ask your medical oncologist what trials might be available and what the pros and cons of these trials are for you personally.
