Gastrointestinal surgeons should master the adjuvant therapy of colorectal cancer

Abstract

The diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer is one of the main diseases of gastrointestinal surgeons. It is very important to master the adjuvant chemotherapy of colorectal cancer for gastrointestinal surgeons. In recent years, with the development of a number of clinical trials and the appearance of new drugs, fluorouracil combined with oxaliplatin had been established as the standard regimen of adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer. In the current guidelines, stage III( colon cancer is the indication for adjuvant chemotherapy, while stage II( colon cancer should receive adjuvant chemotherapy is uncertain. Unlike colon cancer, adjuvant therapy of rectal cancer is not evidence-based. Especially, the indication and duration of adjuvant chemotherapy for rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy remain controversial. Adjuvant therapy of colorectal cancer still needs further investigation.