Patients whose colon
cancer has spread to their livers may stand a better chance of survival with
a new treatment.
The new treatment
combines standard chemotherapy with the drugs floxuridine
and dexamethasone,
which are pumped directly into the liver. Researchers from Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City compared this combination
treatment to standard chemotherapy in 156 colon cancer patients whose disease
had spread to the liver. All patients had undergone surgery to remove tumors in
the liver before beginning the experimental
treatments.
Researchers found 86 percent
of the patients taking the combination therapy survived longer than two years;
only 72 percent of the standard chemotherapy group survived over two years.
Ninety percent of the patients on the combination treatment showed no recurrence
of colon cancer in the liver after two years, compared to 60 percent in the
standard group.
Lead researcher Dr. Nancy
Kemeny called the results "impressive," adding that the combined therapies
provides a more effective way to treat colorectal cancer patients who disease
has spread to the liver. The study is published in the Dec. 30 issue of The
New England Journal of Medicine.
